WARREN, Mich. (Army News Service, Dec. 30, 2014) – The U.S. Army announced, Dec. 23, that BAE Systems Land & Armaments, L.P. was selected for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development, or EMD, contract for the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, or AMPV.
The AMPV is a replacement for many of the M113 armored personnel carrier in the coming years.
BAE Systems was awarded a contract under full and open competition worth up to $1.2 billion for the EMD and Low-Rate Initial Production of the AMPV.
The initial award is for a 52-month base term, valued at about $382 million. During that time, BAE Systems will produce 29 vehicles. “Integration of this vehicle will replace and improve upon capabilities lost with the obsolete M113 Family of Vehicles, while greatly increasing the Army’s overall ground combat posture,” according to PEO GCV officials.
In 2007 the M113 program was terminated, officials said, “due to inadequate force protection, its inability to incorporate future technologies due to maximized size, weight, power, and cooling, and ability to keep pace and fight” within the Army’s armored brigade combat team fleet.
“The AMPV is anticipated to satisfy critical missions necessary to tackle ground combat situations alongside the ABCT [Airborne Brigade Combat Team] fleet,” officials added.
The “announcement sets in motion a long-awaited and important modernization effort for the Army,” officials said. The AMPV family of vehicles will fill critical force protection, survivability and mobility capability gaps inherent in today’s ABCTs.
“As a team we’ve worked diligently to make certain we’ve taken the right steps early on to minimize risk and maximize commonality to ensure AMPV remains an affordable solution for the Army,” said Brig. Gen. David Bassett, the Army’s program executive officer for Ground Combat Systems.
During the 52-month EMD phase, Program Executive Office, or PEO, Ground Combat Vehicle,or GCV, BCE Systems will develop “an affordable, integrated system” to meet the Army’s critical requirements. The Army will take the 29 vehicles produced in this phase and “put them through rigorous developmental and operational testing to ensure they are effective and suitable for today’s mechanized warrior,” an official said.
The award also provides an optional Low-Rate Initial Production phase. If awarded, the company would produce an additional 289 vehicles for a total contract value of $1.2 billion.
“AMPV will support the M1 Abrams and the M2/M3 Bradley to resupply the formation, conduct battle command functions, deliver organic indirect fires, provide logistics support and medical treatment, performs medical and casualty evacuation, and, most importantly, function as an integral part of the ABCT formation,” said Col. Michael Milner, the Army’s project manager for the AMPV.
The increased capability of the AMPV allows the ABCT to take full advantage of its force protection, survivability, mobility, situational awareness and sustainability by providing a highly survivable and mobile platform to accomplish operational support missions, PEO GCV officials said.
Units equipped with the AMPV will be able to move as rapidly as the supported primary combat vehicles during unified land operations over multiple terrain sets, they said. The combined protection and automotive performance capabilities of the AMPV will enable units to operate more securely and efficiently in the same operational environment as the combat elements.
The current AMPV program will only replace 2,897 M113 vehicles at the brigade and below level within the ABCT. There are an additional 1,922 M113s supporting echelons above brigade.
“The EAB [echelon-above-brigade] level replacements may have different requirements than the current procurement, and have not yet been developed. The Army is currently assessing how it will address these emerging requirements,” said Milner.