The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants innovative individuals and companies to add their abilities to traditional defense industry to help the agency reform how the Defense Department designs and produces complex military systems.
The goal is to use on line tools, processes and collaboration to compress development time by a factor of at least five, while increasing the nation’s pool of innovation by several factors of 10, said Army Lt. Col. Nathan Wiedenman, program manager of the Adaptive Vehicle Make (AVM) portfolio of programs at DARPA.
Registration has opened for the first of three anticipated Fast, Adaptable, Next-Generation (FANG) Ground Vehicle challenges, part of DARPA’s Adaptive Vehicle Make programs. Each FANG challenge is an independent prize-based design contest aimed at creating a next-generation heavy amphibious infantry fighting vehicle (IFV).
The first FANG Challenge, with a $1 million prize, opened registration Oct. 1, Wiedenman said in a media roundtable yesterday. The challenge, which runs from January to April, requires participants to develop a subsystem focused on mobility and drivetrain for the IFV.
The second challenge also carries a $1 million prize. It focuses on the chassis and structural subsystems and will get under way in late 2013.
The third FANG challenge offers a $2 million prize and is for the full vehicle design. It will take place during 2014, Wiedenman said. The winning design will be built in the iFAB Foundry and be handed off to the Marines for their own operational testing versus other ACV prototypes.
This is not part of the Marine amphibious combat vehicle (ACV) program of record, he said. FANG will run in parallel, though the ACV will be the first beneficiary of the program.
The AVM came about because military acquisition is not sustainable as is, Weidenman said. The effort is to work out all the design trades and measure designs against requirements before final design and fabrication. Rather than one concept, the virtual trade space will be able to hold a large number of solutions and simulations will be able to analyze performance against requirements. Various tools will allow real time collaboration.
The point is that when the design is finished and the system is built, “it works the first time,” he said. “We’re not stuck in the design, build, test cycle.” Weidenman said there is the potential to field systems in as little as two years.
Using on line capabilities offers opportunities for those who don’t work for the defense industry to join in and be part of a team building the IFV. Design teams will be formed over the next few months and in January the first FANG challenge kicks off.
The first step is to register through www.vehicleforge.org.