Army accepting bids for Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicle

The Army is collecting final prototype proposals today for the Cold Weather All-Terrain Vehicle, a replacement for the Small Unit Support Vehicle, also known as the Bv206, used in arctic environments.

The service via the National Advanced Mobility Consortium on June 9 posted a request for prototype proposals for the research and development of a CATV, to come in a "General Purpose" variant and a "Cargo" variant.

The current SUSV, built by BAE Systems Hägglunds in Sweden, has been in service since the early 1980s.

The Army wants the CATV to "provide transportation for a combat-loaded infantry-like squad element, emergency medical evaluation, command-and control-capability and general cargo transportation; and be capable of operating on- and off-road under a wide range of otherwise impassable terrain for a small infantry squad with associated equipment that is globally responsive," according to an initial notice posted last October.

"The CATV will need to traverse rocky terrain, inland lakes, marsh and muskeg, deep snow [and] ice and operate in extreme cold weather (ECW)," the service says. "The CATV will be a high mobility tracked platform that will have a lightweight footprint and be transportable by a variety of means including vertical lift (via CH-47F) and air transportable (via C-17)."

The Army will award up to two proposals no more than $2 million each to deliver two General Purpose and one Cargo CATV to Cold Regions Test Center in Alaska for "limited performance and endurance testing and user evaluation events," according to the RPP.

The service may then award a follow-on production contract without the use of competitive procedures, "so long as the participants in this transaction successfully complete the prototype project," the RPP states.

The potential follow-on production effort is estimated at $250 million, for up to 165 General Purpose variants "designed with the ability to be reconfigured between the General Purpose, Casualty Evacuation or Command and Control configurations" and 35 Cargo variants.

BAE has submitted a bid for the CATV prototype, offering its Beowulf platform as a production-ready vehicle, the company announced today.

"Beowulf is an unarmored, highly versatile articulated tracked vehicle for carrying cargo and personnel in either of its two compartments," the company said in a press release. "Its modular design allows it to be reconfigured for multiple missions, including logistical support, disaster and humanitarian relief, search and rescue, and a number of other scenarios."