U.S. Marines award amphibious vehicle deal to overseas firms

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Reuters / November 24, 2015

The U.S. Marine Corps awarded Tysons Corner-based consulting firm [middle man] Science Applications International Corp (SAIC) and UK-based BAE Systems contracts for the first phase prototypes of a wheeled amphibious combat, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday.

BAE is offering a variant of the Italian Iveco SuperAV (http://www.army-technology.com/projects/iveco-superav-8x8-armoured-personnel-carrier/).

SAIC is offering a variant of the Singaporean Terrex (http://www.stengg.com/products-solutions/products/terrex-8x8-armoured-personnel-carrier).

BAE Systems was awarded a $103.8 million contract for 13 vehicles.

SAIC was awarded a $121.5 million contract, also for 13 vehicles.

Last year the Marine Corps started a competition for the amphibious combat vehicle, with the first phase known as the Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV)1.1.

The program will be a modest replacement for the tracked Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle that was being developed for the Marines by General Dynamics Corp before its cancellation in 2011 after large cost increases and technical issues.

The competitors included Lockheed Martin Corp, General Dynamics, and Michigan-based Advanced Defense Vehicle Systems.

At least one of them, Lockheed Martin, might file a protest.

John Garner, program manager for the advanced amphibious assault, said the plan was to buy three more prototype vehicles from each company when funding was available.

The Marine Corps will carry out testing, select one company from the two competitors, and make a production decision by “late spring, early summer of 2018,” Garner said.

Garner said the first phase of the program would cost around $1.2 billion and the winner would ultimately produce 204 vehicles.

Garner said that they were buying numerous prototype vehicles because it would allow the Marine Corps to shorten the testing period and not lead to delays if a vehicle needed repairs.

He added that while land and water capabilities were given equal importance in making the selection, “extra credit” was given to the amphibious capability of the vehicle because “fundamentally this vehicle has to be an amphibious vehicle."

The winning companies will build the vehicles in 2016, and conduct aggressive testing in 2017 that will inform the Marine Corps development of requirements for its next iteration of the vehicle — ACV 1.2 — according to Col. Roger Turner, director of the Marine Corps' Capabilities Development Directorate. The Marine Corps will be able to refine what ACV 1.2 will look like and then "we will move out with the remainder of the program once we know what details of ACV 1.1 will yield.

ACV 1.1. has been met with criticism because it will likely be a displacement hull vehicle, meaning it bobs through the water at a low speed. Critics argue that slow-moving vehicles that must travel 100 miles to shore over the course of a few hours could be sitting ducks for enemies that can lob shore-based missiles at them in the water.

But the Marine Corps believes it's taking the right path, saying its priority is to build wheeled vehicles that are well suited to move quickly across land, where the majority of missions will take place.