The U.S. Army will move forward with its plans to buy a mobile protected firepower vehicle for infantry brigade combat teams after the military branch secured a $9.6 million initial budget to begin the acquisition process, Defense News reported Wednesday.
Ashley Givens, a spokeswoman for the Army’s program executive office for ground combat vehicles, told the publication the service branch aims to open a formal solicitation for MPF platforms in late fiscal 2017.
Givens added the Army is eyeing commercial or “modified” off-the-shelf offerings to skip a technology development phase that can last for two to three years.
The branch also expects to receive substantial funds in fiscal 2019 so it could award an engineering and manufacturing development contract under the MPF program, reported Defense News.