US Marine Corps System Command (USMC) has awarded an $880m delivery contract to Navistar Defense for the upgrade of its fleet of 2,717 International MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
The delivery order also includes the provision of engineering changes, supplies and services. Under the contract, the company will retrofit the vehicles with the new rolling chassis solution in addition to DXM independent suspension, a MaxxForce 9.3 engine, a 570-amp alternator and a driveline to further enhance the vehicle’s off-road capability.
Navistar Defense president Archie Massicotte said: "Our rolling chassis solution allows us to leverage our unique vehicle design and replace an older chassis with a new, highly mobile independent suspension chassis. During all this we keep the armoured capsule intact while creating commonality through the entire MaxxPro fleet."
MaxxPro, a mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armoured fighting vehicle, has been designed to withstand improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, ambushes, ballistic arms fire and mine blasts as well as survive in nuclear, biological and chemical environments.
Work on the contract will be carried out at Navistar’s West Point assembly facility in Mississippi, US, with immediate effect and is scheduled to be completed in October 2013. Around 9,000 MaxxPro vehicles have been fielded by the company to date and it expects to add important vehicle capabilities and enhancements for its entire fleet of 32,000 vehicles.
