BAE Systems, one of the world’s largest defense contractors, has released a new photo of the U.S. Army’s Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV).
The AMPV is a U.S. Army program aimed at replacing the Vietnam War-era fleet of M113 troop carriers with new vehicles to address real-world situations.
First fielded in 1962, the M113 was ubiquitous during the conflict in Vietnam and has seen service in virtually every American military action in the ensuing decades. Though largely surpassed in both use and operation by the M2 Bradley, variants of the M113 continue in operation to this day.
Nonetheless, the M113 was built for a different generation of warfighting, and the recently developed AMPV is intended to dramatically increase Soldiers’ transport capabilities. The AMPV’s five variants–a general purpose vehicle, mission command vehicle, mortar carrier, and medical evacuation and treatment vehicles– have nearly 80% more interior volume than their predecessor, and significantly more power and survivability. Cooling and electrical systems are also upgraded to accommodate both existing and future upgrades.
BAE Systems is currently in low-rate production for the AMPV program and has delivered at least one of each of the five variants designed for the family of vehicles.
“The AMPV family of vehicles will bring unmatched capability to the battlefield and has demonstrated outstanding survivability and force protection as well as flexibility and growth for the future,” said Bill Sheehy, the AMPV program director at BAE Systems.
The all-new AMPV is the first tracked combat vehicle built from the ground up for the U.S. Army in more than two decades. The highly survivable and mobile family of vehicles addresses the critical need to replace M113s and provides significant improvements in power, mobility, interoperability, and survivability for the Armored Brigade Combat Team over the legacy family of vehicles.
