IED clearance operations that also include route reconnaissance and clearance.
OPERATIONAL IMPACT
Because Marine units operating in a complex security environment require vehicles capable of surviving mine/IED, small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenade, and vehicle-borne IED attacks, MRAP vehicles provide deployed commanders, various units, EOD, and combat engineer teams with highly survivable ground-mobility platforms. Marines participate in and/or respond rapidly to a variety of offensive, stability, and security opera-tions without a large security contingent and need a vehicle capable of functioning in a counter attack after surviving a “first blow” ambush or attack. The MRAP pro-vides that protection.
PROGRAM STATUS
The Mine Resistant Ambush Pro-tected (MRAP) program rapidly evolved from a small Rapid Deployment Capabil-ity component effort to a Joint Acquisi-tion Category (ACAT) ID Major Defense
1 3 0 | USMC CONCEPTS & PROGRAMS 2011 Acquisition Program (MDAP) in Septem-ber 2007. The Marine Corps is executing the joint program on behalf of the Navy (lead Service). A sole-source contract was awarded in November 2006 for 200 CAT II and up to 80 CAT III vehicles to bridge urgent warfighting needs, after which a competitive acquisition for the balance of CAT I and CAT II platforms was put in place. In January 2007, nine indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts were awarded to vendors that demon-strated capabilities to meet the program’s overarching objective of producing the maximum number of survivable, safe, and sustainable MRAP vehicles in the shortest period of time. The MRAP Joint Program Office (JPO) has used a series of Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) awards with six of the vendors to order a majority of the vehicles.
The JPO has initiated a constant modernization process and Capability Insertion (CI) program in theater for ve-hicles redeploying from Iraq to Afghani-stan at the MRAP sustainment facility in Kuwait. All MRAP Cougars (CAT I and CAT II), RG-31 and RG-33 vehicles in Afghanistan, for example, are being up-graded with independent suspension systems (ISS) to improve drivability and mobility in the more difficult Afghan ter-rain. The JPO is also assessing the use of ISS on other MRAP vehicles. Additional modernization efforts include bar armor, rocket propelled grenade defeat, auto-matic fire suppression systems and other improvements to enhance MRAP perfor-mance in Afghanistan.
The JPO awarded a contract to Os-hkosh Corporation in June 2009 for a smaller, more agile MRAP variant. The
MRAP-All Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV) ful-fills an urgent and compelling require-ment to protect Marines with a highly survivable and off-road capable vehicle.
The first M-ATVs arrived in Afghanistan in October 2009 and Initial Operational Capability was achieved on April 2010.
The current M-ATV requirement for all Services is 8,440 vehicles.
PROGRAM STATUS
In the fall of 2010 the MRAP program responded to an urgent requirement from theater for recovery vehicles with the same survivability as MRAP vehicles due to the increase in op tempo and increased at-tacks against Coalition Forces. A delivery order modification was made to an exist-ing IDIQ contract with Navistar Defense to produce 250 of these vehicles. The first recovery vehicles will be delivered in the spring of 2011.
On 15 December, 2010, Joint Re-quirement Oversight Council Memoran-dum 194-10 increased the MRAP vehicle Acquisition Objective (AO) to 27,344. To date, a total of 26,552 vehicles have been procured for the Service and U.S. Spe-cial Operations Command (SOCOM) through 20 LRIP decisions. As of 3 Feb-ruary 2011, the government had accepted 25,549 MRAP vehicles; 21,707 vehicles have been fielded to units in theater.
Procurement Profile: FY2007-FY2010
Army 20,366
Developer/Manufacturer:
BAE, York, PA BAE-TVS, Sealy, TX
Force Protection Industries, Inc., Charleston, SC
General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C), London, Ontario
Navistar Defense, LLC, Warrenville, IL Oshkosh Corporation, Oshkosh, WI
1 3 2 | USMC CONCEPTS & PROGRAMS 2011
DESCRIPTION
The MPC will provide four battal-ions of armored personnel carrier (APC) general support lift to the ground com-bat element (GCE) of the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF). Designed to complement the Service’s Amphibious Vehicle capability, the MPC will be effec-tive across the range of military opera-tions during sustained operaopera-tions ashore and reinforce the assault echelon during forcible-entry operations. Both MPC and the new amphibious combat vehicle will replace the legacy Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV) in the Assault Amphib-ian (AA) Battalions of Marine divisions.
An MPC Company is designed to lift an infantry battalion in conjunction with the infantry’s organic wheeled assets.
MPC will field a base vehicle (MPC-P) and two supporting mission role vari-ants (MRV): MPC-C and MPC-R. Two MPC-Ps lift a reinforced rifle squad. The MPC-C supports mobile battalion com-mand echelon/fire-support coordination center functions. The MPC-R fulfills mobile recovery and maintenance requirements.
OPERATIONAL IMPACT
The MPC supports expeditionary maneuver warfare and the requirements of the GCE based maneuver task force by providing a platform that possesses a balance of performance, protection, and payload attributes. From the point of design, the vehicle will be well pro-tected against the full range of known and emerging threats while maintaining robust performance requirements in sup-port of the Marine Corps mission profile (30 percent on road / 70 percent off road).
Effective on land while maneuvering with other wheeled and tracked combat and tactical vehicles, possessing sufficient le-thality to protect the vehicle and support dismounted infantry in the attack and re-taining sufficient payload to carry the in-fantry’s combat loads, mission-essential equipment, and days of supply, the MPC will be well postured to meet the many and varied demands of MAGTF opera-tions. Additionally, the MPC will possess a viable tactical water mobility capability.
Although not intended to achieve opera-tional water mobility performance lev-els (e.g., the over-the-horizon maneuver capability), the MPC will be sufficiently capable in the water to use the sea in the littoral operating area as maneuver space, breach inland water obstacles, and there-by increase the MAGTF commander’s maneuver options and the complexity of the threat faced by our enemies.