The prototypes of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) finished more than 300 out of the 500 scheduled test hours at the Marine Corps’ Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch in Camp Pendleton, Calif., prime contractor General Dynamics [GD] said yesterday.
News of the milestone comes amid growing speculation that Defense Secretary Robert Gates might terminate the program this week as part of a DoD-wide efficiencies initiative.
The Marines plan to wrap up the EFV testing at the end of January and issue a final performance report on the program to DoD by the end of next month. The company said the vehicles are “exceeding the established requirements for sustained performance under normal operating conditions.”
General Dynamics delivered the seven new prototype vehicles being tested to the Marines in 2010. Reliability growth testing started in October 2010.
The EFV vehicle effort, which suffered cost and technical problems earlier this decade, was restructured and successfully emerged in 2008 from a critical design review (CDR) that determined the new vehicle design had favorable reliability estimates. As part of a second system design and development effort, formalized in a $766.8 million contract awarded in mid-2008, General Dynamics built the seven redesigned prototypes and modified existing, faulty test vehicles.