The Marine Corps selected Textron Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems for Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle pre-award and will begin negotiations for Other Transaction Agreement awards of ARV prototypes. Pending successful negotiations, Army Contracting Command – Detroit Arsenal will award the ARV OTAs utilizing the Ground Vehicle Systems OTA with the National Advanced Mobility Consortium. A key Fleet Marine Force modernization initiative, the ARV Command, Control, Communications and Computers/Unmanned Aerial Systems will host a suite of C4 equipment, sensors, and operate both tethered and untethered UAS.
The ARV C4/UAS will employ an effective mix of reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, and C4 systems to sense and communicate. These systems will enable ARV to serve as the manned hub of a manned/unmanned team and deliver next-generation, multi-domain, mobile reconnaissance capabilities. Program Manager Light Armored Vehicles, located at the Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, manages the ARV effort. PM LAV falls within the portfolio of programs managed by the USMC Program Executive Officer Land Systems, Quantico, Virginia.
General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) which is the manufacturer of the Light Armored Vehicle-25 currently in service — said it submitted an ARV prototype proposal by the Corps’ May 3 deadline. Textron said at the time of the solicitation deadline that it would compete with a prototype it already built and drove nearly 750 miles, dubbed “Cottonmouth.” The period of performance for the agreements is 22 months, with prototype delivery expected in the first quarter of fiscal year 2023 and six months of government evaluation that will complete in the third quarter.
The effort gained momentum following an industry engagement held in December 2020. The Marine Corps is working to validate the ARV requirement to serve as a mobile protected hub of manned capability with the C4 to effectively operate robotic autonomous systems-enabled teams through a competitive prototyping effort with multiple industry partners. In parallel to competitive prototyping, the Marine Corps is also pursuing an effort to define the trade space of a government off-the-shelf solution using the Amphibious Combat Vehicle. The data from the ARV competitive prototyping efforts and the ACV study will jointly inform a Marine Corps decision point in fiscal year 2023.
