Iveco Defence Vehicles will deliver an additional 26 Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACV)  to the US Marine Corps in partnership with BAE System.

A contract for a new generation of ACVs was awarded in 2018 to Iveco Defence Vehicles, which is offering its 8x8 amphibious armoured platform design, core components and services for the Marine Corps ACV 1.1. programme.

The order for additional vehicles will see BAE Systems, along with teammate Iveco Defence Vehicles, deliver an additional 26 ACVs under the Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) phase of the programme. The award brings total vehicle orders for the ACV to 116, and moves the programme closer to full-rate production.

Iveco Defence Vehicles says the ACV is an advanced 8x8 open ocean-capable vehicle, which is equipped with a new six-cylinder, 700 hp engine, which provides a significant power increase over the legacy fleet currently in service.

According to its manufacturers, the vehicle delivers best-in-class mobility in all terrain and has a suspended interior seat structure for 13 embarked Marines, blast-mitigating positions for a crew of three, and improved survivability and force protection over currently fielded systems.

Current low-rate production is focused on the ACV-P variant. Further special variants will be added under full rate production within the ACV family of vehicles programme. Iveco Defence Vehicles and BAE Systems previously received the Lot 1, Lot 2 and Lot 3 awards.

The companies and the US Marine Corps have made significant strides to reach full-rate production, including the successful completion of a Logistics Demonstration as a critical enabler for the programme to move into Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) with trained US Marine maintainers. This and other major milestones such as operator training and additional testing will take place before full-rate production.

Iveco Defence Vehicles has designed and built more than 30,000 multi-purpose, protected and armored military vehicles in service today.