Textron Marine & Land Delivers First Six Re-powered V-150 Combat Vehicles to Philippine Marine Corps

13 February 2007

V-150 of the Philippine Marines (photo : Geocities)

Textron Marine & Land, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, has announced that its Cadillac Gage business has delivered the first six of 12 re-powered Commando V-150 combat vehicles to the Philippine Marine Corps, a contract valued at approximately $3.1 million.

The Commando V-150 is an armored combat vehicle that was built by Cadillac Gage with over 150 units delivered to the Philippine Armed Forces during the 1980s. The current contract, part of the Philippines Armed Forces Modernization program, calls for the upgrade of 12 V-150 combat vehicles to a power-pack common to the U.S. Army's Armored Security Vehicle (M1117 - ASV), built by Textron Marine & Land. The first six of these vehicles have been accepted by the Philippine Marine Corps and the remaining six are expected to be delivered in March 2007. The program's success brings about the possibility of applying the same upgrades to more than 100 additional V-150 combat vehicles in the Philippine Army and Marine Corps inventory.

The power-pack, consisting of a new engine, transmission, transfer case, cooling system and electrical modifications, is packaged at the Textron Marine & Land facilities in New Orleans and shipped to the Philippines for installation.

"We have partnered with Cummins Sales and Service Philippines to utilize their facilities and personnel in the Philippines and we have an onsite technical supervisor to train and supervise the production activities," said Christopher Smith, director, International Programs for Textron Marine & Land. "The Philippine Marine Corps is also supplying personnel who are assisting in the modification of the vehicles and are being trained in the operation and maintenance of the vehicles".

Philippine also used another Textron's product : V-300 (photo : Geocities)

The updated power-packs are comprised of Cummins engines and Allison transmissions that have proven effective and reliable in ASVs currently in use by the United States military in combat roles in Iraq and around the world.

"We know the Philippine Army is closely monitoring the re-powering of these combat vehicles, and believe they are pleased with the results," said Clay Moise, Textron Marine & Land vice president of Business Development. "We are hoping this will lead to future contracts to re-power additional combat vehicles in the Philippine fleet as well as other international customers."

(Textron Marine and Land)