Saturday, April 20, 2024
Saturday, April 20, 2024
The Marine Corps' proposed armored reconnaissance vehicle program leads off this Tuesday INSIDER Daily Digest.
Keep an eye out for an upcoming Marine Corps armored reconnaissance vehicle request for proposals:
Marines set to release armored reconnaissance vehicle solicitation in fiscal year 2021
The Marine Corps plans to kick off in the third quarter of fiscal year 2021 a new competition to replace its aging Light Armored Vehicle fleet.
Inside Defense reported in October that two ground combat vehicle manufacturers, BAE Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems, are expected to compete in the Marine Corps' LAV replacement program:
BAE Systems, GDLS plan to compete for armored reconnaissance vehicle
. . . Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, deputy commandant for combat development and integration, told reporters Sept. 21 when he assessed the vehicle industrial base two years ago, he did not see options for a technologically advanced vehicle.
"The way that technology's changing, I'm expecting [industry] to come to us with the ideas," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and work through the whole [initial capabilities document], [capabilities development document]."
We also reported last September that GDLS planned to build a prototype for the Marine Corps' ARV program this year:
GDLS plans to build armored reconnaissance vehicle prototype next year
. . . Phil Skuta, Marine Corps and Navy director at GDLS, told Inside Defense Sept. 13 the company aims to construct its prototype in 2018. The ARV would replace the Light Armored Vehicle.
The ARV will be a "radical" departure from the LAV because the platform will integrate unmanned aerial systems, unmanned ground vehicles and sensors, forming a reconnaissance network, Skuta said.
The company plans to offer electrical power generation on and off the vehicle, he said.
BAE Systems is working through its own business case analysis of cost savings if the Navy chose to put the company's proposed adaptable gun mount, instead of using different launchers, on various ship classes:
BAE pitches Navy deck-mounted ship common launching system
BAE Systems has an adaptable gun mount the Navy could use as a common launching system to increase firepower that bolts onto the deck of a ship, according to a company executive.
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The Navy has a need for a boat that can fulfill several tasks such as inserting Marines from ship-to-shore, defending high-value targets and exploring rivers:
Navy eyeing 11-meter RIB to bolster boat count for littoral fight
The Navy may issue a request for proposals early this year for 11-meter rigid inflatable boats in an effort to bolster its small boat count for the future littoral fight.