Army's light combat vehicle gaining traction.

• Author: Harper, Jon

* An Army effort to equip infantry troops with a light combat vehicle is now underway, and officials are aiming to issue a request for proposals in fiscal year 2017.

"We have what we call a capability production document that is currently still in draft and it's being socialized throughout the Army," said Tom Stafford, chief of the support systems branch at the Army Maneuver Center of Excellence's capabilities directorate at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Lt. Col. Garth Winterle, the provisional project manager for the "ground mobility vehicle" or GMV, said the document is already in general officer-level staffing at the Pentagon.

The focus in fiscal year 2016 will be on conducting an analysis of alternatives and an effort to "fine tune" the requirements, he said in an interview. From there, he expects the Army to issue a request for proposals from industry.

"We believe that we will compete for and receive funding in next year's submitted budget ... to do our initial RFP work and get that out into the streets sometime in [fiscal year] ' 17," Winterle said.

"The strategy right now is, whenever this contract gets awarded we'll enter into a Milestone C [decision], we'll do a small number of LRIP--low-rate initial production--vehicles and then enter into product verification tests ... to verify that yes, in fact, what we got on contract fits the requirements," he added.

As things stand now, Winterle said he has a "high level of confidence" that the vehicle will make it to the LRIP and verification stage. The verification tests would be followed by "a very brief limited user test, and then we're attempting to field as fast as possible."

Assuming there are no hiccups, the Army plans for the GMV to achieve initial operational capability and be fielded no later than the end of fiscal year 2019, Winterle said.

Steve Bucci, a defense analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C. think tank, said the Army plans to move much faster than usual when it comes to pushing the GMV through the acquisition process.

"The delivery time that they're shooting for is just out of sight compared to what you normally see in any sort of vehicle procurement in the military," he said.

The plan to use commercial off-the-shelf technology is intended to speed up the acquisition process, according to Bucci and Army officials. Winterle said, "The market research has really shown that no government-run development is going to be required."

The GMV was previously known as the ultra light combat vehicle. The name was changed earlier this year by senior Army leadership, officials said. The Army's GMV is distinct from the GMV 1.1, which is a vehicle being pursued by U.S. Special Operations Command.

With the GMV, the...