Raytheon Technologies [RTX] is looking to provide sustainment for the U.S. Army’s future Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV)—a program the service has estimated will cost $46 billion to buy and support a replacement for the service’s Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
“In partnership with American Rheinmetall Vehicles, the Raytheon Technologies’ team is providing transformational training, maintenance, and other sustainment related capabilities to the Army Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle program,” Mark Russell, Raytheon’s chief technology officer, told reporters on Oct. 6 in a lead up to the virtual Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference. “With our proven expertise in areas such as remote diagnostics, intelligent embedded training manuals, integration with the Army synthetic training environment, remote diagnostics and whole life cycle support, we will provide the Army OMFV program with training and maintenance capabilities that will contribute to unit readiness in ways never seen before.”
For its OMFV proposal, Raytheon is providing a third-generation forward looking infrared (FLIR) sensor to “enable our warfighters to target adversaries at maximum range for their direct weapons, including the updated TOW Kilo missile that extends the range of TOW beyond six and a half kilometers,” said Thomas Laliberty, vice president of land warfare and air defense at the Raytheon Missiles and Defense unit.
The Army said last month that it will not submit its own design for the restarted OMFV prototype competition (Defense Daily, Sept. 17).
The decision was based on feedback from industry and dialogue among Army senior leaders, according to an update to the draft Request For Proposals notice.
The draft Request for Proposals for OMFV was released in July and originally included a note that the service may consider submitting its own design for OMFV phase one that could compete against industry’s proposals (Defense Daily, July 17).
A final RFP is expected in December.
In January, the Army canceled its original solicitation for the OMFV prototype, which faced scrutiny after a single bid sample from General Dynamics [GD] was accepted (Defense Daily, Jan. 16).
The rebooted competition’s initial phase focuses on digital designs rather than physical prototypes, with plans to award up to five contracts in June 2021.
Germany’s Rheinmetall said last month that its new $2.4 billion combat vehicle deal with Hungary will cover delivery of 218 Lynx infantry fighting vehicles, as well as nine Buffalo armored recovery vehicles. Hungary is the first customer for the Lynx IFV, the same platform Rheinmetall and Raytheon offered for the Army’s initial attempt at OMFV.
During the Army’s initial prototype search for OMFV, officials disqualified Raytheon and Rheinmetall’s Lynx offering after the two companies were unable to deliver a bid sample by the proposal deadline (Defense Daily, Oct. 14 2019).