Now that the Pentagon has settled on a replacement for the venerable Humvee, the U.S. Army is expected to solicit bids by the end of the year to replace a relatively small number of multipurpose landing craft that have been in service even longer than the Humvee. The Landing Craft (Mechanized) 8, or the LCM-8, or more often the “Mike Boat” is a Vietnam War-era watercraft that the Army has used for a variety of tasks in the 40 years since the U.S. ended its military role in Vietnam.

The new boat, called a Maneuver Support Vessel (Light), aka MSV(L), is intended for sustainment missions and as a maneuver option “to conduct rivering operations, or to get into a denied area, where there is a degraded port or none at all,” according to Defense News.

The MSV(L) is expected to be have double the capacity of the existing Mike boats and be faster and have a longer range. The new boat would be about 100 feet long, draw less than 4 feet of water, have a top speed of 18 knots, and have enough capacity to carry an Abrams tank, two Strykers with bar armor, or four of the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles.

According to Defense News, the Army plans to issue a request for proposals before the end of the year; make an award later in 2016; have a prototype in 2017; and be testing in 2018 and 2019. A 10-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract would cover three years of engineering and manufacturing development, two years of low rate initial production and five years of full production. A total of about 24 ships would be built.

The LCM-8 was designed and built by Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin, which is now owned by Italian shipbuilding firm Fincantieri. Marinette Marine also builds the U.S. Navy’s Freedom-Class Littoral Combat Ship on a contract managed by Lockheed Martin. The Navy’s Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships are built in Mobile, Alabama, by Austal USA, as a trimaran designed by General Dynamics.

ALSO READ: $6.7 Billion Contract for Humvee Replacement Won by Oshkosh

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