The Army's 1st Cavalry Division has received two 30mm-turreted Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle variants and plans to run the new prototypes through transforming in contact testing with a live gunnery demonstration planned in the coming months.

The division, based at Ft. Hood, TX, yesterday announced taking on the AMPVs, fitted with Kongsberg’s remote MCT-30 turrets in a BAE-led partnership with the Norwegian-based company. The 2nd battalion, 5th cavalry regiment will incorporate the AMPV-30s into testing as part of the Army’s effort to reshape how future armor fights.

“Our troopers are leading the charge once again by integrating this next-generation capability into the formation and transforming how armored divisions fight,” reads a post from 1st Cavalry announcing the deliveries.

The division is expecting another delivery of two more AMPV prototypes in early 2027 with a plan to take them through a National Training Center rotation at Ft. Irwin, CA, an Army spokesperson told Inside Defense.

Kongsberg’s MCT-30 is the same turret as what’s mounted on the Marine Corps’ Amphibious Combat Vehicle 30mm (AVC-30). The turret has been adapted for counter-drone missions, company leaders told Inside Defense this week on the sidelines of the Modern Day Marine conference in Washington.

“We’re demonstrating, I would say, all our weapon systems in counter-UAS enabled scenarios,” Eskild Aas, Kongsberg’s U.S. programs director, said.

The AMPV-30s mirror the prototypes BAE showcased at the Association of the United States Army’s annual conference in Washington last October; the vehicles come with a common crew station that can operate with one less soldier, Inside Defense reported at the time.

The news comes just weeks after Maj. Gen. Thomas Feltey, 1st Cavalry’s commander, told reporters his division is testing the latest Army platforms and is going to be the first to tool around with the new M1E3 Abrams tank and XM30 fighting vehicle prototypes.

“We’re blending the Army’s deliberate modernization platform with this transformation in contact, which is really, really powerful,” Feltey said last month.