The Pentagon has issued a call for bids to design, build and partially maintain up to 10,000 lighter Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, revealing plans to award up to five contracts for test vehicles in April and the first production orders in June.
The Dec. 8 request for proposals (RfP) indicates that contractors will be required to service and repair the MRAP All Terrain Vehicles (M-ATV) in theater to a greater degree than previous vehicle contracts have mandated. Builders will have to provide "battle damage repair" packages of parts that can repair 25 vehicles battered by roadside bombs and similar threats, and "sustainment support" packages of enough consumables, parts, and major subassemblies to keep 2,000 vehicles running for two years, the request said.
"This is called 'lessons learned,'" a senior Pentagon official said. "We need OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] to be prepared for what might happen."
Responding to urgent calls from U.S. commanders in Afghanistan, the military decided last summer to quickly buy tough vehicles that offered the protection of an MRAP yet could go off-road more easily.
"The M-ATV will enhance the effectiveness of ground combat forces with a focus on stability operations against unconventional enemy forces engaged in irregular warfare on a nonlinear battlefield," the RfP said.
Each vehicle must come with armor kits that can withstand rocket-propelled grenades and explosively formed penetrators.
"The M-ATV is an interim solution in limited quantities, seeks to improve mobility in restrictive terrain, while maintaining the protection levels provided with current MRAPs," said Army Col. Timothy Goddette, who directs Soldier/Maneuver and Sustainment Systems for the Army's acquisition chief.
The RfP calls for a "probable" order quantity of 2,080 vehicles but cites a ceiling of 10,000. Army officials hope to buy M-ATVs as quickly as they did MRAPs, more than 10,000 of which were delivered to Iraq and Afghanistan in less than two years. Written proposals and armor samples are due Jan. 12.
It calls for a vehicle weighing up to 12.5 tons not including payload, which means the M-ATV could be quite a bit heavier than the 7- to 10-ton truck originally envisioned, just two tons lighter than the lightest MRAP, and three to four tons heavier than most variants of the planned Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.
That likely means the M-ATV won't replace the JLTV, which is slated to be the Humvee of the future, air-transportable under a Chinook helicopter.
"The weights and protection of the M-ATV looks like they are targeted at Afghanistan, whereas JLTV is a much broader vehicle," said Regis Luther, BAE Systems' vice president of light tactical vehicles.
JLTV technology demonstration contracts were awarded Oct. 29 to BAE-Navistar, Lockheed-BAE and General Tactical Vehicles. Progress in the program, however, is now on hold pending the outcome of protests from Northrop-Oshkosh and Textron-Boeing-SAIC.
Among the firms interested in competing are AM General, BAE, Force Protection, Lockheed Martin, Navistar, Oshkosh and Textron.
BAE is planning to offer a slightly redesigned version of its Caiman Light MRAP, a lighter version of its 14- to 24-ton Caiman MRAP now in service in Iraq. Since 2006, the Pentagon has bought 2,686 Caimans, which are based on a Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) chassis. "We will bring down the overall height to 102 inches and bring the curb weight down to 25,000 pounds," BAE's Luther said. "All the lessons learned from Caiman will be incorporated."
Force Protection will bid its 7- to 10-ton Cheetah, a small MRAP designed for off-road use.
Navistar International will offer a tweaked version of its 12-ton MaxxPro Dash, itself a redesigned, smaller MRAP. The Pentagon ordered 822 in September and an additional 400 on Dec. 11
Oshkosh Defense will offer its 9-ton Sandcat, a four-wheel-drive, 90-mph vehicle built on a commercial Ford 550 chassis to fill a void between the up-armored Humvee and the JLTV, company officials said.
E-mail: kosborn@defensenews.com.
The Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program is ready to test a few components that soldiers may have in their hands by 2010.
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