Most main battle tanks have derivative Armored Engineering Vehicle variants. They sacrifice the main gun in order to provide powerful support for combat engineering tasks under fire, while keeping up with a mechanized brigade in any terrain. The Leopard 2, for instance, has its AEV-3 Kodiak, which has recently been developed and sold to Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
The US Army’s Grizzly variant of America’s M1 Abrams tank was specifically designed to breach complex obstacles including mines, berms, wire, rubble, and tank-ditches, in order to keep a mechanized force moving through prepared opposition. Unfortunately, the Grizzly assault breacher was canceled in 2001, as part of a larger restructuring of the US Army’s program portfolio. The US Marines still believed they had a need for the Grizzly’s capability, however, given their core mission of forcible entry from the sea. Marine Corps Systems Command granted Milestone B approval for their similar “Assault Breacher Vehicles” in July 2003, and these AEVs were expected to achieve full operational capability in FY 2007. It took a while, but the machines have now performed their first major combat mission…
The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) awarded a maximum $30 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity architect-engineering contract to URSGI-BMDC, a joint venture based in San Diego, CA, for designing complete plans and specifications for various projects at US Marine Corps bases in California and Arizona.
The joint venture will provide site investigation, geotechnical investigation, surveying and cost estimating, as well as preparation of requests for proposals for design-build projects and preparation of fully designed plans and specifications for invitation for bid projects.
The USMC operates the following bases and air stations in California and Arizona:
Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, NY received a firm-fixed-price contract, worth up to $32.3 million, to retrofit 52 Marine Corps Light Armored Vehicle Command and Control (LAV-C2) vehicles with improved C2 capabilities.
The contract includes an initial order for the retrofit of 30 vehicles for $19.8 million, with the option of retrofitting 22 additional vehicles for $12.4 million.
This is a follow-on to a 2006 contract awarded to Lockheed Martin for LAV-C2 prototypes…
Sodexho Management in Gaithersburg, MD received a $78.9 million contract modification to provide food services to the US Marine Corps and manage and operate their mess halls in the Eastern US. To date, the overall contract (M00027-02-C-0001) value is $508 million.
Sodexho also operates USMC mess halls in the Western US under a similar contract (M00027-02-C-0002). The company received a $71.6 million contract modification for the Western US food service and mess hall management. To date, this contract value is $464.6 million. In total, the contractor operates 66 USMC mess halls across CONUS.
In the Eastern US, Sodexho operates mess halls at the following USMC facilities…
The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast awarded 7 firms indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity multiple award design-bid-build construction contracts worth up to $100 million for general building type projects at US Marine Corps facilities in South Carolina. The general building type projects include new construction, renovation, alteration, and repair of facilities and infrastructure, roofing, demolition, and routine renovation.
Solpac Construction (dba Soltek Pacific Construction Co.) in San Diego, CA won a $5.8 million firm-fixed-price task order (#0011) under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N62473-08-D-8615) to build an indoor fitness facility in the Horno area (53) at US Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Southern California.
The company will also demolition existing buildings 53302 and 53569 to make room for the fitness center. It expects to complete construction by September 2010. For this task order, 5 proposals were received by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest in San Diego, CA.
Soltek recently completed a fitness center at Camp Pendleton’s Camp Margarita area (33)…
Harper Construction in San Diego, CA won a $56.2 million firm-fixed-price contract for design and construction of a physical conditioning recruit barracks, a recruit training barracks and a sports medicine and reconditioning therapy clinic at Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) San Diego. The 2 barracks will house a total of 1,729 Marines and will both include company offices and laundry facilities.
The contract also contains 3 unexercised options, which, if exercised, would increase the cumulative contract value to $65.6 million. Work will be performed in San Diego, CA and is expected to be completed by May 2011. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with 15 proposals received by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest in San Diego (N62473-09-C-1205).
MCRD San Diego is a major USMC recruit training base in the United States…
Logistic Services International (LSI) in Jacksonville, FL won a maximum $33.7 million firm-fixed-price requirements contract to develop and provide computer-based distributed learning content and services to the U.S. Marine Corps.
LSI will design, develop, and deliver electronic courseware and related products on an individual delivery order basis to the Marine Corps Systems Command’s Program Manager for Training Systems in Orlando, FL. The contractor will develop Web-delivered, self-paced distance learning training courses, including interactive multimedia instruction and electronic performance support tools.
The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico is ordering up to $136.5 million worth of M72A7 Light Weight Anti-Armor Weapon (LAW) systems and trainers from Nammo Talley Defense in Mesa, AZ to replenish stockpiles. The M72A7 LAW is a man-portable, shoulder-launched rocket designed to destroy armored vehicles and covered enemy fighting positions.
The M72A7 LAW meets the needs identified by the Marine Corps in 2004 for a shoulder-launched rocket. The Marine Corps required a weapon system with the capability to defeat targets such as covered enemy fighting positions (bunkers, urban structures) or light armored vehicles that are impervious to small arms fire or out of the range of fragmentation hand grenades and other close-in weapon systems.
DID has more on the Nammo Talley contract and the tactical advantages of the M72A7…
Soltek Pacific Construction in San Diego, CA received a $17.6 million firm-fixed-price task order (#10) under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N62473-08-D 8615) for design and construction of a Marine Corps Combined Arms Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) training facility. The complex will be located at the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, CA. Soltek expects to complete construction by January 2011. For this task order, 5 proposals were received by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest in San Diego, CA.
The facility will be designed to provide a training area in which Marines can develop individual and unit skills needed to fight in an urban environment. By the year 2010, 75% of the world’s population will live in urban areas, according to the Army Field Manual on Combined Arms Operations in Urban Terrain. Urban areas are expected to be the future battlefield.
