BAE Systems has received a $113.5 million contract from the U.S. Marine Corps.
The contract is for an additional 26 Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACV) under the Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) phase of the programme.
“This award brings the total vehicle orders for the ACV to 116, and moves the program closer to full-rate production. The ACV is a highly mobile, survivable and adaptable platform for conducting rapid ship-to-shore operations and brings enhanced combat power to the battlefield. BAE Systems has been in low-rate production since 2018 on the personnel carrier variant in the ACV family, which is envisioned to consist of additional variants including command and control, 30mm medium caliber turret, and recovery versions.”
“The ACV provides the most survivable and mobile amphibious vehicle to the U.S. Marines Corps for supporting the warfighters’ ability to successfully execute their unique expeditionary missions,” said John Swift, director of amphibious programmes at BAE Systems.
“This award further demonstrates our commitment to that mission, it’s an important milestone for the program and represents a major step toward full rate production.”
The firm say that the BAE Systems team and the U.S. Marine Corps have been making significant strides to reach full-rate production, including the successful completion of Logistics Demonstration as a critical enabler for the program to move into Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) with trained U.S. Marine maintainers.
“This and other major milestones such as operator training and additional testing will take place before full-rate production. The US Marine Corps selected BAE Systems along with teammate Iveco Defence Vehicles for the ACV programme to replace its legacy fleet of Assault Amphibious Vehicles, which have been in service for decades and were also built by BAE Systems.”
BAE say that ACV production and support is taking place at BAE Systems locations in Stafford, Virginia; San Jose, California; Sterling Heights, Michigan; Aiken, South Carolina; and York, Pennsylvania.
if UK wasn’t spending enough on US equipment right now i’d say the RMs could do with a couple of dozen at the right price.
Significant that BAE PR does not refer this is an Iveco vehicle.