Textron secures $333M US Army contract for vehicles used by Afghan Army

By

The Associated Press

Afghan commandos of 1st Company, 6th Special Operations Kandak conduct movement to their target in Mobile Strike Force Vehicles for an operation in Kabul province, Afghanistan, on Dec. 24, 2013. (Spc. Connor Mendez/U.S. Army)

NEW ORLEANS — Textron Marine and Land Systems has been awarded an Army contract for nearly $333 million to make up to 255 Mobile Strike Force Vehicles — armored personnel carriers that the company has been making since 2012 for the Afghan National Army.

Textron’s new contract runs through October 2024. It also covers hardware and field representative services.

A brief notice Wednesday in the Pentagon’s daily list of military contracts did not say where the new vehicles will be deployed.

Textron said in October 2015 that it had supplied 621 of the vehicles to the Afghan National Army since 2012, and more than 550 were in use. At the time, it had received a $17 million contract to train Afghan soldiers to maintain and repair the vehicles.