Brigade testing AMPV will also have newest Abrams, Bradley, Paladin

The brigade that conducts operational testing next year on the Army's new armored personnel carrier will be the first to have the most recent versions of all of the service's ground combat vehicles.

A brigade at Ft. Stewart, GA, will begin training in January to use and maintain the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, Brig. Gen. Glenn Dean, program executive officer for ground combat systems, said in a Dec. 9 interview with Inside Defense. Initial operational testing will begin in March.

But in addition to the AMPV that it will test, the brigade has the M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams, Bradley A4 infantry fighting vehicle and M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzer, Dean said.

“That will be the first armored brigade with all the latest generations of platforms,” he said. “So that’s a decade of modernization behind us that is now delivering.”

The AMPV will replace the Vietnam-era M113 in armored brigades. After production delays, the vehicle has reached low-rate initial production levels at BAE Systems’ York, PA, plant.