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M113 in Iraq
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Maintenance is an ongoing issue for military equipment, especially equipment that is seeing regular use. BAE Land Systems in York, PA recently received a pair of delivery orders for about $38 million, in order to keep the USA’s armored personnel carriers in good repair. Both were sole source contracts initiated by the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command in Warren, MI under contract # W56HZV-05-G-0005.

One award was a $27.2 million delivery order as part of a $254.4 million firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance and repair of M2A2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles. Many served in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, as opposed to the M2A3s which are the most modern digitized/ enhanced sensor version. Work will be performed in York, PA (83%), San Jose, CA (8%), Aiken, SC (5%), and Fayette, PA (4%), and is expected to be complete by May 31, 2007.

The second award was for the full delivery order amount of $10.8 million, fulfilling a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for maintenance and repair of M113 and National Guard vehicles. DID has noted the use of M113s in Iraq before, complete with MRE boxes as RPG protection. As one can see in the picture above, more modern protections and proper gunshields have been installed on other M113s in theater – and the latter improvement has begun to transfer to other platforms as well. Work will be performed at Fort Stewart, GA (50%), and Fort Hood, TX (50%), and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2007.