23 Apr 21. German and British defense officials discuss ‘Eurotank’ cooperation. The defense-acquisition chiefs of Germany and the U.K. have agreed to expand the scope of their bilateral defense relations, highlighting the Main Ground Combat System and other land programs as areas for cooperation. Mention of the “Eurotank” in a German readout of a call between Benedikt Zimmer and Jeremy Quin about their April 22 talk comes as British officials have pushed for months to be admitted as observers in the Franco-German program.
Germany has supported the request, in line with Berlin’s efforts insulate defense relations with London from an otherwise stressful divorce between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
A spokeswoman for the German defense ministry told Defense News this week’s Eurotank talks revolved around the status of the program and the German side’s acknowledgment that Britain wants to play a role.
The French, meanwhile, still must make a decision as to whether to include the British, the spokeswoman added. Paris has traditionally been more apprehensive about expanding the circle of players in European defense programs, including the Future Combat Air System.
The prospect of the U.K. joining the MCGS program raises questions about the overall equilibrium in the rest of the trifecta of German-French programs: FCAS and the “Eurodrone.” Interest groups in both countries have at times treated advancements in either either program as permissible only if certain political conditions are met on the other two.
Besides the Eurotank, Zimmer and Quin also discussed opportunities for cooperation around the Boxer vehicle and a future floating bridging system for land forces. Both Germany and the U.K. are key NATO contributors in Europe when it comes to mobile bridges that enable land forces, including heavy tanks, to cross lakes and rivers.
The two countries plan to convert a binational armor formation in Minden, Germany, into a unit with a more amphibious bent come October 2021, the German defense ministry’s readout states. (Source: Defense News)
23 Apr 21. Allison Transmission, a leading designer and manufacturer of conventional, hybrid and electric vehicle propulsion solutions, in collaboration with Emergency One (UK) Ltd, the market leader in the United Kingdom in the manufacture, service and support of fire and rescue vehicles, is pleased to announce a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The two companies will integrate the Allison eGen Power™ 100D electric axle into Emergency One’s fire rescue and emergency vehicle platform as part of this MoU. This builds on the successful relationship to date, where 90% of the units Emergency One sells are equipped with an Allison fully automatic transmission.
“We are pleased to formalize our collaboration with Allison Transmission on the integration of their eGen Power electric axles into our E1 EV platform (our “EV0” appliances). This is another critical step in our drive to deliver reduced emissions and carbon footprint, whilst improving vehicle performance and firefighter and public safety. We are focused on producing electric fire and rescue vehicles that not only meet but exceed the current specifications and operational performance” said Mike Madsen, Managing Director at Emergency One. “Whether our conventional diesel-powered vehicles or our next generation electric propulsion platform, our mutual customers expect reliable and durable solutions that the Emergency One and Allison partnership delivers on a daily basis. I’m confident we’ll continue to deliver that promise.”
The eGen Power 100D electric axle integrates two high-speed electric motors and a multi-speed transmission, eliminating the need for additional drive shafts and support structures. This allows it to fit easily between the wheels, leaving critical space for battery storage. With continuous power of 536 horsepower (400 kilowatts) and peak output power of 738 horsepower (550 kilowatts), the eGen Power 100D is among the most powerful propulsion solutions in its class, with an architecture tuned for high gradeability and high top speed without sacrificing efficiency. This ensures Emergency One’s fire and rescue trucks will continue to deliver incomparable performance and reliability, fast acceleration and maneuverability in an application where failure is not an option, and every second counts.
“This is an exciting development for our eGen Power portfolio of products, as we continue to expand our electrified product portfolio in support of our promise to provide the most reliable and valued propulsion solutions in the world,” said Heidi Schutte, Vice President of EMEA, APAC, and South America Sales for Allison Transmission. “We are pleased to continue our longstanding partnership with Emergency One in delivering innovative solutions for our mutual customers, including many fire brigades and rescue teams across Europe. The Allison 3000 Series™ is the standard transmission offering in Emergency One’s conventional diesel-powered fire and rescue vehicles, so it’s natural to expect Emergency One and Allison to partner and bring the same proven performance, reliability, and durability to Emergency One’s electric fire and rescue trucks.”
Allison’s eGen Power 100D is the first in a lineup of electric axles that will be rated for torque, GVW, and varying chassis frame widths.
23 Apr 21. First short-range air defense systems deploy to Europe. The first unit in Europe has received the Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD) systems, according to an April 23 statement from Army Futures Command.
The 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, a subordinate unit under the 10th Army Air-and-Missile Defense Command, in Ansbach, Germany, is the first to receive the vehicles and will continue to test the M-SHORAD system.
The M-SHORAD is a Stryker A1 combat vehicle-based system that includes a mission equipment package designed by Leonard DRS. That mission equipment package includes Raytheon’s Stinger vehicle missile launcher. General Dynamics Land Systems is the lead integrator and received a $1.2 billion contract to build and deliver the system in October 2020.
The first battalion of 32 vehicles will be fielded in September 2021 using prototypes already built to fill it out.
The system was rapidly developed in record time. It took just 19 months from the time the service generated the requirement to the first delivery of a platform for testing, answering an urgent call in 2016 from U.S. Army Europe to fill the short-range air defense capability gap.
Then-U.S. Army Europe commander, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, told Defense News in an interview flying above Poland during the country’s Anakonda military exercise, that his biggest worry was countering unmanned aerial vehicles and the Army needed to quickly get capability that could tackle the problem, particularly swarms.
The M-SHORAD capability is designed to defend against unmanned systems as well as rotary- and fixed-wing threats.
The service received the requirement to build the system in February 2018. After a shoot-off in the desert of White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, and subsequent evaluations of vendors, the Army selected a Stryker combat vehicle as the host system with the Leonardo DRS mission equipment package.
The Army will field 144 systems to four battalions beginning this year, followed by an enduring capability for additional battalions.
Future variants of the system will include other kinetic interceptors and a directed energy capability that will not only defend against UAS and manned aircraft but also rockets, artillery and mortars.
The Army has awarded a contract each to Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to build a 50-kilowatt-class laser weapon for Stryker combat vehicles for the SHORAD mission. One of the laser weapon systems developed could be integrated onto a platoon of four Stryker vehicles in fiscal 2022. But the Army is leaving competition open to any vendors that did not receive an OTA contract to compete using their own internal research and development dollars. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
26 Apr 21. General Dynamics Land Systems demonstrates AJAX-Brimstone ‘Overwatch’ variant. General Dynamics Land Systems–UK today unveiled a further variant of its best-in-class AJAX Family of Vehicles (FoV). The Brimstone Anti-tank Guided Weapon ‘Overwatch’ variant, demonstrated in collaboration with MBDA, could operate in the vanguard of the British Army’s future Heavy Brigade and Deep Recce Strike Combat Teams, providing vital force protection for the more dispersed force and ensuring the integrity of long-range persistent surveillance.
The MBDA Brimstone-based solution Overwatch capability can be seamlessly integrated onboard an ARES vehicle utilising its state-of-the art Electronic Architecture, which is installed across the AJAX FoV and enables the rapid insertion and integration of new technologies and capabilities.
Carew Wilks, Vice President and General Manager of General Dynamics Land Systems–UK, said: “The AJAX family can fulfil a large number of roles for Armed Forces worldwide, including reconnaissance, persistent surveillance, command and control, and bridging. Our collaboration with MBDA further demonstrates the versatility of the AJAX fleet through the delivery of an ‘Overwatch’ capability quickly and effectively for the Heavy and Deep Recce Strike Brigade Combat Teams.”
Chris Allam, MBDA UK Managing Director, said: “Brimstone and AJAX is a potent battle-winning combination. Brimstone is a core part of the ‘portfolio’ approach to complex weapons between MBDA and the UK Ministry of Defence. This co-operation on AJAX Overwatch demonstrates how we can use sovereign UK complex weapons technologies to provide rapid and low cost solutions to enhance the operational capabilities of the UK Armed Forces, while ensuring sovereign skills, jobs and security of supply are maintained.”
Brimstone is the ubiquitous multiple-platform weapon for Air, Land and Maritime environments. Operationally proven and packed with the latest technology for further growth, in the Overwatch role Brimstone is the differentiator for high intensity, peer-on-peer warfighting, with excellent reach, high-loadout and salvo capability. Defeating all known Defensive Aide Suites and armour with high precision and in all weathers, Brimstone gives several targeting options while uniquely enhancing platform and operator survivability through best-in-class insensitive munition compliance.
General Dynamics Land Systems has a long pedigree and worldwide experience in delivering tracked and wheeled military vehicles, including Overwatch and other specialist variants, alongside industry-leading knowledge in complex, scalable Electronic Architectures. It delivers, amongst others, the AJAX family of vehicles, the Abrams main battle tank, LAV (Light Armoured Vehicle) and Stryker Family of Vehicles, and the Cougar Mine Resistant Ambush–Protected (MRAP).
22 Apr 21. AM General Delivers Bastion to Kosovo Ministry of Defense. General, leading military-grade tactical vehicle and mobility systems provider, participated in a delivery ceremony today for three Bastion armored personnel carriers (APC) to the Kosovo Ministry of Interior (MOI) for use with their police special forces. This delivery further strengthens the long partnership that AM General has with Kosovo, including having delivered nearly 200 HUMVEE vehicles over the last three years in support of the country’s security efforts. The ceremony also marked the first completed order stemming out of a partnership agreement with Arquus, a global defense manufacturer of military mobility solutions.
“We are honored to have been selected by the Kosovo Police Service to provide a critical mobility solution in support of their law enforcement mission, continuing our long-held relationship with the region” said Nguyen Trinh, AM General Executive Vice President of International Defense. “This delivery serves as an example of the importance of our strategic partnership with Arquus to meet the demands of our international customers.”
Developed by Arquus, the Bastion is a 4×4, 12-ton personnel carrier that combines tactical performance, robust capability, high internal space and payload and simplified maintenance. It features an armored hull that provides protection against ballistic threats, mines, and IEDs. AM General recognized the strategic value that a vehicle like Bastion can have on the region and facilitated the sale of the vehicle to the Kosovo MOI. Having strong relationships in the region through the sale of its own battle-proven vehicles, the partnership with Arquus has given AM General’s global customers access to an even wider range of defense products.
The Bastion will continue to augment the Kosovo MOI’s strategic protection initiatives, adding to the various high-quality, robust HUMVEE® vehicles delivered over the last three years including the HUMVEE 2-CT™ (M1152, 2-Door Cargo Truck), 4-CT™ (M1165, 4-Door Cargo Trucks) and 4-CT™ Fastback (M1151). The vehicles have various levels of armoring to support different army and police missions. (Source: PR Newswire)
22 Apr 21. Hanwha autonomous ground vehicle passes further development trials. The South Korean defence procurement agency has given Hanwha the greenlight to begin development on their unmanned ground combat vehicle, following a series of trials earlier in the year.
The South Korean Agency for Defense Development (ADD) confirmed this week that the Hanwha 6×6 Unmanned Surveillance Vehicle successfully finalised its exploratory development phase, marking the first time in which a mid to large unmanned ground vehicle has progressed through to development.
Hanwha Defense is expected to oversee the vehicle’s development, as well as the incorporation of surveillance and communications capabilities.
The project was launched in 2018, with the latest rounds of trials having finished in February. In March, the vehicle received a certification for Technology Readiness Level 6, allowing it to progress into development.
“This unmanned surveillance vehicle can be used to remotely lead mechanised units across a variety of terrains, including tactical roads, off-road, and unpaved roads,” a spokesperson from Hanwha Defense outlined.
“The vehicle is designed to conduct many different operations such as reconnaissance, target guidance, engagement with the enemy.”
The vehicle is expected to be armed with a remote-controlled machine gun, with optional additional configurations including detection capabilities or drone equipment. The South Korean ADD is funded by the government’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). (Source: Defence Connect)
21 Apr 21. JLTV: GM Defense’s Uphill Battle Vs. Oshkosh. Oshkosh, the incumbent, makes military trucks by the thousand. GM Defense, the upstart, has little recent military experience — but is backed by one of the world’s biggest auto companies.
In a secretive General Motors facility outside Detroit, three dozen GM Defense engineers have taken apart one of rival Oshkosh’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicles and are studying every nut and bolt so they can replicate it.
“Sydney, I have to tell you, it’s so much fun,” said lead engineer Ronda Uhl, a veteran of 30 years with GM. “This is like an engineer’s dream. You talk about playing with Legos…. We get to do that at the scale of a JLTV” – a seven-ton armored 4×4 designed to resist roadside bombs, landmines, and small arms fire.
You see, while Oshkosh Defense designed and builds the JLTV, it doesn’t own the Technical Data Package describing all the parts. The government does, and it’s giving that detailed technical data to other companies as it prepares to recompete the program next year, hoping to find a cheaper builder.
But the TDP does not include the detailed instructions that Oshkosh assembly line workers use to actually put the vehicle together. “The instructions were left out of the Lego box,” Uhl told me with a chuckle. “We’re not being handed those assembly manuals or those assembly drawings.”
So, she said, “we are taking our time…taking it apart and putting it back together again in a very slow methodical process.”
Reconstructing and copying the JLTV is a tremendous engineering challenge – but one Uhl and her team feel confident they can handle, drawing on the tremendous engineering depth of their parent company.
Advantage, Oshkosh?
Oshkosh, of course, is deeply skeptical that GM Defense – or any other potential contender – can replicate its experience building JLTV. “They have the Technical Data Package,” acknowledged Oshkosh Defense president John Bryant, but they don’t have Oshkosh’s detailed how-to guides on how to efficiently assemble the vehicle, the tooling set up to build JLTVs, or workforce trained to use them.
“Having the access to the technical data is of course helpful – you couldn’t build it without it,” he told me with a chuckle, but that’s no substitute for “the knowledge gained from having built over 10,000 of the vehicles.”
Now, GM does make millions of civilian cars and trucks, and GM Defense specifically is building 651 air-droppable militarized versions of its ZR2 Colorado, the Infantry Squad Vehicle. But Oshkosh – which manufactures civilian vehicles as well – argues JLTV is fundamentally different. “These are not commercial vehicles,” Bryant told me. “You’re talking about high technology vehicles. You’re talking about armor, you’re talking about very stringent US government quality standards. It’s a much more challenging vehicle to build than our normal commercial products.”
Oshkosh absolutely has an incumbent advantage, admitted GM Defense’s chief engineer, Richard Kewley, and JLTV is very different from the Infantry Squad Vehicle, let alone civilian cars.
To start with, a JLTV weighs seven tons – and that’s curb weight, not fully loaded. Nothing in the GM portfolio is that heavy, the company admits. ISV specifically has a curb weight of under 2.5 tons (5,000 lbs) to allow it to be sling-loaded under a helicopter, and it’s got an open frame like a dune buggy, in stark contrast to the heavily armored capsule enclosing the crew and passengers of a JLTV.
But, Kewley argued, much of GM’s disadvantage is due to the specific way the recompetition is structured, with Oshkosh only having to share the Technical Data Package and not its assembly manuals or other information.
“This best value recompete … in a lot of ways we think advantages the incumbent,” Kewley told me. “There are elements that we cannot see into, [so] we’re going to be very much dependent on how well the DoD team and the military are able to give us insight into each of those pieces.”
Yes, the Army is open to some improvements in the JLTV design, especially the engine, which may soon be out of production. But otherwise the military wants something as identical to its existing JLTVs as possible, to simplify training, maintenance, and sustainment. Competitors’ scores are docked for deviations from the original design.
“Where we have to deviate and go to a unique solution,” he said, “there’s essentially a demerit in the process for changing any of those components.”
So the recompete, as it’s currently structured, may not be the best way for the Army to harness GM Defense or the industrial might of its parent company, Kewley continued. “We think it’s worthwhile,” he said, “that the military look at the potential for a split buy that uses a cooperative approach to bring in a second manufacturer, as opposed to a direct competitive approach.
The service so far has not hinted it would split the buy this way, however.
Even with a winner-take-all contest, it is possible for an outsider to win a recompete of this kind – and Oshkosh itself has done it. In 2009, it took over the Army’s three-axle truck program, the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FTMV), from BAE Systems.
That was a program where a different incumbent had been building the vehicles for years, the government had the rights to the technical data package and competed the program, and Oshkosh Defense competed and won,” Bryant recounted.
The FMTV is “a much simpler vehicle” than JLTV, Bryant said, but the precedent is hard for Oshkosh to miss.
So this competition is a very real test for both companies. In Part 2 of this story, out tomorrow, we do an in-depth comparison of Oshkosh and GM Defense. (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
20 Apr 21. Hanwha, Oshkosh sign partnership for US Army Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle. Hanwha Defense and Oshkosh Defense have signed a partnership for the design and delivery of the US Army’s Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle, as part of the combat vehicle program to replace the M-2 Bradley IFV.
Hanwha Defense has entered into a partnership with Oshkosh Defense to execute the design of the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) for the US Army’s upcoming combat vehicle program.
The agreement between the two companies is expected to allow Oshkosh Defense to operate as the systems integration contractor on the OMFV, with Hanwha Defense overseeing the development and delivery of the system.
The OMFV project is expected to replace the M-2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle in a bid to modernise the US Army.
Bernard Champoux, head of Hanwha’s US operations and former US Army Lieutenant General, outlined that the OMFV will support the operational capabilities of US soldiers.
“Bringing together the heritage of two innovative, reliable, and successful land systems companies, gives me great confidence that Hanwha and Oshkosh, with our other consortium partners, will deliver the next generation infantry fighting vehicle the American Soldier clearly deserves,” Champoux said
“Like Australia and numerous other partner countries focused on local production, Hanwha’s contribution to the OMFV solution will be built in America with American labor.”
The announcement comes following confirmation that Hanwha’s Redback infantry fighting vehicle is being trialled for the LAND 400 Phase 3 program, and the appointment of Hanwha Defense as a preferred supplier to the ADF for the AS9 Self-Propelled Howitzer and AS10 armoured ammunition resupply vehicle as part of the LAND 8116 program. (Source: Defence Connect)
19 Apr 21. General Dynamics details OMFV proposal. General Dynamics has submitted an entry to the US Army’s second attempt at the optionally-manned fighting vehicle OMFV competition. The company’s OMFV programme director Ray Kiernan spoke about the company’s approach to developing a replacement for the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle and opened up about its proposal for the competition’s digital design phase.
Last week, General Dynamics confirmed it had submitted an entry to the US Army’s second attempt at the OMFV competition; previously the company was the only company to deliver a prototype vehicle on time. The army scrubbed the competition and restarted it, replacing strict requirements with a looser set of characteristics for industry to meet.
Unlike some competitors, Kiernan said General Dynamics had made a conscious choice not to put an image to its OMFV bid as it would be ‘premature’ and would go against the US Army’s desire to say it had already concluded what OMFV will be.
Detailing General Dynamics entry to the competition’s current phase, Kiernan said the company had offered the army a ‘comprehensive approach’ to how it would use digital engineering processes and modular open architectures to conduct trade studies and develop a concept for what OMFV could be.
Commenting on the trade space, Kiernan said: “Programmes like ASCOD and AJAX, as well as the previous work that we did to deliver the bid sample and other investments that we’ve done help to inform our approaches by defining that available trade space so that we understand, for instance, how the capabilities of an AJAX, could be brought to bear on a solution like this and how we can use that information as we do our analysis, conduct trade studies, and come up with this balanced solution to decide whether that’s the right solution or not, as it fits into this overall balanced approach.”
Currently, the company’s proposal is focused more on how it would go about finding a solution that would fit the US Army’s need well into the future, rather than a specific platform that it believes fits the requirement.
Kiernan said the company does not currently have a base platform it is looking at, but that it does have a ‘good collection of data’ on what technology is available that could form the basis of the vehicle.
“I think we understand what the army wants in terms of a lethality package. The army doesn’t explicitly say, for example, there have to be missiles on this vehicle, but we understand the missiles that could go on this vehicle right and we understand how those might be integrated into a turret,” Kiernan said. “Without having selected – because we have simply haven’t performed the work, the work will be performed under contract to actually develop that concept – I’d say that we’re very well-positioned to understand the subsystem pieces that build up a capability like this.”
So far, General Dynamics’ OMFV team has brought on board the General Dynamics Mission Systems division to strengthen the bids command and control, battle management and cybersecurity chops.
Kiernan added: “The army’s approach is one that I think we really embrace because we believe in this program and we believe that the need for this sort of a transformative technology is required.
“And so, we fully support working with the army going forward to make this programme a success.”
The company has also partnered with Applied Intuition, which has a background in artificial intelligence and is a specialist in vehicle autonomy. Aerovironment, the maker of the Switchblade loitering munition, is also a part of the company’s OMFV team.
Kiernan said: “If you look at the sorts of technologies building the basics of his vehicle, the transformative capabilities, that then allows you to take advantage of the advanced technologies is really our approach from the beginning.
“I guess the second piece of it is our approach to the modular open systems architecture to build a vehicle architecture that is going to be able to accept future technologies, whether they are ones that we think are five years away today or 10 years or maybe haven’t even been conceived of. But making sure that the fundamental architecture of this vehicle is established in a way that the interfaces are at the right place and are able to bring in those future technologies.”
Asked how the company plans to develop a vehicle that would keep pace with technology development, Kiernan reiterated General Dynamics focus on a modular open architecture approach to the system, something he said would mean there would be space for future technologies to be onboarded and would match the US Army’s approach of not necessarily being tied to one prime contractor.
Commenting on the modular open architecture approach, Kiernan said: “They [US Army] don’t want to always be beholden to the prime contractor when they choose to integrate new technology. By establishing this open architecture, the intent would be that the army could leverage other suppliers to bring technologies onto the vehicle.
“Then the final piece of that I would say would be making sure that as you engineer this vehicle that you establish growth margins so that you have space, weight, power, computer capacity and those sorts of things so you have got excess of those available at the vehicle’s inception. Recognising that over time you always need more power, you always are going to have more of a weight burden, you have that built-in capacity to be able to accommodate those future technology insertions.”
The competition
Confirmed competitors for the current phase of the OMFV competition include BAE Systems, which manufactured the Bradley; a Rheinmetall team including Raytheon, Textron and L3 Harris, which is offering the Lynx IFV; and a team led by Oshkosh Defense including Hanwha, makers of the Redback. Defense News reported that Mettle Ops has also submitted an entry.
BAE Systems teased its bid on social media including a shadowy post of an armoured vehicle. Once edited, the image appeared to show a next-generation Bradley hull fitted what defence observers believe to be an Elbit UT30MK2 turret. (Source: army-technology.com)
16 Apr 21. Lightweight vehicle is put to the test by 173rd Airborne Brigade ahead of multinational exercises. Sgt. Devin L. Cook, of Company D, 1st Battalion, 503rd Regiment, Vicenza, Italy, drives an Army Ground Mobility Vehicle during training at La Comina Italian army base in Pordenone, a few miles south of Aviano Air Base, April 15, 2021.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade trained its drivers over the past week on one of the Army’s latest infantry vehicles, ahead of participation in the large-scale Defender-Europe 21 and African Lion exercises later this year.
The Vicenza-based unit has been using the Army Ground Mobility Vehicle — described as a “21st century Jeep” — since 2018. But members of the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment are now training a new batch of AGMV operators at an Italian army base in Pordenone, located just a few miles from Aviano Air Base.
Army officials consider the all-terrain AGMV a much-needed addition to global quick response forces like the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the 82nd Airborne Division. The General Dynamics vehicle can be slung beneath a UH-60 Black Hawk or carried inside a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, and delivered to a landing zone along with the unit’s troops.
Weighing 6,000 pounds, it can carry a nine-member infantry squad and all their gear from the landing zone to their destination. This allows the troops to be dropped further away from potential enemy fire and then use the AGMVs to find an off-road avenue of approach that an adversary isn’t expecting. The troops themselves also wouldn’t be fatigued once they reach their destination.
“This vehicle’s very versatile, said Sgt. Devin L. Cook, a section leader. “It can manage going up to 45 degrees sideways and up to 60 degrees uphill, without rolling over.”
The vehicle has its share of fans and like many new systems, its critics, who have said the occupants inside the unarmed, unarmored vehicle would be vulnerable to small arms fire.
First Lt. Bandon C. Vance, a platoon leader, said there are plans to mount weapons such as machine guns on the vehicles.
“The way our AGMVs are configured at the moment, it’s not possible to mount a turret … unless a kit was installed to allow for that to happen,” he said.
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems was awarded a $33.8m contract in 2018 for the production of AGMVs and their associated kits. This was the first award for the production and fielding of the first set of vehicles.
“We awarded, in total, about $55m for 168 A-GMV 1.1s and associated kits. The 168 vehicles are spread across three airborne [brigades]. With 59 going to the 173rd, 59 to the 2nd Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, and 50 going to the 4th Battalion, 25th Infantry Division,” Steven M. Herrick, the GMV product lead for the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, said via email.
The Defender-Europe 21 exercise this spring will include about 30,000 U.S. and allied troops in the Balkan and Black Sea regions. African Lion, which is scheduled to kick off in June, will be a multinational exercise in Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal and Ghana. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/https://www.stripes.com/news/Europe)
15 Apr 21. Pencils up: Bids are due for Army’s Bradley replacement and it’s only the beginning. The deadline to submit a preliminary design for the Army’s Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) is April 16, but the cutoff marks not the time for industry officials to put pencils down, but rather the time to pick them up.
Among the companies that have announced bid submissions or intentions to compete are prime defense contractors General Dynamics Land Systems, BAE Systems and a Rheinmetall North America-led team to include Raytheon, Textron and L3Harris.
Oshkosh Defense has also submitted a bid as a prime contractor and is partnering with leading South Korean defense company Hanwha, sources familiar with the effort have confirmed to Defense News.
Other bid announcements could surface as the deadline looms including from small businesses.
A year and a half ago, the Army received just one physical bid sample from GDLS by its set deadline in October 2019. Defense News broke the news that the only other entry — the Lynx 41 from a Rheinmetall and Raytheon team — was disqualified because it wasn’t delivered to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, on time.
But the writing was already on the wall that the OMFV’s development schedule and requirements had doomed the program when BAE Systems, which manufactures the Bradley, bowed out of the competition months before the deadline.
Instead of moving forward with just one option, the Army canceled its OMFV competition, and took a step back to come up with a plan that would better foster a robust competition over a more reasonable timeline.
The Army not only dropped the plan to require a physical bid sample at the outset, it instead mapped out a five-phased effort that begins with an initial design phase then moves into a detailed design phase, followed by prototyping, testing and production.
Those designs will inform the Abbreviated-Concept Development Document (A-CDD) expected to be published in the first quarter of fiscal 2022.
“One of the neat elements of this initial phase of the program is that the Army isn’t asking us for the answer,” Don Kotchman, GDLS’ general manager, told Defense News in an April 15 interview.
“The Army is asking us how are we going to approach developing the answer,” he said.
Whoever is selected, Kotchman added, will be chosen because the Army likes the approach for its “adaptability, flexibility, robustness.”
The service will choose five prime contractor teams to design rough digital prototypes. The Army will then award up to three contracts for a detailed design and prototype phase that will include options for low-rate initial production. The service will select one vendor to go into production.
While it was widely believed BAE Systems would submit a bid, the company waited until April 15 to make it official. The company said in a statement that it would team with Elbit Systems and others. The announcement comes as little surprise since BAE said in October 2020 that it would team with Elbit on combat vehicle technology without stating explicitly that it would team up on OMFV.
General Dynamics is assembling its team and has already brought Silicon Valley-based Applied Intuition and Simi Valley, California-based Aerovironment on board. Applied Intuition is a company focused on autonomy and simulated vehicle development.
“The approach that General Dynamics Land Systems has taken to execute this is to find innovative partners who are really focused on the transformative capabilities that [the Army] is looking for in OMFV,” Kotchman said. “It really deals with the intellectual underpinnings of artificial intelligence, data management, sensor integration kinds of things so that regardless of eventual hardware approach, the ability for our offering to adapt, synthesize and deliver capability is enhanced.”
Rheinmetall NA and its Raytheon, Textron and L3Harris team has been vocal about its plans to bid.
L3 Technologies is the most recent addition to the team and announced April 14 its teaming agreement with Rheinmetall NA to jointly develop OMFV. L3Harris will provide vehicle mission systems, cybersecurity and its modular open systems approach for the Lynx, a company statement read.
“We have a long history providing similar support to multiple platforms using our [modular open-systems architecture] approach for mission systems and electronic warfare,” James Gear, vice president for L3Harris’ domestic business development, said in the statement. “We look forward to working with American Rheinmetall Vehicles to further expand into the ground defense vehicle market.”
The service plans to spend $4.6bn from fiscal 2022 through FY26 on OMFV so it is turning to industry input earlier and more than ever.
Following the concept design phase, the Army will move into a detailed design phase that will be executed over the course of FY23 and FY24.
The prototyping phase will begin in FY25 and vehicle testing will begin in FY26 and wrap up the following year with a production decision planned for the fourth quarter of FY27. Full-rate production is expected to begin in the second quarter of FY30.
In parallel to the concept design phase, the Army will develop an open architecture for OMFV.
An open architecture has risen to the top of the OMFV planner’s list of required capability, particularly after seeing the need to be networked with other capabilities across the battlefield and at the forward edge at Project Convergence at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona, over the summer.
The Army will establish a voluntary consortium beginning in January 2021 that will represent industry, government and academia, in order to develop such an open architecture. (Source: Defense News)