Textron Marine & Land Systems will provide 440 Medium Armored Security Vehicles (MASV) to equip the Afghanistan National Army (ANA) within 18 months for a total cost of $543 million.
The MASV family of armored vehicles comprises nine variants, configured for specific missions; the vehicles are derivatives of the M1117 Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) operated by the U.S. forces. ASV Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) are also operating with the Iraqi military and police, and the military forces of Colombia and Bulgaria.
The ASV missions within the U.S. Army include Military Police operations in support of convoy protection, checkpoint security, perimeter security and reconnaissance, as well as Field Artillery Combat Observation and Lasing Teams (COLT) with the M1200 Armored Knight configuration. The MASV mission variants include command and control, ambulance, engineering, maintenance, mortar, and reconnaissance vehicles.
The vehicles ordered for the ANA will be configured with Enhanced Survivability (ES) capability, which improves blast protection to mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) levels. The new ES-equipped vehicles will continue to utilize the M1117 V-shaped hull design, improved with additional protection design features that enable it to meet MRAP blast protection standards.
The total value of the program, with all options included, could reach over half a billion US$. The production will be performed at Textron Marine & Land Systems’ facilities in the New Orleans area. Sofar this facility has delivered 3,100 ASV vehicles. Textron Marine & Land Systems is an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company.
The vehicles will be contracted through the U.S. Army Foreign Military Sales (FMS) process and funded through the Afghan Security Forces Funds (ASFF). The contract covers the $257 million first year baseline order contract, with follow-on options for additional deliveries in subsequent years. The initial funding of $125.9 million has been authorized, funding the production of 240 vehicles to be delivered by June 2012. The contract includes options to produce up to an additional 200 vehicles, plus two option years for training and logistics support, with a potential value of $286 million. While these additional vehicles, if ordered, would have an estimated completion date of December 2012.
These vehicles will be delivered with associated support equipment, spare parts, field service representatives, training and training aids. If the options are, training and logistics support would continue through the first quarter of 2014, in time for the planned withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country.
