Textron Systems Canada Inc has been selected by the Canadian government for the Canadian Forces Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle (TAPV) program. The contract provides that the Textron TAPV Team, led by Textron Systems Canada, together with Textron Marine & Land Systems and Rheinmetall Canada, will manufacture 500 vehicles, with an option for up to 100 more.
The TAPV contract has a net value of $603.4 million CAD, with an additional five-year in-service support contract of $105.4 million CAD. The first vehicle is scheduled to be delivered to the Canadian Army in July 2014 and the last delivery is scheduled for March 2016.
The new Tactical Armored patrol Vehicles (TAPV) will enter production in 2014 and is expected to become operational by 2016, gradually replacing the RG-31 currently in service. The vehicle Textron Systems has offered is a ‘beefed up’ variant of the M-1117 ASV used by the U.S. Army
“A vehicle like the TAPV will not only give us unmatched reconnaissance ability and manoeuvrability, whatever our mission and wherever we are sent, it will also provide the highest level of safety and protection to the men and women we assign to crew it,” Brig.-Gen. Christopher Thurrott, commander of Land Force Atlantic Area Said. Of the 500, about 200 will be used as reconnaissance vehicles, while the remainder will be personnel carriers. The TAPV can, however, be reconfigured for various roles.
The TAPV is specifically designed to protect soldiers from land mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) — major causes of death for Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.
Major Carl Gendron, one of the experts who evaluated the four competing bids for the contract, said the TAPV is a tough vehicle.
“We have learned many lessons through our combat operations in Afghanistan, one of which being the importance of armoured vehicles in protecting our soldiers from today’s threats in operations,” Gendron said. “It has sustained 10 kilograms of explosive under the wheels and eight under the hull. So it makes it extremely resilient to IEDs.”
The Canadian Textron TAPV team includes Kongsberg Protech Systems Canada (London, ON) to deliver the dual-weapon Protector remote operated weapon station, Rheinmetall Canada (St. Jean sur Richelieu, P.Q.) and EODC – Engineering Office Deisenroth Canada (Ottawa, ON). As the program is ramped up Canadian companies including Michelin (Waterville, NS), General Kinetics (Brampton, ON), Evraz North America (Regina, SK), SED Systems (Saskatoon, SK), Ontario Drive and Gear (New Hamburg, ON), Mobile Climate Control (Vaughan, ON) and others, integrated into the vehicle’s supply chain.
Neil Rutter, general manager of Textron Systems Canada, said the new vehicle has been in development for five years. He promised they would be delivered on-time. “We will deliver a vehicle that will provide the Canadian Army with an unmatched blend of protection, power, mobility and growth potential,” Rutter said. The vehicles are one component of $5-billion in upgrades to the army’s combat vehicles announced in 2009.
