Monday, December 9, 2024
Monday, December 9, 2024
The Marine Corps is conducting market research for its developing Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle ahead of an upcoming engineering and manufacturing development competition that will include three ARV mission-role variants, according to a July 3 request for information.
A future request for proposals for the program’s EMD phase will solicit the design and test of a 30mm Autocannon (ARV-30) variant, a Command, Control, Communication and Computers Unmanned Aerial System (ARV-C4UAS) variant and an ARV-Logistics (ARV-LOG) version, the notice states.
The service plans to release a request for proposals in the second quarter of FY-25 and award an EMD contract in the second quarter of FY-26, according to budget documents, which seek $63.7 million in continuing research and development funding for the program in FY-25.
In March, Textron Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems were awarded separate contracts to design and build ARV-30 prototypes. Both contractors have already delivered initial ARV-C4UAS prototypes that participated in government testing during FY-23.
The notice provides instructions to obtain an ARV EMD draft statement of work and other related documents. It asks interested contractors to answer a series of questions on their experience developing combat vehicles and ability to meet ARV program specifications, with responses desired by August 16.
The notice also asks respondents to explain their plan to integrate the ARV-30 gun turret system with the vehicle, indicating the Marine Corps wants to begin taking delivery of ARV-30s within 16 months of the contract award.
“The purpose of publicizing this market survey is to aid in the continued development of a future acquisition strategy, identify the number of interested small businesses and other-than-small businesses, gather information for planning purposes about the capabilities of each industry source as defined in Federal Acquisition Regulation 15.201(e), and obtain feedback on the draft P Spec, Statement of Work, Attachments and answers to specific questions,” the notice states.
The ARV will succeed the legacy Light Armored Vehicle and become a primary platform supporting the Marine Corps’ new Mobile Reconnaissance Battalions. The service plans to procure a family of six mission-role variants including organic precision fires, counter-UAS and recovery variants in addition to the ARV-30, ARV-C4UAS and ARV-LOG versions.