A key Army officer on Wednesday said soldiers would benefit if the service could accelerate the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) program.
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, director of Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) and Deputy Commanding General, Futures, said accelerating AMPV would get a needed vehicle to soldiers faster and could also reduce unit cost and be a better deal for taxpayers. McMaster said a constrained budget environment is preventing the Army from accelerating AMPV, the service’s largest active acquisition program.
Photo: BAE Systems.
“AMPV is needed now,” McMaster told Defense Daily after an AUSA George Washington Chapter luncheon in Arlington, Va. “Anything we can do…the Army is all for it.”
BAE Systems is building the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) AMPVs. Company spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said Wednesday the first AMPV is halfway through the build process, having moved past the weld line and onto the machining line. The vehicle, she said, is scheduled to be completed this fall. BAE Systems is building 29 AMPVs for EMD.
The program successfully completed its critical design review (CDR) on June 23. The Army expected to have closure of all action items from the CDR by the end of July. Mitchell said all but one are currently completed and she expects that final one completed by the end of August. She declined to say which CDR action item would not be completed by the end of the month.
The Army plans to buy 2,907 total AMPVs to replace its M113 fleet, which have been in use since the Vietnam War. BAE Systems in 2014 won an initial $382 million EMD contract for its offering. The entire program is estimated to be worth more than $10 billion (Defense Daily, July 1).