The US Army announced that production of the first five mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) prototype vehicles equipped with capability set 13 is complete and the vehicles have shipped from the US Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, located in Warren, Michigan to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, where they will undergo safety release testing.

Capability set 13, validated as part of the Army’s Network Integration Evaluations (NIEs), is the Army’s first fully-integrated package of radios, satellite systems, software applications, smartphone-like devices and other network components that provides integrated connectivity from the static Tactical Operations Center to the commander on-the-move to the dismounted soldier and will begin fielding in October 2012 to two Brigade Combat Teams in the 10th Mountain Division.

“In order to quickly get these capabilities to the field, we incorporated lessons learned from the NIEs that allowed us to streamline engineering, prototyping and production build designs near simultaneously,” said Paul Wilson, Director of Synchronized Fielding, System of Systems Integration.

The five “super configuration” MRAP configurations prototyped at TARDEC include MRAP all-terrain vehicle soldier network extension), M-ATV point-of presence, M-ATV vehicular wireless package, M-ATV-lite and MRAP MaxxPro Dash. The vehicles are equipped with the latest Army tactical radios, mission command software and the warfighter information network-tactical satellite communications suite. These vehicles will provide soldiers and commanders with mobile networking, or mission command on the move, allowing them to take valuable network capability with them as they manoeuvre around the battlefield.