The Army’s new Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) will begin in a digital universe. It will be called upon to absorb incoming enemy fire, deliver infantry directly into high-intensity warfare, operate nearby drones and unmanned vehicles, and even operate as a robotic vehicle.

The Army is launching its next phase in the OMFV competition by choosing vehicle builders to pursue extended digital design. It recently awarded new developmental deals to General Dynamics Land Systems, BAE Systems, Oshkosh Defense, Point Blank Enterprises and Rheinmetall Vehicles.

The Detailed Design Phase awardees will transition into Phase IV of the program to build and test actual prototypes. The Army intends to downselect to one vendor to commence low-rate initial production near the end of the fiscal year 2027.

This vehicle will operate as a robotic drone and a manned vehicle. It will deliver soldiers, perform surveillance and operate as a backbone in a mechanized armored formation. 

“Optionally-manned” is an operative term given that the vehicle is being engineered to operate with new levels of autonomy and artificial-intelligence-enabled navigational systems, which allow it to perform high-risk missions without placing soldiers in harm’s way. At the same time, the OMFV is also engineered to coordinate with the Army’s Robotic Combat Vehicle platforms as well as emerging systems, which also draw upon new levels of autonomy, weaponry and advanced computer algorithms. This will provide “options” to commanders who might need to make rapid adjustments amid a fast-moving dynamic warzone.  

While many of the specs, specifics and technical parameters remain in flux Army developers have suggested some possibilities throughout the development of the program. For example, officials have said the new OMFV may operate with a three-man crew, carry six soldiers in the back and ultimately fire a fifty-millimeter cannon. The latest longer-range “TOW missile-compatible”  weapons may arm the new platform, according to senior Army developers. This will provide soldiers with a way to destroy enemy armored vehicles at a safer stand-off range. Additionally, these new missiles are very likely to be configured with newer, more varied explosives able to destroy enemy tanks, armored vehicles and infantry formations to a much greater extent than existing weapons can.

These new, potentially robotic platforms are already shaping Army maneuver formations given the massive extent to which technology enables different warfare tactics. For instance, the ability to conduct unmanned operations could allow ground forces to disperse and coordinate targeting from standoff distances. This would give them the room to test the defense of the enemy. Also, an unmanned vehicle could also, of course, with human controllers, conduct attacks and fire weapons. Unmanned systems could also support dismounted infantry in some cases by traversing rigorous terrain and bringing armored support to advancing ground units.

One of the five winning competitors, General Dynamics Land Systems, told the National Interest that it is engineering the vehicle to embrace new technologies as they arrive over time. 

“GDLS is focused on developing an OMFV concept that will provide an immediate, transformational capability advantage relative to peer adversaries and pave the way to maintain superiority far into the twenty-first century by incorporating a modular open system architecture and design margins necessary to implement capability upgrades as they emerge and mature,” Ray Kiernan, the program director of the Next Generation Combat Vehicles General Dynamics Land Systems, told the National Interest via email.

Kris Osborn is the defense editor for the National Interest. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Master’s Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.