The first pre-production Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicles (TAPV) has been shipped for testing in the United States.
In early July, the newest vehicle in the Canadian Army fleet was sent to the Aberdeen Test Center in Maryland for qualification testing, a process scheduled to take five months.
Textron Marine & Land Systems (TM&LS), the TAPV manufacturer, has also shipped three other vehicles to Rheinmetall Canada in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec. The first arrived in mid July where Rheinmetall completed Land Communication Information System training, followed by electro optical technical training performed by Kongsberg Protech Systems Canada and vehicle technician training by TM&LS. The third and fourth vehicles have undergone integration activities.
TM&LS is scheduled to finish work on two additional pre-production models in the next several weeks, at which point five of the six models will be sent to CFB Valcartier for two weeks of Operator and Gunner Operator Training, scheduled for late August. The same vehicles will then begin Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Durability testing at Valcartier, which is expected to continue for eight months.
“Our pre-production vehicle assembly, testing and training is on schedule and moving us toward the start of full-rate production planned for January of 2014,” said Neil Rutter, general manager of Textron Systems Canada.
Textron Systems Canada won the $700 million TAPV competition in June 2012 to manufacture 500 vehicles, with options for up to 100 more.
