When the Pentagon cancelled the proposed Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) it wasn’t at all clear what they had up their sleeve or intended to replace the aging Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle. According to Defense News, “the Army has awarded two contracts of more than $28 million each to BAE Systems Land and Armaments and General Dynamics Land Systems to develop design concepts for the FFV. The work is due Nov. 28, 2016.”
“As the original equipment manufacturer for the Bradley fighting vehicle, we have a unique understanding of the requirements and user needs,” Mitchell said. “Among our top considerations will be platform weight and program affordability as we balance overall performance,” said BAE spokeswoman Megan Mitchell.
Whatever design is chosen, it will likely one day have to go toe-to-toe with two of Russia’s latest pair of infantry fighting vehicles: the BMD-4 (Boyevaya Mashina Desanta-4 literally “Combat Vehicle of the Airborne”) and BTR-MD Rakushka (“Shell”), both currently being distributed to Russia’s growing airborne arm.