It provides rapid movement of combat configured loads of ammunition and all classes of supply, shelters and intermodal containers.

[3] In January 1989, the United States Army Tank Automotive Command awarded prototype PLS contracts to Oshkosh Truck Corporation, the PACCAR Government Group and General Motors, Military Vehicle Operations, with each contractor to deliver nine trucks, six trailers, and 30 flatracks for prototype hardware testing which began in September 1989.

FHTV 4 was awarded to Oshkosh Defense in June 2015 as a five-year requirements contract worth a potential USD780 million.

Since the award of two separate contracts in 2004, Oshkosh (in addition to HEMTTS and HETs) has rebuilt/overhauled service-worn PLS trucks to new build standard under the Reset and Recapitalization programs.

The Reset process returns trucks to original build standard (for example PLSA0 to PLSA0), with the exception of certain safety-related items.

Expedient Leader Follower (ExLF) programme On 27 June 2018, Oshkosh announced that the US army's Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC) had awarded the company a USD49 million contract to integrate existing PLS trucks with scalable autonomous technology as part of the army's Expedient Leader Follower (ExLF) programme.

The ExLF programme addresses the needs of the Leader Follower Directed Requirement and Program of Record by removing soldiers from the vehicle while operating in highly-contested areas.

Under the contract, Oshkosh will integrate an initial 70 autonomy kits for Program Development and Operational Technical Demonstrations (OTD).

[4] The Palletized Load System (PLS) is based around two variants of prime mover truck (M1074 and M1075) fitted with an integral self-loading and unloading capability, a trailer (M1076), and demountable cargo beds, referred to as flatracks.

[2] The PLS prime mover truck carries its payloads on its demountable flatrack cargo beds, or inside 8×8×20 foot International Organization for Standardization (ISO) intermodal containers, or shelters.

[3] The Oshkosh PLS truck is based on a C-section chassis formed of 356 × 89 × 9.5 mm SAE 1027 modified heat-treated carbon manganese steel with a yield strength of 758 MPa.

[3] Current PLS A1 variants are powered by a Caterpillar C-15 four-stroke diesel developing 600 hp, this coupled to an Allison 4500SP six-speed automatic transmission, and Oshkosh 36000 Series two-speed transfer case.

Original PLS were fitted with an Allison CLT-755 ATEC 5F/1R automatic transmission and Oshkosh 55000 two-speed transfer box.

[2] On PLS A1 variants the front AxleTech/Oshkosh axles are sprung using Oshkosh's TAK-4 fully independent coil spring suspension.

On A1 variants the spare wheel and tire is located on the right-hand side of the vehicle, on the top of the engine/cooling compartments.

M1075 PLS trucks (with or without winch) can have an integral CHU stowage facility between the LHS hook arm and engine.

Oshkosh produced the original CHU, the current E-CHU (E - Enhanced) is manufactured by GT Machining & Fabricating Ltd of Canada.

[3] Engineer Mission Modules (EMM) components are flatrack-based and designed to be used on M1075 PLS trucks fitted with the Universal Power Interface Kit (UPIK).

Three EMMs were procured under the initial FHTV contract, the M4 Bituminous Distributor (EMM-BD), the M5 Concrete Mobile Mixer (EMM-CMM), and the M6 Dump Body (EMM-DB).

The M4 EMM-BD provides the capability to spread measured amounts of bituminous material for road preparation, repair, and other engineer applications.

a PLS version optimized for the transport and handling of WFEL Heavy Dry Support Bridge (HDSB) components is also in service.

[citation needed] From March 2017 to October 2019, the PLS was used to resupply 100-300 U.S. Army Rangers who were deployed near the city of Manbij in the north of Syria after counter-ISIL operations.