Military vehicles get makeover

The US Army TACOM Lifecycle Management Command has awarded General Dynamics Land Systems three contract modifications totalling approximately $70m for combat vehicle-related work.

Two contract modifications were awarded for Stryker combat vehicle reset work. The first, valued at $43m, is for a Washington-based unit and the second for $5m is for Balad, Iraq. Work will be performed in Michigan, London and Iraq and is expected to be completed by February 2008.

Through the reset programme, vehicles are serviced, repaired and modified to a pre-combat condition. Service technicians also apply modifications to bring the Strykers to the latest configuration, preparing them for the unit's next deployment.

A third contract modification for $22m was awarded for Abrams Tank Systems Technical Support (STS). Abrams STS facilitates engineering studies to identify improvements and provides for the change-out of obsolete parts, while keeping Abrams main battle tanks current to their base configurations. The STS programme's objective is to maintain Abrams tanks at high operational readiness rates. This modification funds tank urban survivability kits, maintenance, field reset, and field service representative support for the Australian Land Forces' M1A1 Abrams programme.