All five variants of its Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, including the general purpose version, have been delivered by BAE Systems to the U.S. Army for future testing. Photo courtesy of BAE Systems

April 4 (UPI) -- BAE Systems has delivered all five variants of its Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle to the U.S. Army for testing.

The AMPV is a highly flexible vehicle designed to replace the Vietnam War-era M113 family of vehicles.


The 29 vehicles delivered were built under the $383 million contract signed in December 2014 for the Engineering and Manufacturing Design phase for the development and production of vehicles across all of its variants -- general purpose, mission command, mortar carrier, medical evacuation and medical treatment.

In all, the contract is worth $1.2 billion for 289 vehicles for the EMD and Low-Rate Initial Production phases of the AMPV program.

The first vehicles were primarily manufactured at the company's plan in York, Pa.

"The AMPV is essential to the future of the Armored Brigade Combat Team," Bill Sheehy, AMPV program director for BAE Systems, said in a press release. "Delivering all EMD vehicles to the Army is a proud moment for us -- it means we're another step closer to delivering the next generation of power, mobility, and survivability to our soldiers in our combat formations."

The AMPV is designed to operate alongside the M1 Abrams tank and the M2 Bradley, the {link:company said: "https://www.baesystems.com/en/product/armored-multipurpose-vehicle-ampv" target="_blank"

"The next phase of testing will help us to better understand the soldier/machine relationship and identify areas we can improve upon," Sheehy said. "Delivering the best AMPV will not end with formal testing but continue as we field the vehicles throughout the Army and we learn new things about performance and the soldiers expectations.

A sixth armored vehicle variant for combat engineers at Echelons Above Brigade is planned to replace M113s.

Overall, the company said it expects to meet the Army's Milestone C review in 2019 in preparation for low-rate production.

"Like the venerable M113, AMPV is looking forward to a long and effective role in the Army," Sheehy said.