Combat Vehicles

The Army has completed a capability development document for assured positioning, navigation and timing in all new mounted platforms, according to a service official.

The Army's vice chief of staff and under secretary have spent the past year crafting "business rules" and "metrics" for deciding when to stop upgrading legacy systems and start acquiring new capabilities as the service attempts to modernize its fleets.

The Next Generation Combat Vehicle family now includes the Army's future "light tank," Mobile Protected Firepower, and the M113 armored troop carrier replacement, Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle.

The official in charge of the Next Generation Combat Vehicle cross-functional team would consider replacing the M1A1 Abrams with a vehicle that is not a tank, a "distant" effort the Army plans to tackle after fielding the replacement for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

The Army is using a new rapid prototyping and fielding, "middle-tier acquisition," authority granted by Congress to procure prototypes for its designated replacement for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, called the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle.

BAE Systems has received a $216 million contract modification for M109A7 self-propelled howitzers, following a quality inspection visit this month by the Army secretary and service acquisition executive at the company's plant in York, PA.

An $80 million cut to the Army's Bradley upgrade program in the fiscal year 2019 spending bill signals congressional support for the service's decision to forego improvements to a legacy system in favor of investing in a new replacement.

House and Senate appropriators are backing the Army's aim to upgrade its Stryker combat vehicles -- approving $94 million more than requested -- but are not assured the service has a feasible plan to complete the upgrades at the desired rate.

Army officials are working to lock in requirements for a planned big-ticket acquisition program to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle -- a program launch set for this fall that would give the service a marquee "next-generation" project to tout in the same way the Air Force has a new bomber and the Navy a new ballistic missile submarine.