Pentagon budget 2024: AMPV buys kick off production ramp up

The 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, received the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV), signifying the completion of the US Army's First Unit Equipped for the platform. (US Army)

The Pentagon's fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget request includes production investments for the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) programme, US Army officials said 14 March.

The AMPV – manufactured and designed by BAE Systems – will take two years to reach the maximum production capacity, eventually delivering a brigade-and-a-half per year to soldiers, said Jim Schirmer, deputy programme executive officer of Ground Combat Systems (PEO GCS). A full-rate production decision is scheduled for this month, he said.

The army has been planning to ramp up the production for the vehicles to replace its in-service M113 armoured personnel carrier (APC) after hundreds of the latter were promised to Ukraine.

Using about USD400 million in supplemental funding related to Ukraine, the service plans to buy 154 vehicles, said Lieutenant Colonel Nate Costa, AMPV product manager. The FY 2024 budget request included procurement of 91 combat vehicles for about USD554.78 million. With supplemental funding in addition to the base budget, the service wants to purchase 197 vehicles in FY 2024, said Lt Col Costa.

While the funding is available, it will take time for the production to reach enough vehicles per year to fill a brigade-and-a-half, about 16 vehicles per month, said Schirmer.

The AMPV is manufactured at BAE Systems' facility in York, Pennsylvania, where a brigade-and-a-half, or 130 platforms, is the maximum that the company will be able to produce each year, even with the ongoing production enhancements. “Beyond that, we would need even more investment,” he said.