The first Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, or AMPV, is scheduled to be handed over to the Army Dec. 15 for testing.
That was reported by www.army.mil.
The AMPV demonstrator will roll out of the BAE Systems plant in York, Pennsylvania, to begin a 52-month engineering and manufacturing development phase for the vehicle. At least 29 of the vehicles will be manufactured for this EMD phase of the procurement process, officials said.
If the low-rate production option for the AMPV is approved, procurement officials said several hundred of the vehicles will be manufactured for testing over the next four years.
The AMPV will replace the armored brigade combat team’s M113 Family of Vehicles. The AMPV addresses the M113’s shortcomings in: survivability and force protection; size, weight, power, and cooling, known as SWAP-C; officials said. It also has the ability to incorporate future technologies and the Army’s network, they said.
AMPV has a brand new hull, but it maintains some of the Bradley legacy design, so there are some compatibility efficiencies in getting it built on schedule, said Maj. Gen. David G. Bassett, program executive officer for Ground Combat Systems.
In fact, about 60 to 70 percent of the parts are common with existing ground combat vehicles, Bassett said during a press conference in October.
The AMPV has the additional space inside for adding new systems in the future and it comes with an improved power train. The hull is stronger from a force protection aspect too, he said.
Meanwhile, there are many Bradleys still in service “so we’re building new capabilities in an incremental way over time,” he added.
“I’d love to have replacement programs today for Abrams and Bradleys,” Bassett said. “We could get those plans” for replacements, “but it just doesn’t fit into this portfolio and budget requirement, so instead we’re looking at, do you want to do an ECP-3 [engineering change proposal] on a Bradley or do you want to bridge to a new platform? We’re making informed decisions.”