Textron Systems Corporation, a Textron Inc. company, announced that the company will move ahead into Phases 3 and 4 of the U.S. Army’s Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV), now known as XM3Ø combat fighting vehicle program as the designated manufacturer of Team Lynx, led by American Rheinmetall Vehicles. Team Lynx’s OMFV offerings for the Detailed Design and Prototype Build & Test phases leverage Textron Systems’ vehicle production capabilities based in Slidell, Louisiana. A multidomain industry leader in air, land and sea platforms; weapon systems; electronic systems; propulsion; and test, training and simulation, Textron Systems has more than 50 years of armored vehicle expertise. The company’s Slidell, Louisiana, facility has produced more than 10,000 vehicles for over 15 domestic and international programs. In addition, Textron Systems brings decades of experience in the design, manufacturing, systems integration and support for uncrewed and robotic platforms across air, land and sea.
The Team Lynx OMFV is designed to achieve the Army’s combat vehicle modernization priorities, but with an open systems architecture that will enable persistent modernization to support infantry formations for years to come. In addition, a modular design and powerful new chassis enable the system to meet rigorous operational demands in a variety of vehicle configurations. Developed and manufactured in America, Textron Systems and American Rheinmetall Vehicles are joined on Team Lynx by Raytheon Technologies, L3Harris Technologies, Allison Transmission and Anduril Industries.
“Textron Systems’ combat vehicle manufacturing facility, uncrewed and robotic platform experience, and highly skilled talent further strengthen the low-risk Team Lynx offering for the Army’s next great American infantry fighting vehicle,” said Senior Vice President Land Systems and Sea Systems David Phillips. “Already honored to support numerous U.S. Army modernization programs across domains, we stand ready to deliver an OMFV that delivers decisive overmatch.”
The Lynx is a German armoured fighting vehicle developed by Rheinmetall Landsysteme (part of Rheinmetall’s Vehicle Systems division). The Lynx, configured as a KF31 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), was unveiled at the Eurosatory defence exhibition on 14 June 2016. The KF41 variant was unveiled at the Eurosatory defence exhibition on 12 June 2018. According to Rheinmetall, the Lynx family of tracked armoured vehicles is at the forefront of a new trend in IFV design toward armoured vehicles with lower unit and through-life costs and reduced complexity. One of the key principles of the Lynx concept is the integration of proven sub-systems with a high technology readiness level to reduce development time, cost and technical risk.
The Lynx is built around a sponson-shaped hull with a long, shallow glacis and angled belly plate. The driver compartment is at the front left, the engine the front right, fighting compartment in the middle (when fitted with a turret) and there is a dismount compartment at the rear, access to which is via a ramp in the rear of the vehicle. A key feature of the Lynx design concept is the separation and modularity of the vehicle into two primary parts: the basic vehicle and specialist mission and role equipment. The IFV variant of the KF41 variant fitted with the updated Lance 2.0 turret, this having flexible mission pods fitted on the left and right sides so that a variety of subsystems can be installed to provide the turret with specialist capabilities. The vehicle can also mount an optional anti-tank guided missile launcher.
In October 2018, Rheinmetall announced a teaming with Raytheon to propose the Lynx KF41 to the U.S. Army in answer to its developing Next-Generation Combat Vehicle program, this slated to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicles and other current platforms. This program, now known as the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle program, was halted on 16 January 2020. The U.S. stated it was cancelling the OMFV prototyping competition in order to revisit the requirements and acquisition timeline. After revamping the OMFV competition the army moved ahead with a new plan that now has five companies – American Rheinmetall Vehicle, BAE Systems, General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS), Oshkosh Defense, and Point Blank Enterprises – participating in a concept design phase. This portion of the programme will end around mid-2022 and the army will take a three to five month ‘break’ to evaluate bids from all companies interested in competing in the next two phases of the competition. The army then plans to award three contracts for phase 3 (detailed design) and phase 4 (prototype build and test) activities. Combined, these two phases will cover 54-months and each company will be tasked with delivering 12 prototypes, as well as several ballistic hulls and turrets, armour coupons, ballistic kits, and data. Then in 2027 the army intends to select one of these competing companies to proceed with low-rate initial production in anticipation of reaching the first unit equipped milestone in 2029, and full rate production in 2030.
