General Dynamics Land Systems has beaten BAE Systems in the competition to produce the Army’s new light tank, and it has received an order for the first 26 vehicles, according to an announcement today from the service.
The program’s estimated acquisition costs could eventually total $6 billion, Brig. Gen. Glenn Dean, the program executive officer for ground combat systems, told reporters on a call today. The tank, known as the Mobile Protected Firepower, will bring a 105 mm direct fire capability to light infantry units.
A low-rate production contract, awarded today to General Dynamics, is worth up to $1.14 billion for 96 vehicles, according to the Army’s announcement.
The program has also transitioned out of the middle-tier authority acquisition pathway that the Army used for rapid prototyping over the last four years, Army Acquisition Executive Doug Bush said on the call. That change happened at the same time as a milestone C decision to move forward with production.
“The MPF program did exactly what the Army asked, which was to complete the competitive and accelerated rapid prototyping effort with multiple soldier touchpoints and test events,” Bush said. “Mobile Protected Firepower is a benchmark, in my view.”
Delivery of the first low-rate production vehicle is scheduled to take place in 19 months, and a variety of tests will begin with the first deliveries, Dean said. Initial operational test and evaluation is planned for end of fiscal year 2024.
The official first unit equipped milestone is scheduled for the fourth quarter of FY-25, and it will consist of a battalion with 42 tanks, he said.
Four battalions would be fielded by 2030 under current Army plans, and “the bulk of” the planned acquisition should be met by 2035, Dean said.
The Army could announce a name for the tank at the annual Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington in October, Bush said.
Each tank is expected to cost about $12.8 million in low-rate production, according to FY-23 budget documents. The Army requested $357 million for MPF procurement spending in FY-23, which would be enough for 28 tanks.
The service’s acquisition objective currently stands at 504 vehicles, according to the budget documents. The Army procurement objective still must be set, and it could be “slightly” different, Dean said.
General Dynamics and BAE -- which have a duopoly in the American combat vehicle market -- won contracts in December 2018 to build 12 prototypes each of the light tank.
General Dynamics completed its first vehicles in time for testing to begin in January 2021. But BAE did not deliver its first prototype until March of that year, amid delays to other combat vehicles built at its York, PA, plant.
The 82nd Airborne Division created two tank platoons -- one for each company’s set of prototypes -- to test the vehicles, Maj. Gen. Ross Coffman, director of the Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team, said on the call.
Airborne and air assault divisions, which are a focus of the Army’s reorganization for large-scale combat, are expected to be first in line for the tank. Along with new troop carriers, such as the Infantry Squad Vehicle and upcoming electric Light Reconnaissance Vehicle, the MPF will allow light infantry divisions to advance on a target.
The Army expects to field the MPF in division-level tank battalions. Earlier plans had called for a tank company at the brigade level.
In an interview last year, Dean said it was possible that the MPF could support Stryker brigades on some missions, as those brigades will lose their own 105 mm cannons this year when the Mobile Gun System is divested.
But the Army would likely align the light tanks from infantry formations to the Stryker brigades when they are needed, rather than create a new requirement that would permanently position tanks within Stryker brigades, he said.