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GAGETOWN (BNS): The Canadian Defence Ministry has selected Textron Systems Canada to supply hundreds of next-generation Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicles (TAPV) to the country's Army.

The Defence Ministry announced the contract on June 8 under which Textron will supply 500 of the 4x4 advanced wheeled combat vehicles to the regular and reserve forces of the Canadian Army.

The contract is valued at $603.4 million CAD (USD 585 million) and includes an additional five year in-service support contract of $105.4 million CAD (USD 102 million).

"The contract provides that the Textron TAPV Team, led by Textron Systems Canada, together with Textron Marine & Land Systems and Rheinmetall Canada, will manufacture 500 vehicles, with an option for up to 100 more," Textron said.

The new TAPV fleet will complement the Light Utility Vehicle Wheeled (G-Wagon) fleet, and will be capable of fulfilling a number of roles on the battlefield, including reconnaissance, surveillance, security, command and control, cargo and armoured personnel carrier.

The Canadian Army will acquire two variants of the new vehicle: a reconnaissance variant and a general utility variant.

While 193 reconnaissance variant vehicles will replace the Army's Coyote vehicles, the remaining 307 vehicles will serve as new armoured personnel carriers, equipped with Remote Weapon Stations, the Defence Ministry said.

The TAPV project is one of four Family of Land Combat Vehicles (FLCV) projects announced in July 2009, which seek to modernise the existing fleet -- a key step in the implementation of the Canada First Defence Strategy.

The first vehicle is scheduled to be delivered to the Army in July 2014 and the last delivery is scheduled for March 2016, Ottawa-based Textron said.