Marine Corps Taking Low-Risk Approach to Amphibious Combat Vehicle.

• Author: Harper, Jon

Instead of grasping for leap-ahead technologies that might derail efforts to acquire a new amphibious combat vehicle, the Marine Corps is pursuing a low-risk path that could deliver a big win for the acquisition community.

In June, the program reached Milestone C and the service awarded a $198 million contract to BAE Systems for 30 vehicles for low-rate initial production and live-fire testing. The company beat out a team led by SAIC for the final downselect.

BAE partnered with Italian firm Iveco for the competition.

"They had a proven platform" that was developed for the Italian military, said John Swift, BAE's program director for amphibious combat vehicles. "We believed it was low risk, and then fortunately we were able to prove to the Marine Corps that it was indeed low risk."

The drive train and suspension performed well in reliability testing, he noted.

Additionally, the vehicles delivered for the engineering and manufacturing development phase were built in "a production-like environment," he said. That demonstrated the company's ability to plan for and then execute the manufacture of the vehicle, and then deliver it on or ahead of schedule, he said.

The LRIP contract award was a big win for the company and reestablishes it as the leader in the amphibious vehicle sector, Swift said. It "makes us really the only manufacturer of ground combat amphibious vehicles in the U.S.," he added. "As far as our strategic portfolio opening for us, this is very profound."

BAE's platform is an 8x8 wheeled vehicle that can swim up to 12 nautical miles at speeds of 6 knots. On a paved road, it can drive 65 mph with a range of up 325 miles. It can carry 13 Marines plus a crew of three, with a payload capacity of 7,280 pounds, according to the company.

"It's a design that has been around a while, it's just customized for the Marines," said Jim Hasik, a defense analyst at the Atlantic Council.

The ACV is intended to replace aging amphibious assault vehicles. The Marine Corps wants a platform that can carry seaborne troops onto the beach and then operate ashore.

Increment 1.1 will consist of 204 personnel vehicles. Increment 1.2 is expected to consist of approximately 490 platforms to include personnel, command and control, recovery and gun variants.

"We have hit every milestone and every knowledge point that was levied upon the program... and we hit them on schedule," Col. Kirk Mullins, program manager for advanced amphibious assault in program executive...