By Bill Good
This Mobile Strike Force Vehicle (MSFV) Armored Personnel Carrier with Gunner’s Protective Kit is one of three variants of the MSFV, which is based on a modified, updated version of a Textron Marine and Land Systems vehicle platform design. The modifications to the MSFV allow for additional protection while still utilizing commercial-off-the-shelf parts. (Photo by Textron Marine and Land Systems.)
The U.S. Army has taken another significant step forward in the strategic withdrawal of combat forces from Afghanistan with the shipment of the first 18 production Mobile Strike Force Vehicles (MSFVs) to theater.
These 18 vehicles, shipped in November 2011, are the first of 281 MSFVs that will be provided to the Afghan National Army (ANA) to enable a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) capability, which will be critical once U.S. forces begin their drawdown.
“The MSFV provides each QRF Kandak [battalion] with a rapidly deployable, highly mobile armored capability that can quickly maneuver in an all-terrain environment, while concurrently providing the ANA with sufficient firepower to conduct a wide variety of operational missions over an extended range and distance,” said CPT Joseph Denning, in the Product Manager Armored Security Vehicle (PdM ASV) office, which is assigned to the Project Manager Joint Combat Support Systems (PM JCSS) in Program Executive Office Combat Support and Combat Service Support.
The MSFV uses a modified, updated version of a Textron Marine and Land Systems vehicle platform design that has more than four decades of proven performance. The modifications to the MSFV allow for additional protection while still using commercial-off-the-shelf parts.
The MSFV family has three variants, each designed to meet a specific combat role and to meet and enhance the ANA’s QRF capability. The three variants include an Armored Personnel Carrier with Gunner’s Protective Kit, an Armored Personnel Carrier with Turret, and an Armored Ambulance.
“MSFV is the definition of a rapid fielding initiative,” said COL William Boruff, PM JCSS. “We have gone from receiving a theater-defined requirement to awarding a contract and completing the Army acquisition process, resulting in delivery of the first low-rate initial production vehicles off the production line in just 14 months.”
PdM ASV is working with NATO’s Combined Security Training Command – Afghanistan to provide a complete fielding, training, and long-term sustainment program to stand up seven newly organized ANA battalion-size units known as “Kandaks” by the end of 2013.
“This rapid fielding initiative will provide the ANA with a newly developed QRF capability that supports the U.S. strategic withdrawal by turning over the security of each Kandak’s operational area to a trained and equipped ANA unit,” Boruff said.
- BILL GOOD is the Operations Officer for Product Manager Armored Security Vehicle. He holds an M.A. in public relations and organizational communication from Wayne State University.
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