The famous adage, often attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, holds, "Amateurs discuss tactics; professionals discuss logistics."

For the armed services, logistics is the science of moving personnel and material from one location to another. It is the backbone of all strategic, operational and tactical decisions.

The US Army's Armored Multipurpose Vehicle (AMPV), a family of next generation multipurpose vehicles designed to replace the M113 family of vehicles, is key to the service's logistics.

It centralizes a host of warfighting, maneuver and logistics capabilities in a single vehicle that can keep pace with other vehicles and transport troops to wherever they need to be, on or off the battlefield.

AMPVs include five variants to fulfill an array of strategic requirements: General Purpose, Mortar Carrier, Mission Command, Medical Treatment and Medical Evacuation vehicles.

In March 2023, the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, at Fort Stewart in Georgia became the first unit fully equipped with AMPVs.

The Army's fleet of AMPVs will include almost 3,000 vehicles delivered within the next 20 years.

Multipurpose and maneuverable

The US Army has a fleet of 2,800 M113s that it plans to entirely replace with the new AMPVs.

The new vehicles improve upon the M113's protection, mobility, reliability and interoperability.

The AMPV family of vehicles can keep pace with the Bradley Fighting Vehicle or Abrams tank, enabling it to maintain formation, operate in a dispersed manner and reconvene as needed.

The AMPV's advanced undercarriage protection protects it from improvised explosive devices, while explosive-reactive armor sheathes the front and sides of the hull, protecting against grenade launchers and guided munitions. Both the crew and engine compartments have automatic fire suppression systems.

The vehicle features a one-man turret that can be fitted with 7.62mm or 12.7mm machine guns or a 40mm automatic grenade launcher.

Its design shares the same powertrain and suspension of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle and the M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzer, offering it all the advanced mobility and protection of a fighting vehicle.

This commonality between Armored Brigade Combat Team vehicles simplifies maintenance and logistics across the fleet.

Army plans call for the AMPV to serve as the primary crewed control vehicle for its new Robotic Combat Vehicles (RCVs).

Troops inside the AMPV can remotely control the RCV, dispatching it to conduct scouting, reconnaissance, collections and escort missions.