Textron Marine & Land Rolls 1,000th ASV Off Production Line

New Orleans, LA - Textron Marine & Land (TM&L), an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, has completed production on the 1,000th Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) at its assembly facility in Slidell, LA.

The recognition of the 1,000th ASV comes seven years after the first vehicle was completed in 2000 and less than two years after production began under the current U.S. Army contract in September 2005. That production was interrupted briefly by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, but quickly returned to the contract level.

“Everyone here at Textron Marine & Land is proud of the job we do to help protect our soldiers as they carry out their missions around the world,” said Textron Marine & Land General Manager Tom Walmsley. “I am proud of the work our team here in Louisiana does every day to make the ASV the safest and most versatile vehicle possible for our troops. We receive constant feedback from the field regarding the quality of our work. But possibly the greatest compliment we get is from family members of soldiers calling to thank us for protecting their loved ones.”

Textron Marine & Land employs more than 1,100 people in the New Orleans area, where the ASV is currently its highest volume product.

“All TM&LS employees are to be commended for the completion of our 1,000th ASV,” said Textron Marine & Land Vice President of Operations J.O. Smith. “Regardless of where they work, all of our employees do a great job every day to make the ASV an outstanding vehicle. To get these vehicles delivered into the hands of our troops would not be possible without the skill and dedication of our entire workforce. Because of them, we have accomplished this feat 1,000 times over, and with 100 percent On-Time-Delivery for 21 consecutive months.”

Textron Marine & Land’s ASV is currently used by the United States Army for its military police, convoy protection and Field Artillery Combat Observation and Lasing Teams (COLT) and is deployed in locations around the globe serving various missions. The combat record of the ASV in theaters including Iraq and Afghanistan is exemplary in regard to survivability and crew protection. Despite the rapidly increasing number of ASVs being fielded, it maintains an operational readiness rate of greater than 90 percent in the harsh conditions of the Middle East while averaging 14 hours of use per day for more than 51 months. Missions carried out using the ASV include convoy escorts, patrolling, check points, forward operating base patrol, urban operations, reconnaissance and surveillance patrols, and tactical overwatch for civilian and military police operations.