The contract was awarded in Dec '14. The first prototypes started testing late last year. The first vehicles are expected to go into full production in the next year or two. Fielding should be around 2020. The BAE AMPVs are all Bradley-based vehicles.

5 versions.


The easiest one to kitbash from a bradley would be the utiity and mortar carrier

Utility Vehicle (APC)



Command Post Carrier


Mortar Carrier


Ambulances

4-patient (ala M113)


6-patient (ala M577)

For our tenth anniversary (aluminum) my wife and I purchased Boeing stock for each other as gift. (As opposed to say, an aluminum framed GXR which I would probably have looked ridiculous on) The next year, steel, we purchased BAE. Two of the best decisions we've made. Of course when I was at Camp Shelby in 2013 they told me all of the old Bradley hulks there were going to be slated for this program once, not if, approved. Does that count as insider trading?

BAE wins the contract for the AMPV to replace the M113

In its heaviest configuration, it's 40 tons. If you add a turret to it, it's a Bradley.

I think this chassis has the potential for a lot of other variants, such as a small Self Propelled Howitzer, SAM or 30mm Anti-Air, ECM, laser turret, and with the FCS turret, perhaps a heavier and better protected 105mm to 120mm Mobile Protected Firepower medium tank that actually isn't the real MPF 20-30 ton light tank. The US Army really needs to see what other "egg variants" they could hatch out of the AMPV.

The contract was awarded in Dec '14. The first prototypes started testing late last year. The first vehicles are expected to go into full production in the next year or two. Fielding should be around 2020. The BAE AMPVs are all Bradley-based vehicles.

5 versions.

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The contract was awarded in Dec '14. The first prototypes started testing late last year. The first vehicles are expected to go into full production in the next year or two. Fielding should be around 2020. The BAE AMPVs are all Bradley-based vehicles.

5 versions.

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While working as a contractor at the Army's PEO for ground combat systems, I sat in a teleconference with the Army's Vice Chief of Staff when the decision was made that the five variants of the M-113 vehicle which were still an integral part of the TOE for the Army's Heavy Brigades had to be replaced.

ONLY the Army could have made that process result in an outcome which saw the OBVIOUS choice, award the contract to BAE to modify existing Bradley vehicles into the desired configurations (just like we did SIXTY years ago with the ORIGINAL M113) take FIVE YEARS, and result in the fielding of the replacement to take over TEN YEARS!

Absolutely the right choice, but almost criminally negligent the path it took to get there.

And people always seem surprised at how much stuff costs. Yeah, I get things are more complicated and have a lot more capability, but DAMN! The Army went from ZERO to 100 between 1940 and 1945. We have built a process that guarantees sloth and waste.

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BAE wins the contract for the AMPV to replace the M113

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Bad day for Mike Sparks.... (private joke )

H.P.