In June 2018, in part due to congressional concerns, the U.S. Army announced a new modernization strategy and designated the Next Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV) as the program to replace the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. In October 2018, Army leadership decided to redesignate the NGCV as the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) and to add additional vehicle programs to what would be called the NGCV Program. On January 16 2020, the U.S. Army canceled the current OMFV program, intending to restart the program following an analysis and revision of program requirements.
The US Army reopened the OMFV competition by releasing a new market survey that shifted most of the initial cost burden to the U.S. Army.
The General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) Griffin III technology demonstrator, one of the candidates for the OMFV program of the U.S. Army. Major requirements included the ability to transport two OMFVs in a C17 aircraft which will likely require the vehicle to have the ability to accommodate add-on armor; a threshold (minimum) requirement for a 30 mm cannon and a second generation forward looking infra-red radar (FLIR); and objective (desired) requirements for a 50 mm cannon and a third generation FLIR. The U.S. Army requested $327.732 million in Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) funding for the OMFV program in its FY2021 budget request.
The General Dynamics Griffin III concept is based on the hull of the Ajax tracked armored vehicle, formerly known as the Scout SV, developed by General Dynamics UK to replace the family of CVRT tracked reconnaissance vehicles in the British Army. To increase its self-protection, the Griffin III is fitted with an hexagonal camouflage called Tacticam from Armorworks designed to reduce vehicle signature in radar, infrared and visual spectrum. Designed with open architecture for rapid growth over time, the Griffin III also accommodates multiple crew and squad configurations. The vehicle is able to carry a squad of 6 infantrymen.
