Later this month the Army is expected to issue a sole source solicitation to BAE Systems for work that would restore performance and alleviate issues associated with survivability upgrades required for Bradley Fighting Vehicle variants in Iraq.
The Army Contracting Command wants engineering design, logistics, test and evaluation support for the Bradley Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) effort.
“These changes will buy back the space, weight and power that the [Bradley] A3 lost when it was upgraded for survivability solutions during operations in Iraq,” Roy Perkins, director of Market Creation for Combat Systems at BAE, told Defense Daily. “These changes will not add any new capabilities to the vehicle, but just allow it to perform back at its original 2003 Operational Requirements Document (ORD) specifications while maintaining the survivability characteristics of the (Bradley Urban Survivability Kit) BUSK-equipped vehicles that fought in Iraq during 2006-2009, including the 2008 battle for Sadr City.”
The Bradley Urban Survivability Kits were a response to requests from the field and were a series of rapid development survivability improvements aimed at urban conflict. The improvements included a rapid ramp release.
“This will enable Bradley to remain ready for the demands of today’s combat requirements while the Army develops and fields the Ground Combat Vehicle for future battles,” Perkins said.
The work was described by the Program Manager Heavy Brigade Combat Teams during an October industry briefing at the annual Association of the U.S. Army conference, he said.
The Jan. 3 notice in FedBizOps.gov said the Bradley ECP effort would mitigate the size, weight and power issues of Bradley fighting vehicle variants: M2A3, M3A3m Bradley Fire Support Team (BFIST) with Fire Support Sensor Systems (FS3) and the M2A2 Operation Desert Storm- Engineer (ODS-E).
The research and development work for the Bradley ECP will “regain lost performance capabilities from previously approved requirements, and facilitate technology/capability packages insertion,” the government notice said.
The solicitation is expected to be released around Jan. 18.