The substitute for the "aluminum coffin" is a step away from mass production. Yesterday, May 16, portal armyrecognition.com He announced that the US Department of Defense and BAE Systems have signed a new contract for the development and supply of AMPV tracked combat vehicles.
The new contract worth $15.7 million includes the supply of spare parts, initial training and the transfer of the first armored vehicles (probably training) to the army. This contract is an interim one under the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) program, which provides for the replacement of 2,897 M113 tracked armored personnel carriers and vehicles based on them in the US Army armored brigades.
One of the AMPV variants on trial
Image source: defence-blog.com
Over the next ten years, the US Department of Defense plans to adopt 2,907 AMPV units (993 command and staff vehicles, 790 medical evacuation vehicles, 386 self-propelled mortars, 216 medical ambulances and the same number of general-purpose vehicles). In total, they plan to spend up to $13 billion to replace the M113 armored personnel carriers with new vehicles. On the battlefield, the new APCs will be used in conjunction with 1 Abrams tanks and M2 Bradley combat vehicles.
More information about the AMPV program can be found in the article "Shift for veterans".
