Check this out from DefenseNews.
Proposals are due in April, according to the Marine Corps' schedule. The acquisition office plans to award two engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) contracts of 16 systems each in November 2016, and in 2018, down-select and go to full production.Think about the trajectory of this. The Marine Personnel Carrier was first conceived in 2008 when it became apparent that the EFV would be too expensive to buy as many as hoped.
In 2010 they deferred it because "government furnished equipment" needed time to mature. The Marine Corps continued until the vehicle was canceled in 2013. Then in an amazing display of confusion, lack of focus and institutional stupidity it resurrected the program in 2014.
The Marine Corps family was not happy with all of this, so the Marine Corps put out the below video saying that they had a plan and that all was well.
But what do we really have?
An off the shelf vehicle that will have taken more than a decade...closer to two decades to get into service. Consider the Patria AMV. Already a "new" model is in the works. The same can be said for many of the different variants of the Piranha...we can even expect Singapore to be looking at an upgrade to the Terrex II if they follow their development history.
My modest proposal. Cancel the MPC/ACV 1.1 (for all intents and purposes its already canceled with this long time table). Admit to Marines and the public that the F-35 wrecked the budget, and a replacement for the AAV is too expensive to procure. Then accept the truth. While the USMC has had the AAV in service, the US Army has gone from the M113 to the Bradley, to the Stryker...performed upgrades on all those vehicles and is now embarking on a new Ground Combat Vehicle. The one vehicle that is Marine Corps specific is the one vehicle the USMC can't get right.
