By
Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on December 11, 2020 at 3:11 PM
Army concept for how its future Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle will penetrate enemy lines.
WASHINGTON: The Army is taking industry concerns to heart as it revises its next Request For Proposals for a new Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle, officials told company representatives at an industry day on Wednesday.
In particular, they’ve slashed the (virtual) paperwork required for the next phase of the program, Phase II, by more than 80 percent, and they’ve replaced a grueling Preliminary Design Review with a less demanding Systems Functional Review, which requires less detailed data and allows less mature technology. That change effectively defers some design and development work from the upcoming Phase II contracts, which run from roughly June 2021 through Sept. 30, 2022, to the later Phase III contracts, to be awarded in February 2023.