The Alpha vehicle produced through a partnership between Oshkosh and Protected Vehicles Inc. reportly performed poorly during testing.
The cancellation of the order would seem to free up the amount specified in the contract for the purchase of other MRAPS ($30.6 million for 100 vehicles).
At $306,000 each, the Alpha was easily the least expensive MRAP model I've run across so far.
Though losing this contract hurts PVI (not to mention Oshkosh), the armor developed by PVI has performed well in testing with Explosively Formed Projectiles.
The USMC's letter allegedly said that explosives testing of the Alpha had "caused concern regarding overall vehicle survivability,'' and unspecified "automotive'' and "human factors'' also "preclude safe vehicle operation.'' These issues were, said the letter "borne out'' by a limited troop evaluation and the military "is convinced that remediation of this issue would require significant redesign…. The result would be an unacceptable delay to future production orders.''
In plain English: rejected.
(Defense Industry Daily)
The cancellation of the order would seem to free up the amount specified in the contract for the purchase of other MRAPS ($30.6 million for 100 vehicles).
At $306,000 each, the Alpha was easily the least expensive MRAP model I've run across so far.
Though losing this contract hurts PVI (not to mention Oshkosh), the armor developed by PVI has performed well in testing with Explosively Formed Projectiles.
Update 12-22-07:
Here's a .pdf brochure on the Alpha, hosted by Oshkosh Truck. I haven't heard of any interest in the vehicle since the Pentagon canceled its initial order, so I find it interesting that Oshkosh continues to proudly display it at the Web site.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please remain on topic and keep coarse language to an absolute minimum. Comments in a language other than English will be assumed off topic.