USMC Amphibious Combat Vehicles bid won by BAE Systems, Iveco Defence Vehicles
NewsJune 21, 2018
STAFFORD, Va. U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) officials selected BAE systems and teammate Iveco Defence Vehicles to deliver 30 Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACV), with options for a total of 204 vehicles. The contract for the initial 30 vehicles is estimated at $198 million, but if all options are exercised the contract's value is worth up to $1.2 billion.
The ACV provides mobility in all terrains, and blast mitigation protection for all three crew and 13 embarked Marines, along with other improvements over currently fielded systems. The new vehicle is an 8x8 open ocean-capable vehicle that is equipped with a new 6-cylinder, 700HP engine, which provides a power increase over the Assault Amphibious Vehicle, which is currently in service.
The BAE Systems team conducted its own risk mitigation testing and evaluation for land mobility, survivability, and swim capabilities that proved its vehicle’s performance prior to delivering the first 16 prototypes to the Marine Corps in 2017. Additionally, the company supported the Marine Corps Developmental Testing and Operational Assessment over the past two years. Testing took place at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center in Maryland; the Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch aboard Camp Pendleton, California; the Yuma Test Center in Arizona; the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Mississippi; and the White Sands Missile Range Army Base in New Mexico.
The ACV was also evaluated aboard the USS Somerset and the USS Anchorage to demonstrate its ability to launch from and recover to amphibious ships, and overall shipboard compatibility, USMC officials say.
I Marine Expeditionary Force will be the first to receive the new ACV when fielding starts in the fourth quarter of 2020. Full operational capability is scheduled for 2023.
Work on the program will be performed at the company’s facilities in Aiken, South Carolina; Sterling Heights, Michigan; Minneapolis; Stafford; San Jose, California; and York, Pennsylvania.
