Article Posted on : - Dec 02, 2010

An unrelated photo of the Terrex AV81 armoured infantry fighting vehicle

WARREN, MICHIGAN (BNS): The US Army has released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Technology Development phase in development of a new Infantry Fighting Vehicle under the Ground Combat Vehicle program.

The Army hopes to award up to three contracts for the Technology Development phase in the early third quarter of 2011 and expects delivery of the first production vehicle within seven years of the initial contract award.

The Infantry Fighting Vehicle will be developed in three phases commencing after the initial contract award - Technology Development, Engineering and Manufacturing Development, and Production and Deployment.

The prime contractors selected for the Technology Development phase will focus on the identification of effective and affordable vehicle technologies, development -- including preliminary design -- of competitive vehicle component prototypes, planned technical reviews and reduction of program schedule risk, a US army release said.

The RFP allows industry to utilize existing technologies and innovative solutions in their proposals. Industry will be allowed to propose non-developmental items (NDI), modified non developmental items, or new development solutions in response to the RFP, it said.