STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich., Jan. 27 (UPI) -- General Dynamics Land Systems of Michigan says prototype Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles for the U.S. Marines have completed reliability tests.
The 500-hour tests at the Marine Corps' Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., demonstrated reliability that exceeded the testing threshold by 90 percent.
The company said the raw score performance of the vehicles in the reliability testing is 31.2 hours mean time between operational mission failure, nearly double the 16.4-hour performance required for test success.
Also, vehicle operational readiness rates steadily remained at 97 percent throughout testing.
General Dynamics delivered seven prototype vehicles to the Marine's last year and performance indicates the program is on track to successfully complete the System Development and Demonstration-2 phase.
The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle is the U.S. Marine Corps' next-generation amphibious combat vehicle. It features water speeds of up to 25 knots and an operating sea range of 56 nautical miles.
On land, the EFV travels at speeds of up to 42 mph and has an operational range of 300 miles.
