The U.S. defense contracting giant General Dynamics has submitted a bid for the U.S. Army’s Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) competition.
General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS), is proposing its purpose-built vehicle for the U.S. Army’s new Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle, or OMFV, program to replace Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
“We are proposing a purpose-built vehicle leveraging technologies from other platforms and years of investment in advanced capabilities to include a 50mm cannon,” according to a recent GDLS news release, also added that “Our bid sample for the U.S. Army’s OMFV was designed to address the desired system lethality, protection and mobility.”
The Griffin III provides Soldiers a revolutionary leap in lethality and stand-off, a modular turret that accommodates several weapon system configurations, scalable protection for Multi-Domain Operations and an integrated Active Protection System.
The company’s website said that designed with an open architecture for rapid growth over time, the Griffin III also accommodates multiple crew and squad configurations.
General Dynamics said it is offering a new platform designed specifically for the Army’s next-generation combat vehicle competition, that will replace Bradley, but did not provide details on the submission.
The M-2 Bradley, which has been in service since 1981, is an Army’s Infantry Fighting Vehicle used to transport infantry on the battlefield and provide fire support to dismounted troops and suppress or destroy enemy fighting vehicles. Updated numerous times since its introduction, the M-2 Bradley is widely considered to have reached the technological limits of its capacity to accommodate new electronics, armor, and defense systems.
Two past efforts to replace the M-2 Bradley—the Future Combat System (FCS) Program and the Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) Program—were cancelled for programmatic and cost-associated reasons.
Reportedly, the Army plans eventually to award a production contract for up to 3,590 OMFVs to a single vendor.
