BAE Systems has received a $113.5 million contract from the US Marine Corps for another 26 amphibious combat vehicles (ACVs) under the ‘Low-Rate Initial Production’ phase of the programme.

This brings the total number of ACVs ordered to 116 and moves the programme closer to full-rate production.

The ACV is a highly mobile ‘survivable’ and adaptable ‘platform’ for conducting rapid ship-to-shore operations.

BAE Systems has been in low-rate production since 2018 on the personnel carrier variant.

The BAE Systems team (www.baesystems.com) and the US Marine Corps say they have been making significant strides towards full-rate production, including the successful completion of ‘Logistics Demonstration’ as a critical enabler for the programme to move into ‘Initial Operational Test and Evaluation’ with trained US Marine maintainers.

This and other major milestones, such as operator training and additional testing, will take place before full-rate production.

ACV production and support is taking place at BAE Systems locations in Virginia, California, Michigan, South Carolina and Pennsylvania.