U.S. Marines award amphibious vehicle deal to BAE, SAIC

By Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Marine Corps awarded Science Applications International Corp (SAIC) and BAE Systems PLC contracts for the first phase prototypes of a wheeled amphibious combat, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday.

SAIC was awarded a contract for more than $121 million for 13 vehicles. BAE Systems won an award for 13 vehicles worth nearly $104 million, the U.S. Department of Defense said in its daily digest of major contract awards.

Deepak Bazaz, BAE's director of new and amphibious vehicles, said they were starting some of the procurement because of the aggressive schedule.

In a statement, SAIC said it was eager to begin work with the Marine Corps.

 

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 Advanced Defense Vehicle Systems.

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

"At this time, the company is awaiting a debrief on the program before making a decision about a path forward," said Lockheed spokesman John Kent.

"The ACV 1.1 is key to ensuring the Marines will have a combat system that allows us to use the sea as maneuver space," Colonel Roger Turner, director of capabilities development directorate at the Marine Corps, told reporters earlier on Tuesday.

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."

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by David Gregorio, Bernard Orr)