BAE Systems received a $754 million contract award to continue producing the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) family of vehicles (FoV) for the U.S. Army.
The Armored Multi-Purpose Family of Vehicles is the U.S. Army’s newest combat vehicle and, say BAE, gives Soldiers critical upgrades in mobility, survivability, interoperability and power.
This contract begins the second phase of full-rate production of AMPVs between March 2026 and February 2027.
“It’s crucial that we continue to replace the M113s, and that we do it at a pace that ensures Soldiers are unmatched on the modern battlefield. We are fully committed to continue our swift work with the Army to produce high-quality AMPVs at an increased and sustained rate for Soldiers,” said Bill Sheehy, BAE Systems AMPV program director.
“This next phase for AMPV furthers our joint efforts to equip the ABCT with a combat platform that helps them successfully achieve missions they’ll encounter today and decades from now, in addition to having a highly capable vehicle that can maneuver with the fleet in the toughest terrains out there.”
Currently produced in five variants including the General Purpose, Mortar Carrier, Medical Evacuation, Medical Treatment and Mission Command, the AMPV operates in various roles with hulls that serve as a foundation to upgrade to future mission roles.
“The multi-mission ready AMPV FoV replaces vehicles from the Army’s Vietnam War-era M113 family, modernizing the force and providing critical survivability, mobility, and interoperability upgrades to the Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT).
BAE Systems remains committed to the future of the AMPV platform, ensuring that Soldiers are unmatched on the modern battlefield. Investments are underway to create a more modular chassis that will allow for quick integration of next-generation technologies and capabilities to support potential future customer needs.
The Army first awarded BAE Systems the AMPV engineering and manufacturing development contract in 2014 and signed a low-rate initial production contract in 2018. This most recent milestone follows the program’s full rate production contract award in August 2023.”
Work on the AMPV program takes place across BAE Systems’ industrial network, which includes facilities in Aiken, South Carolina; Anniston, Alabama; Phoenix, Arizona; Sterling Heights, Michigan; and York, Pennsylvania.
It appears that lots of NATO nations are in the process of replacing lots of old equipment at a decent rate of knots – apart from the UK!
Keep hearing lots of excuses as to why we haven’t got more Boxers into the army yet, but that doesn’t seem to have been an issue for other customers – looking at AUS, Germany and Lithuania to name but three???
it does seem to be the case…not sure our political Classes have got the “pre war” memo…
Exactly. Are the UK PIC observing what their allies are doing? And with tracked too! Will they follow suit? What’s happening? Seems as slow as.
PIC?
We are not following suit in replacing tracked Infantry vehs (Warriors or FV432s) with new build tracked vehicles. MoD has decided that our Infantry will not have tracked vehicles. It smacks of a political decision.
Easter Monday morning to you Graham, sorry, PIC, Person(s) In Charge.
You’re more in the know there but I find it quite bewildering really considering nearly all our allies are still choosing tracked or will have both. I won’t rant on as it’s all been covered before.
Enjoy the rest of Easter!
Easter Monday morning to you Quentin. I guess you are in the US? PIC sounds very American to me. We have had our Infantry in tracked vehicles in an armoured brigade since 1962 – FV432 APCs, then Warrior IFVs from 1987 (but with some 432s retained as the Treasury did not fund all 432s to be replaced by Warrior!!). We always thought the French were strange having Infantry on wheels in support of tanks. But then they had little experience of armoured warfare in the modern age. The Infantry was supposed to get upgraded Warrior which would have been fantastic… Read more »
Good afternoon Graham from Sydney, sorry for the “business speak “. You’d be familiar with “2IC”, for second in charge? My then boss was English, as am I, who used these terms so I’ll blame him. I know I’ll always get a good reply from you on the wheeked/tracked debate. I just read on Janes today that Aus has begun local production of the Hanwha K9 Huntsman 155mm SPG SA9 & SA10 reloading vehicle, for 30 & 15 respectively. It’ll be interesting now if the UK adopts the same.
The first tranche of UK Boxers were only ordered in Nov 2019. Two prototypes were delivered in late 2023. The first 117 vehicles are being built in Germany. Manufacturing facilities in Telford and Stockport are ramping up for the remaining 506 in Tr 1 and 2. Delivery is going to be slow.
The Germans ordered their first tranche in 2006 and the first were delivered just under 3 years later.
Lithuania ordered in 2016. They received vehs from Jul 2019 to end-2023.
Happy Easter Graham, I think @Q hails out of Aus/NZ? So, for both Germans and Lithuanian, 3 years from first order to first units into service. Here we are into our fifth year and we have – 2 prototypes!! I appreciate that COVID put a spanner in the delivery schedule, but we simply cannot keep using that as an excuse for our glacial procurement process. I was actually only using Boxer as an example, Ajax, AS90, T26/31 are all suffering from the same symptoms. Excruciatingly slow procurement, and this from a country with arguably the second largest defence budget in… Read more »
Hi Deep, hope you had a great Easter. Our procurement process by default is desperately slow with the exception of UOR of course. Some procurements for the core (non-UOR) equipment go quickly, but is the exception rather than the rule. Back in the day AS90 was a fast procurement as SP70 had been cancelled and we needed a SPG solution fast. Much more recently, procurement of Archer has been fast. Many reasons for slow procurement in general – you could write a book about it. M4/M249 date from the 80s, with M4 being a shortened form of the older M16A2.… Read more »
Im loath to say it but this looks like a much better bet for replacing our FV432’s than the ( expensive ) Boxer,plus it has the bonus of being Tracked.
And the US Bradley replacement IFV will be different again with RM Lynx versus GDLS Griffin Ascod chassis’. There’s quite a bit choice around. No reason why there can’t be a sensible mix of tracked and wheeled.
Sensible mix is the right phrase. Tracked for tanks and those in close proximity to, and working with tanks ie medium recce and the AI. Wheels for everyone else. Artillery – have both tracked and wheeled.
Hi again Graham, I’ve replied to you above.