BAE Systems to build 11 recovery M88A2 armored combat vehicles

Armored combat vehicles experts at BAE Systems will provide the U.S. Army with 11 M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift Evacuation System (HERCULES) vehicles and related vetronics under terms of a $28.2 million contract. Officials of the Army Contracting Command in Warren, Mich., are awarding the contract to the BAE Systems Platforms & Services segment in York, Pa., to provide the new battlefield armored recovery vehicles. This order is a modification to a $153.7 million contract announced originally in September 2014 for 53 M88A2 HERCULES armored combat vehicles. Since then BAE Systems has received four additional orders for these vehicles, raising the contract to 137 M88A2s at a total cost of $430.1 million. The armored vehicle's primary role is to repair or replace damaged parts in fighting vehicles while under fire, as well as free combat vehicles that have become bogged down or entangled. The main winch on the M88A2 is capable of a 70-ton, single line recovery, and a 140-ton 2:1 recovery when used with the 140-ton pulley.