SAIC wins Assault Amphibious Vehicle support work

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) will engineer, design and test upgrades of prototype and low-rate initial production (LRIP) vehicles for the US Marine Corps’ legacy Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) Personnel Carrier Variant Platform programme under a new contract announced on 27 May. The multiple-award, firm fixed-price contract was awarded by the USMC Program Executive Office - Land Systems (PEO-LS).

The AAV platform is designed to deliver soldiers from ‘ship to shore to objective’. The highly mobile amphibious vehicle is capable of assaulting any shoreline from the well decks of naval assault vessels. Its tracked and armoured design then provides for the transport of marines and cargo through hostile territory.

SAIC's work on the contract includes updates of ten prototype and 52 LRIP AAV vehicles to provide improved protection while gaining back land and water mobility that improves the AAV's ability to fight.

Tom Watson, senior vice president and general manager of the navy and marine corps customer group, said: ‘SAIC's approach builds upon its successful support to similar vehicles, such as the AAVC7 and Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected class of combat vehicles. SAIC's past performance demonstrates its ability to adhere to schedule, improve existing vehicles from assembly to integration and test, and still reduce risk and cost.’

The contract has a 10-month period of performance and an initial contract value of $16 million to execute preliminary and critical design reviews. Additional options for prototype vehicle build and testing followed by low rate initial production may be exercised, resulting in a total contract value of more than $192 million over five years.