General Dynamics Completes Marine Corps Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle Testing
General Dynamics Land Systems announced 23 January, that it had successfully completed testing of the Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle it is developing for the United States Marine Corps.
According to the company, testing ran from January to November 2023 at sites including Nevada Automotive Test Center (NATC), U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. The Marine Corps-directed tests and demonstrations evaluated vehicle capabilities including Command, Control, Communications and Computer/Uncrewed Aerial Systems (C4/UAS); land and water mobility; and blast and kinetic tests, as well as cyber and electromagnetic interference (EMI) assessments.
Marines from Light Armored Reconnaissance units currently operating the LAV-25 the ARV is designed to replace were involved with the tests. “Having the Marines operate the ARV and provide feedback was very valuable,” said Chris Dell, ARV Program Manager at General Dynamics Land Systems. “Their constructive feedback is priceless as we aim for an innovative and transformational solution.”
A particularly closely monitored aspect of testing was the vehicle’s ocean swim mobility and surf zone transition of littoral beach areas. GDLS says that the ARV is equipped with “next-generation” swim propulsion, vectored thrust and water safety systems for swim operations in likely Marine Corps operational areas.
“The testing and demonstration activities last year helped us collect the data to ensure we can meet and exceed the Marine Corps’ requirements for ARV,” said Richard Trotter, ARV Program Director at General Dynamics Land Systems. “We are confident we can achieve key performance requirements and competitively position ourselves for the next phase of the program.”
“Highly mobile on land and in the water, the ARV allows Marines to sense and communicate like never before,” Trotter added. “These tests were some of the most extensive to date for us to trial our strategic innovation technologies across the General Dynamics Land Systems portfolio. We pride ourselves on delivering capabilities for today and are thoughtful, deliberate and innovative about realizing the future vision of the Marine Corps. We look forward to continuing our decadeslong partnership with the Marines and contributing to their efforts to ensure that ARV is a transformational reconnaissance capability.”
The Marine Corps intends to hold an industry day for the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the ARV program on 29 February, ahead of a broader request for proposals. A decision to replace the 1980s-vintage LAV-25 will likely be made in fiscal 2025, with one of the leading rivals for the GDLS vehicle likely to be Textron Systems’ Cottonmouth, which was also developed for the program’s prototyping stage.