Army seeks vehicle protection system prototypes

The Army will work with industry to improve vehicle protection systems and the ways that industry develops those systems, the service announced today.

The prototyping program will be run through the Army's 2017 agreement with the National Advanced Mobility Consortium, whose members will be able to participate.

One focus of the program will be developing additional vehicle protection systems, according to the announcement. This can include active, passive and reactive technologies that improve the "adaptive and collaborative protection" of any ground vehicle platform.

The program's objectives will include "advancing the state of the VPS industry base by opening up the VPS marketplace to subsystem developers, which will enable them to have input to the Government's VPS Prototype Approach to develop aligned and compliant subsystems that could be acquired in the future," the announcement states.

The prototyping program is expected to last four years, according to the notice. The Army does not plan to pursue follow-on production after it ends.

The Army announced programs last month to develop robotics prototypes for infantry and ground combat vehicles under the same agreement with NAMC.