Photo By Jennifer Bacchus | Larry Lackey mounts the rear camera control in the hull of a M1 Abrams tank at...... read more read more
ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- The depot is partnering with DRS Technologies of St. Louis, Mo., to develop Joint Assault Bridges.
The JAB utilizes a M1A1 Abrams tank hull with heavy suspension integrated with a hydraulic bridge launcher system to launch the existing Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge.
According to Joey Edwards, branch chief for the Assault Breacher Vehicle/JAB Production Planning Branch, the first JABs are at Aberdeen Test Center undergoing exploitation and fire survivability testing.
These tests will approve the current configuration for full rate production or create some configuration changes in the design for crew protection.
The JAB program is a multi-service initiative to replace the legacy AVLB.
The vehicle provides the Army Mobility Augmentation Companies supporting Armored Brigade Combat Teams with a survivable, deployable and sustainable heavy-assault-bridging capability.
On Aug. 23, 2016, DRS Technologies’ Sustainment Systems was awarded the Joint Assault Bridge contract by the Army.
Through the contract, DRS receives government-furnished material which the company can integrate into the JAB Hydraulic Bridge Launcher Mechanism for the complete JAB configuration.
DRS Sustainment Systems is responsible for the overall production, management of the M1A1 chassis assembly, hydraulic bridge launcher production and the entire system integration.
DRS’ public-private partnership with ANAD for the management of the chassis assembly was awarded Sept. 22, 2016.
Through this partnership, DRS stages welding and assembly kits of DRS JAB unique components on-site at ANAD, using the depot’s workforce to integrate those JAB-unique kits into standardized M1 Abrams welding and assembly kits to facilitate a better production flow.
Once those processes are complete and DRS and ANAD’s quality personnel jointly sign off on the final inspection, these chassis are delivered to DRS’ facility in West Plains, Mo., for final installation of the bridge-launching mechanism.
The JAB is currently in a low-rate production phase. ANAD produced 10 in fiscal year 2016, 14 in FY17 and an additional 27 are planned for FY18.
Full-rate production is scheduled to being in FY19.
“This is a successful partnership to develop the JAB,” said Jeff Simmons, the depot’s director of Production Management. “This means we will have production over the course of many years.”
The Army is scheduled to receive more than 300 JABs with the potential for additional bridge workload coming from the U.S. Marine Corps and foreign military sales customers.
Story was originally published on page 1 of the Nov. 2, 2017, issue of "TRACKS."
| Date Taken: | 11.02.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 11.02.2017 10:51 |
| Story ID: | 253847 |
| Location: | ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 478 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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