U.S. Marine Corps Advances SAIC to Next Phase of AAV SU Production
Category: Defence Industry
RESTON, Va.--The U.S. Marine Corps Program Executive Officer Land Systems (PEO LS) approved the Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) Survivability Upgrade (SU) program to enter into the Production and Deployment Phase following a Milestone C decision. As a part of the decision Science Applications International Corp. SAIC was awarded an initial Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) option to provide the Marine Corps additional AAV SU vehicles. As part of the LRIP decision, SAIC will deliver a total of 25 vehicles over a two-year period for operational test and evaluation and initial fielding to USMC expeditionary units.
“SAIC is pleased to be moving into the LRIP phase for the AAV SU program and to begin delivering these important survivability and mobility enhancements out into the fleet and into the hands of our Marines,” said Tom Watson, SAIC senior vice president and general manager of the Navy and Marine Corps Customer Group.
These vehicles are in addition to 10 AAV SUs prototypes that were delivered during the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase. During the EMD phase, SAIC’s AAV SUs completed rigorous development testing required by the USMC.
Under the contract, SAIC is required to upgrade personnel-variant (P7) vehicles and command and control-variant (C7) vehicles as part of an engineering design effort. SAIC received orders for 22 AAV SU P7 variant vehicles and three C7 variant vehicles. The LRIP phase is valued at approximately $145 million, if all options are exercised.