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| U.S. Marine Corps photo / Cpl. Austin Gillam |
By Meredith Roaten
BAE Systems photo
Upcoming testing will evaluate how a new BAE Systems vehicle holds up to the Marine Corps’ standards for its reconnaissance vehicle program.
BAE wants to give the Marines Corps an off-the-shelf option for its Light Armor Vehicle replacement, Mark Brinkman, the program manager for amphibious vehicles at BAE, said on the sidelines of Modern Day Marine trade show in May.
The Marine Corps awarded Textron Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems a contract to build prototypes for its Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle last fall. However, the service has also asked BAE to analyze its configuration of the amphibious combat vehicle that can run reconnaissance missions — known as the Command, Control, Communication and Computers /Unmanned Aerial Systems, or C4/UAS variant.
“Instead of buying a new vehicle you just take those capabilities and put it on the [amphibious combat vehicle],” he said.
The technologies integrated on the vehicle will provide “a state-of-the-art battle management system and advanced sensing capabilities,” according to BAE.
The variant will include some counter-unmanned aerial systems capabilities, he noted.
To maximize the advantage to the service, the vehicle has focused on making as many parts in common with the deployed system as possible, Brinkman said. The new capabilities BAE Systems is offering were built on an amphibious combat vehicle — instead of in a lab — for tests that will start in July.
This choice will provide data that “you can’t learn ... in a lab” to the Marine Corps, he said.
“To us, it seems more value added, and we can provide a lot more useful information to the Marine Corps, if we built that systems integration lab on an actual vehicle … because you can learn things like how would you sit next to each other and just communicate inside the vehicle,” he said.
For example, the trials over the summer will verify the vehicle can launch the Lockheed Martin-designed Stalker unmanned aerial system and gather information about incoming threats, he said. The sensing technology on the drone would be able to communicate information with the vehicle where operators can choose the next step.
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