General Dynamics [GD] said it confirmed the ability of its Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) ballistic hull design to meet the Marine Corps’ current ACV mine-blast survivability requirements after recently conducted simulated tests.
The internally-funded tests, which took place in October, simulated an underbelly mine-blast event on the forward and aft sections of the ACV ballistic hull, GD said in a statement. The company said the tests confirm that the hull design meets the Marine Corps’ ACV survivability requirement.
Marine Corps spokesman Manny Pacheco said yesterday since the Marine Corps doesn’t yet have specific survivability requirements for the ACV hull, he couldn’t confirm General Dynamics’ claims.
GD spokesman Karl Oskoian said Monday the company used live-fire explosive charges that simulated the explosive force of the blast specified in the Marine Corps’ requirements, which he said is classified.
“We routinely model our vehicle designs in a computer-simulated environment before we conduct live-fire testing,” Oskoian said.
GD also said the test provided empirical data to correlate survivability models that will be used to refine and confirm performance of the hull design, which will also be tested by the Marine Corps under the ACV Hull Survivability Demonstrator contract. Oskoian said the test data is not releasable.
Oskoian said GD is under contract to deliver the ACV hull design for government testing by April. Oskoian said the government will determine the subsequent test schedule and he expects a testing period between April and November 2013.
Marine Corps Program Manager for Advanced Amphibious Assault (PM AAA) Col. Keith Moore told Defense Daily in September he planned to go before a Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) this fall for an in-process review of the development path forward, but Pacheco said Monday a DAB meeting will “most likely” happen after the holiday season (Defense Daily, Sept. 25). Pacheco said the DAB for the ACV could give the “green light” on releasing the program’s request for proposals (RFP).
“The Marine Corps is using the extra time to review and refine the ACV requirements,” Pacheco said. “Once a DAB is held, we will transition for a requirements development to the next phase of the acquisition process.”
The ACV Hull Survivability Demonstrator contract, awarded in August, is for the design, fabrication and test support of a full-scale hull to demonstrate crew-protection technologies, GD said. Work will conclude by May.