Choosing Replacement for Bradley IFV

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The US Army has chosen five teams to compete to design the replacement for its Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, in service since 1981, within the framework of the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle program.

While an IFV is by concept a manned platform, the optionally manned vehicle should have the ability to conduct remotely controlled operations while the crew is off-platform.

Point Blank Enterprises, Oshkosh Defense, BAE Systems, General Dynamics Land Systems and American Rheinmetall Vehicles will all conjure up rough digital concept designs for the program. 

The total award value for all five contracts is approximately $299.4 million.

The Oshkosh Defense consortium includes Israeli Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, among other companies.

The Army’s five-phased effort begins with an initial design phase then moves into a detailed design phase, followed by prototyping, testing and production.

Instead of asking for designs as part of the first phase of competition, the Army asked how companies would approach developing designs for an OMFV.

Following the concept design phase, the Army will move into a detailed design phase.

The prototyping phase will begin in FY25. 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 capabilities, 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, according to defensenews.com.