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Corps ups MRAP order, may replace Humvees

The Marine Corps is dramatically increasing its purchase plans for bomb-resistant vehicles with an eye toward eventually replacing all its Humvees in Iraq with the V-hulled contraptions, Corps sources said.

The Corps plans to buy 3,700 of the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, up from its initial purchase plan of 1,022.

The move comes just weeks after the Corps launched its first bid to speed up delivery of the MRAPs.

Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va., placed a $55.4 million order Feb. 15 for 90 MRAPs with BAE Systems and a $67.4 million, 125-vehicle order with Force Dynamics, said SysCom spokesman Bill Johnson-Miles. And the Corps plans to hand out more similar-sized contracts in coming days, he said.

In January, the Corps ordered four test vehicles apiece from those firms and seven other contractors, dispensing $43 million contracts with 60-day deadlines. The tight schedule reflected the Corps’ earlier desire to acquire about 1,000 vehicles by year’s end.

After visits to production lines in February, SysCom officials decided to up their orders with BAE, which is basing its MRAP on its RG33 line of vehicles, and Force Dynamics, a joint venture between General Dynamics Land Systems and Ladson, S.C.-based Force Protection, which makes the armored Cougar and Buffalo vehicles.

“These two companies have shown their reliability to produce vehicles, meaning they meet Marine Corps Systems Command survivability, production number and delivery timeline requirements,” Johnson-Miles said.

He said the other seven companies may also receive more orders.

The Marine Corps is also managing the acquisition of MRAPs for the Army, which wants about 4,700, and the Navy, which intends to buy more than 500. In all, future MRAP orders could total $6 billion.

Capt. Jeff Landis, also a SysCom spokesman, said the command is dealing with nine contractors at the same time in order to get the vehicles tested and out to the fleet faster.

“The only way to do this is to be aggressive,” Landis said. “If we have more than one company doing it, then the production capacity is doubled or tripled. We could almost get 18 different vehicles which meet the requirements and survivability tests.”

Among the requirements, which have been vetted by U.S. commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan: a blast-deflecting V-shaped hull and raised chassis. Testers at the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., will detonate bombs, mines and other weapons under each of the vehicles.

“There will be some blast tests and mobility tests to check the other automotive components such as slope, speed, towing capacity, suspension issues, transmissions,” Landis said.

The results could even affect decisions in the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle program, the Pentagon’s effort to develop the next-generation Humvee, he said.

The Corps plans to buy the MRAPs in two variants: smaller Mine Resistant Utility Vehicles for transporting troops, and larger Joint Explosive Disposal Rapid Response Vehicles for larger groups leading convoys, ferrying the wounded and handling the disposal of explosives.

Besides BAE and the Force Dynamics team, the other contractors are Armor Holdings Aerospace and Defense Group; General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada; General Purpose Vehicles; International Military and Government; Oshkosh Truck Corp.; Protected Vehicles; and Textron Marine and Land Systems.

Brig. Gen. Michael Brogan, chief of Systems Command, described the plan recently to the firms’ chief executive officers at Quantico.