--- title: "The Army is trying to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle for the third time — again" date: "2020-07-20" modified: "2020-07-20" authors: - name: "Jared Keller" job_title: "Former Managing Editor" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/jaredkeller.md" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-optionally-manned-fighting-vehicle-rfp/" categories: - "Analysis" - "Army" - "Military Branches" - "News" - "Tech & Tactics" - "Vehicles" --- # The Army is trying to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle for the third time — again ![]() After two decades of failed attempts to do away with the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the Army is taking one more stab at replacing its aging fleet of combat vehicles. The service on Friday issued a [draft request for proposals]() (RFP) to industry for the preliminary design phase of the newly-relaunched Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program competition. Following an initial 40-day feedback period, the final RFP will award up to five prototype design contracts by June 2021 ahead of the next phase of the competition, [according]() to Defense News. This is the Army's second attempt at an OMFV competition. The service [cancelled]() its initial solicitation in January in order to "revisit the requirements, acquisition strategy and schedule" prior to prototyping. The cancellation was [reportedly]() [prompted]() by the fact that the service only received one bid, from General Dynamics Land Systems, for the OMFV prototyping competition, as Army leaders [told]() Defense News at the time. As Task & Purpose previously [reported](), the OMFV — [part]() of Army Futures Command's Next-Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV) program — is just the latest attempt to replace the Bradley that has [spanned nearly two decades](). In 1999, the Army adopted the Future Combat Systems (FSC) Manned Ground Vehicles (MGV) program was initiated as part of a broad effort to make the service's legacy forces "lighter, more modular, and — most importantly — more deployable," as the Army [put it ]()at the time. That program was [cancelled]() a decade later in 2009 and immediately replaced with the Ground Combat Vehicle program in 2010, which sought to replace the Bradley with the a Ground Combat Infantry Fighting Vehicle before being [cancelled]() in 2014 amid rising costs and expanding requirements. The Army will likely end up spending upwards of $1.57 billion just on developing OMFV prototypes over the next several years, according to an [assessment]() from the Government Accountability Office. The GAO initially [reported]() that the Army expected to procure 14 prototype vehicles apiece from two separate defense contractors, but it's unclear how those totals might change given the multiple design contracts stipulated in the RFP. Given that the OMFV program was effectively cancelled earlier this year, does this make this the *second* third attempt at a Bradley replacement or the *fourth* attempt? I'm having trouble keeping track. ## Author Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [Facebook]() [LinkedIn]() [Instagram]() ## More - [Pentagon Wars II: Army to spend at least $1.5 billion just on prototypes for third attempt to replace Bradley Fighting Vehicle]() - [Has the Army finally found a replacement for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle?]() - [The Army can’t seem to figure out how to replace its aging Bradley fleet]() - [The Army just picked up a huge-ass gun for its next-generation Bradley replacement]() - [Army names finalists in race to replace M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle]() - [Inside the XM30 program: The Army’s Bradley replacement]() - [The Army is testing a new hybrid electric engine on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle]() - [The Army is testing its most advanced Bradley Fighting Vehicle yet]()