Navistar receives $880M contract to upgrade military trucks

Navistar International Corp. was awarded an $880 million contract to upgrade more than 2,700 mine-resistant trucks for the U.S. military.

Navistar announced Tuesday it had received the contract for upgrading the chassis of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, improving their off-road capabilities for the terrain in Afghanistan.

Work on the vehicles will begin this month at the company’s facility in West Point, Miss., and is expected to be completed in October 2013.

Navistar’s stock has dropped from a high of $69 in April 2011 to $38 at the start of the year amid concerns over steep budget cuts at the Pentagon. The company’s stock price rose above $40 on the news, and was up 3.2 percent at midday Tuesday.

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