The U.S. Dept. of Defense awarded $356.7 million to BAE Systems Land and Armaments L.P., York, Penn., for ongoing production of Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicles. The assignment is designated as a contract modification, specifying “weapons and tracked combat vehicle procurement” in relation to a March 2023 contract authorizing early-order material purchases and plant-capacity expansion, anticipating the start of production for the AMPV program.
Later in 2023, the Pentagon authorized procurement of long-range materials and components, for Low-Rate Initial Production for 551 of the new vehicles.
The scope of the AMPV program foresees more than 2,900 units produced to replace the M113 armored personnel carriers long in service for the U.S. Army.
Many of the U.S. Army’s M113s have been supplied to the Ukrainian forces fighting against Russian invaders in that ongoing conflict.
BAE Systems’ York, Penn., operation is the manufacturing center for the AMPV program. The work related to the new contract modification is foreseen completing in May 2028.
AMPV is described as a general purpose vehicle that follows BAE’s M2 Bradley fighting vehicle, with variants for troop transport, mission command, mortar carrier, medical evacuation, and medical treatment.
The AMPV design was completed and accepted in 2016, and qualification testing and live-fire testing for the AMPVs were initiated more than six years ago.
