US Army resumes new generation armored vehicle program
The command of the US Army held a so-called. “Industry Day” with 300 representatives from leading defense companies in order to inform them about the changes made to the list of requirements for the Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) and its new acquisition strategy.
The US Army issued a request for proposals for the supply of a new 25 Ground Fighting Vehicle in February of this year. It was planned that the program will develop a next-generation family of armored vehicles, which will replace the outdated M-113 armored personnel carriers and Bradley combat vehicles. However, at the end of August, after analyzing the program, the US Army Command announced the cancellation of the initial request for proposals, and announced its intention to issue a revised project specification that would guarantee the creation of a new armored vehicle on time (7 years) and at an acceptable cost.
The project is implemented by the Pentagon instead of the canceled program to create a family of ground combat vehicles managed by the crew (MGV - Manned Ground Vehicles), which was carried out in the framework of the project "Fighting systems of the future."
As the representative of the US Army, Lieutenant-General Bill Phillips, stated, the creation of the Land Combat Vehicle remains the number one priority in the US Army weapons modernization strategy, which also provides for upgrading other armored vehicles, including the Abrams MBT, Stryker BBM and Bradley BMP ".
According to GCV project leader Colonel Andrew Dimarko, a new technical task for a project to create a promising infantry fighting vehicle with high survivability in terms of the use of improvised explosive devices and roadside bombs by the enemy can be released by the end of October.
At the same time, the US Army has identified four priorities for industry, on which the program for creating a new armored vehicle will be built. Among them are named: “capacity”, i.e. the ability of the BMP to transport an infantry unit from a 9 man to the location of operations, “security”, which guarantees the safety of the calculation when operating in a modern combat situation with a wide range of threats, including improvised explosive devices, “ability to improve”, providing for an open architecture and modularity of the design, allows to change and improve the equipment of the BBM, its protection kit depending on the tasks performed, “development efficiency”, which guarantees the beginning of production for seven years after the start of the project.
It is also planned to take into account the firepower, maneuverability and reliability of the BMP. Potential vendors will have greater discretion in providing systems that meet these requirements.
According to Colonel E. Dimarko, at the initial stage of technology development and demonstration, which will be implemented to reduce risks, identify and pre-show technical solutions, the United States plans to conclude contracts with three applicants. As expected, they will be identified in the second quarter of the 2011 FG. Stage demonstration technology will last 24 month.
The duration of the development phase, which follows the first stage, will be about four years. Two best contractors will take part in it. For the production of BBM CB USA one winner will be selected. It is planned that the first GCV armored vehicle will be delivered to the customer in 2017 FG. Within the framework of the program, a whole family of next-generation armored vehicles for the US Army will be developed in the future.
REFERENCE:
Within the framework of the canceled tender, three consortia submitted their proposals to the US Treasury, including:
- BAE Systems (main contractor), Northrop Grumman, Kinetik North America and Saft;
- Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) (main contractor), Boeing, Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann;
- General Dynamics Land Systems (main contractor), Lockheed Martin, Rayton.
The US Army issued a request for proposals for the supply of a new 25 Ground Fighting Vehicle in February of this year. It was planned that the program will develop a next-generation family of armored vehicles, which will replace the outdated M-113 armored personnel carriers and Bradley combat vehicles. However, at the end of August, after analyzing the program, the US Army Command announced the cancellation of the initial request for proposals, and announced its intention to issue a revised project specification that would guarantee the creation of a new armored vehicle on time (7 years) and at an acceptable cost.
The project is implemented by the Pentagon instead of the canceled program to create a family of ground combat vehicles managed by the crew (MGV - Manned Ground Vehicles), which was carried out in the framework of the project "Fighting systems of the future."
As the representative of the US Army, Lieutenant-General Bill Phillips, stated, the creation of the Land Combat Vehicle remains the number one priority in the US Army weapons modernization strategy, which also provides for upgrading other armored vehicles, including the Abrams MBT, Stryker BBM and Bradley BMP ".
According to GCV project leader Colonel Andrew Dimarko, a new technical task for a project to create a promising infantry fighting vehicle with high survivability in terms of the use of improvised explosive devices and roadside bombs by the enemy can be released by the end of October.
At the same time, the US Army has identified four priorities for industry, on which the program for creating a new armored vehicle will be built. Among them are named: “capacity”, i.e. the ability of the BMP to transport an infantry unit from a 9 man to the location of operations, “security”, which guarantees the safety of the calculation when operating in a modern combat situation with a wide range of threats, including improvised explosive devices, “ability to improve”, providing for an open architecture and modularity of the design, allows to change and improve the equipment of the BBM, its protection kit depending on the tasks performed, “development efficiency”, which guarantees the beginning of production for seven years after the start of the project.
It is also planned to take into account the firepower, maneuverability and reliability of the BMP. Potential vendors will have greater discretion in providing systems that meet these requirements.
According to Colonel E. Dimarko, at the initial stage of technology development and demonstration, which will be implemented to reduce risks, identify and pre-show technical solutions, the United States plans to conclude contracts with three applicants. As expected, they will be identified in the second quarter of the 2011 FG. Stage demonstration technology will last 24 month.
The duration of the development phase, which follows the first stage, will be about four years. Two best contractors will take part in it. For the production of BBM CB USA one winner will be selected. It is planned that the first GCV armored vehicle will be delivered to the customer in 2017 FG. Within the framework of the program, a whole family of next-generation armored vehicles for the US Army will be developed in the future.
REFERENCE:
Within the framework of the canceled tender, three consortia submitted their proposals to the US Treasury, including:
- BAE Systems (main contractor), Northrop Grumman, Kinetik North America and Saft;
- Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) (main contractor), Boeing, Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann;
- General Dynamics Land Systems (main contractor), Lockheed Martin, Rayton.
Information