The U.S. Army has chosen five teams to compete for the Concept Design Phase of the future Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle program, the service announced July 23.
According to a press release from Army released on Friday, the service has picked BAE Systems, General Dynamics Land Systems, Point Blank Enterprises, American Rheinmetall Vehicles and Point Blank Enterprises for a 15-month-long program to digital concept designs for the OMFV.
The concept design phase reflects the Army’s effort to structure a program that incentivizes industry innovation, provides the analytical underpinnings for the development of an abbreviated capability development document, and begin the design maturation process.
The overarching strategy for the program – a five-phased approach to design, prototype, test, and produce the OMFV. This approach focuses on encouraging innovation, maximizing competition throughout the entire program, and producing a transformational Infantry fighting Vehicle (IFV) that will dominate maneuver in Multi-Domain Operations (MDO).
The OMFV is considered to be a replacement for the Army’s aging Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
The OMFV will be designed to maneuver Soldiers in the future operating environment to a position of advantage to engage in close combat and deliver decisive lethality during the execution of combined arms maneuver.
Army expected that the new combat vehicle will exceed current capabilities while overmatching similar threat class systems.
