Oshkosh Defense [OSK] said Monday it will collaborate with the Army on research and development efforts into “innovative armament technologies,” to include weapon system capabilities that could be transitioned into programs such as Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV).
Under the new Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Armaments Center, Oshkosh Defense said it will leverage its 30mm turret solution for the Army’s Stryker Medium Caliber Weapon System (MCWS) program in support of development efforts.
“We are already starting with a robust weapon system platform with our Stryker MCWS turret,” Pat Williams, the company’s vice president and general manager of U.S. Army and Marine Corps programs, said in a statement. “This CRADA allows us to explore additional weapon system capabilities and apply them to our OMFV solution to provide our soldiers with the cutting-edge technology required on the modern battlefield.”
Oshkosh Defense said the CRADA with DEVCOM Armaments Center will include development, integration and testing work building off the 30mm turret system, with the goal “to provide a transformative, next-generation lethality capability for the warfighter.”
“Through cooperative research and development, Oshkosh intends to develop, mature, integrate, and test the armament accuracy and lethality capabilities of an integrated medium caliber combat system into Oshkosh’s medium caliber turrets,” Williams told Defense Daily in a statement. “While we can’t get into the specifics of the timeline, the three-phase effort includes a digital study, integration, and test events.”
The Army selected Oshkosh Defense for the Stryker MCWS program in June 2021, awarding the company a potential $942 million deal to provide a 30mm, unmanned turreted auto-cannon to be integrated on Stryker DVHA1 Infantry Carrier Vehicles (Defense Daily, June 3 2021).
Oshkosh Defense, along with its partner South Korea’s Hanwha, is also one five competitors vying for the OMFV program to design the Army’s Bradley replacement.
Williams previously told Defense Daily he sees the company’s Stryker MCWS win as an opportunity to establish Oshkosh Defense as a “credible competitor” in the combat vehicle realm (Defense Daily, Oct. 22 2021).
American Rheinmetall Vehicles, another OMFV competitor, announced last August it had also signed a CRADA with the DEVCOM Armaments Center to work collaboratively on integrated combat vehicle weapon, fire control, and ammunition technologies, to include developments integrating the Army’s XM913 50mm cannon on OMFV offerings (Defense Daily, Aug. 27 2021).