The U.S. Army’s Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle Must Be Revolutionary

While the particular state of the Army’s Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle competition may seem somewhat tangled and uncertain, there does appear to be an unambiguous, aggressive Army intention to field a new infantry fighting vehicle that breaks new ground — when it comes to lethality, protection, deployability, speed, firepower and AI-enabled sensing. Of equal significance, the Army seeks a vehicle “soon,” which can be upgraded effectively.

Some are raising the question as to whether the clarity or focus of this vision could be impaired by the apparent disqualification of the Raytheon-Rheinmetall Lynx vehicle. If, according to reports, the Army disqualified the Lynx for missing the delivery deadline, then only General Dynamics Land Systems remains as the sole bidder. Some are raising the question about having just one vendor initially bidding and submitting early prototypes for the program will compromise its success. This criticism, however valid, merits further exploration given the significance of the program for Army modernization.

Initially, there are several pressing or self-evident elements to this. First, competition for the program will not disappear. The Army plans a full and open production competition for 2023, so no vendors will be discouraged or limited when it comes to evolving, testing and maturing a vehicle. Secondly, the Army asked industry to invest, innovate and engage in dialogue — something which may have been done to varying degrees. It introduces a pertinent question: should Army or industry progress be stalled or complicated in some way when there might not be full clarity regarding vendor participation may change?

Furthermore, timing on the program, per Army strategy, is very significant; remember, this program was initially envisioned as an effort to deliver vehicles as far away as the early 2030s. However, the speed and danger of emerging threats inspired the Army to move up the timeframe for operational status by as much as a decade. Executing this accelerated vision of course hinges upon leveraging promising new innovations and commercial off-the-shelf available technologies — in the near term.

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