BAE Systems said Tuesday it has received a $67 million contract modification from the Marine Corps to develop two variants of the new Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV), a command and control configuration and vehicles outfitted with a 30mm medium caliber cannon.
The latest deal follows the ACV’s successful completion of requirements testing and affirms the Marine Corps’ move to go with a “Family of Vehicles” approach, which is set to also include a recovery variant.
“The ACV has proven to be a versatile platform capable of numerous configurations to meet current and future mission requirements,” John Swift, BAE Systems’ director of amphibious programs, said in a statement. “With this award, BAE Systems will be able to develop a family of vehicles that will deliver the technology and capability the Marines require to accomplish their mission in support of our national security.”
ACV-C, the command variant, will reconfigure the base vehicle to include seven workstations “to provide situational awareness and control of the battle space.”
The turreted variant, ACV-30, “integrates a 30mm cannon to provide the lethality and protection the Marines need while leaving ample room for troop capacity and payload.”
Marine Corps officials announced plans for the ACV variants in a January notice, which detailed an eventual goal to acquire 29 of the ACV-C, 150 units of the ACV-30 and 39 of the recovery and maintenance variant, the ACV-R (Defense Daily, Jan. 28).
BAE Systems received a $140 million deal in December to deliver the first 30 base-model vehicles beginning this summer.
Swift previously told reporters a requirements set for ACV-R is likely to be finalized in 2020 (Defense Daily, Feb. 13).
IOT&E for the initial base-model personnel ACVs will begin in the third quarter of FY ’20 and a full-rate production decision is slated for the fourth quarter of FY ’20, according to Swift.