BAE Systems is offering its Beowulf tracked platform for the Army’s competition to find a new all-terrain, cold weather support vehicle, the company said Thursday.
The Army is planning to award up to two prototype deals for the Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicle (CATV), with plans for a potential $250 million follow-on production contract covering nearly 200 vehicles.
“The Beowulf and its armored sister vehicle, the BvS10, represent the most advanced vehicles in the world when it comes to operating in any terrain, whether it’s snow, ice, rock, sand, mud, swamp, or steep mountainous climbs, and its amphibious capability allows it to swim in flooded areas or in coastal water environments,” Keith Klemmer, the company’s director of business development, said in a statement. “Beowulf’s versatility and adaptability are truly remarkable and it’s ready to meet the Army and Army National Guard’s mission.”
BAE Systems said Beowulf is designed to operate in arctic environments carrying cargo and personnel, with a modular design that allows it to be reconfigured “for multiple missions, including logistical support, disaster and humanitarian relief, search and rescue, and a number of other scenarios.”
Beowulf is the unarmored variant of BAE Systems’ BvS10 all-weather tracked vehicle, which currently has five international customers including the U.K. Royal Marines.
“Leveraging the BvS10 means the Beowulf design is already mature and ready for production,” the company wrote in a statement. “Beowulf also benefits from efficient lifecycle management and routine maintenance and sustainment costs by leveraging common components in the BvS10.”
The Army released a Request for Prototype Proposals for CATV in June through the National Advanced Mobility Consortium, with the program set to find a replacement for its Small Unit Support Vehicles (SUSVs), the Bv206, which was manufactured by BAE’s Hägglunds subsidiary and has been in service since the 1980s.
The prototype deals for CATV will be worth $2 million each, with both offerors tasked with delivering a general purpose vehicle and a cargo variant to the Cold Regions Test Center in Alaska for evaluation.
The eventual $250 million follow-on production contract is set to cover 165 general purpose CATVs and 35 cargo variants.
BAE Systems has previously discussed looking to offer BvS10 as an option for the Marine Corps’ potential search for a new cold-weather, tracked vehicle as the force begins considering options needed to better traverse harsher conditions in the face of increased activity in the Arctic region (Defense Daily, Sept. 26 2018).