SAIC moves forward on AAV upgrades.

via SAIC Press Release.

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) Program Executive Officer – Land Systems (PEO-LS) exercised options under a prime contract awarded to Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE: SAIC) to perform initial upgrades to 10 Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) prototypes. Following this, additional options, if exercised, will lead to developmental testing and low rate initial production (LRIP) delivering 52 vehicles for operational test and evaluation and to USMC units.

This single-award, firm fixed-price contract builds upon SAIC's previously announced initial contract value of $16 million for the engineering phase of the contract. This contract value has been increased by $53 million in options exercised, bringing the total contract value to $69 million. The total contract value, if all options are exercised, is approximately $194 million over five years. The work will be performed primarily in Charleston, South Carolina.
Under the contract, SAIC will upgrade AAVs to provide improved protection while gaining back land and water mobility that improves the AAV's ability to fight. Upgrades include armor, engine rebuild to improve horsepower and torque, replace aging transmission, upgrade suspension components, install new water jets, install blast-resistant seats, and upgrade vehicle control, instrumentation and driver interface systems.