The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded BAE Systems modification contract for M88 recovery vehicles to the U.S. Army.
The award, announced by the DoD on 30 September, covers the procurement of M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift and Evacuation System vehicles.
Within the contract expected that work will be performed in York, Pennsylvania, with an estimated completion date of July 31, 2023.
U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity, according to a DoD contract announcements.
HERCULES has the lowest acquisition, operational and maintenance cost of any 70-ton capable recovery system, answering the need for cost-effective, self-supporting heavy recovery performance.
The M88A2 provides unparalleled capability for recovering today’s 70-ton combat vehicles including the M1A1, M1A2, Leopard MBT, bridging systems, and other medium weight vehicles.
HERCULES features overlay armor protection, ballistic skirts, a longer 35-ton boom, a 140,000-pound (63,504 kg) constant pull main winch with 280 feet of cable, and an auxiliary three-ton winch to aid main winch cable deployment. The M88A2 HERCULES is built and equipped to be the world’s recovery champion.
In addition, earlier in September 2019, BAE Systems had got a $318 million contract to upgrade M88 recovery vehicles to the M88A3 configuration designed for single-vehicle recovery of the latest version of the Abrams tank.