British arms, security, and aerospace company BAE Systems has received a $184 million contract option from the US Marine Corps for more amphibious combat vehicles (ACV) under full-rate production.
BAE said that the order demonstrates the Marine Corps’ confidence in a program that was on track to deliver this critical capability to the Marines.
This contract award will cover production, fielding, and support costs for the ACV personnel carrier (ACV-P) variant. BAE Systems was awarded the first full-rate production contract option in December for the first 36 vehicles.
This option on that contract increases the total number of vehicles under full-rate production to 72, for a total value of $366 million.
John Swift , director of amphibious programs at BAE Systems, said: “ The exercising of this option validates years of teamwork in partnership with the Marines to provide the most adaptable amphibious vehicle possible to meet their expeditionary needs. The ACV was designed to meet the Marines’ needs of today while allowing for growth to meet future mission role requirements ”.
As for the ACV, it is a highly mobile, survivable, and adaptable platform for conducting rapid ship-to-shore operations and brings enhanced combat power to the battlefield. BAE Systems is under contract to deliver two variants to the Marine Corps under the ACV Family of Vehicles program: the ACV-P and the ACV command variant (ACV-C). A 30mm cannon (ACV-30) is currently under contract for design and development and a recovery variant (ACV-R) is also planned.
The Marine Corps selected BAE Systems along with teammate Iveco Defence Vehicles for the ACV program in 2018 to replace its legacy fleet of Assault Amphibious Vehicles (AAV), also built by BAE Systems.
The company was also recently awarded an indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract worth up to $77 million for the ACV program that includes the provision of spare and replacement parts, testing equipment, and other services.
ACV production and support is taking place at BAE Systems locations in Virginia, California, Michigan, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
BAE has been busy recently. Namely, the company was recently selected to supply twelve Bofors 40 Mk4 naval guns to the Belgian and Dutch navies as part of the joint mine countermeasures vessels (MCMV) program.
Also, BAE Systems received a $315 million contract from the Royal Navy to upgrade Spearfish and Sting Ray torpedoes while, in December, the company cut steel to officially launch the Hunter program’s prototyping phase and won a deal from Fleetway to deliver a range of digital solutions for on-shore support of Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) vessels.