{"id":17964,"date":"2019-11-01T19:50:42","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T19:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/01\/three-teams-move-on-in-medium-sized-robotic-vehicle-prototype-competition\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:39:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:39:57","slug":"three-teams-move-on-in-medium-sized-robotic-vehicle-prototype-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2019\/11\/01\/three-teams-move-on-in-medium-sized-robotic-vehicle-prototype-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Three teams move on in competition for medium-sized robotic vehicle prototype"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UPDATE <\/i>\u2014 This story was updated to include a statement from BAE Systems and to confirm Pratt & Miller\u2019s participation in the RCV-M competition with QinetiQ North America.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Three teams have been picked to move on in the U.S. Army\u2019s competition for medium-sized robotic combat vehicle<\/a> prototypes, according to a Nov. 1 announcement on the National Advanced Mobility Consortium\u2019s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General Dynamics Land Systems, QinetiQ North America and Textron have been invited to advance out of a pool of numerous submissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of these companies \u2014 QinetiQ and Textron \u2014 were also recently selected to move on in the competition to build a light version of robotic combat vehicles, or RCV.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army plans to procure light, medium and heavy RCVs<\/a> as part of an effort to bring a next-generation combat vehicle capability to the force by 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The light and medium competitions are managed by the NAMC. While the Army is the decision-maker, the consortium is tasked to execute the competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mirroring the RCV-L competition, the Army is expected to award up to two contracts toward the end of the second quarter of this fiscal year to deliver four non-development RCV-M surrogate vehicles for government evaluation, testing and manned-unmanned teaming experimentation over the course of a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NAMC executed a week-long RCV market research demonstration<\/a> <\/a>with the Army at Texas A&M\u2019s RELLIS campus in May in order to better inform requirements. QinetiQ and Textron were both present, but neither brought medium variants of RCVs. In fact, no company participating in the demonstration brought medium-class candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat might shape the strategy moving forward,\u201d because the timeline for such a platform is very short at the moment, Kevin Mills, the Army\u2019s Combat Capabilities Development Center\u2019s Ground Vehicle Systems Center (CCDC GVSC) associate director, told Defense News at the time of the demonstration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winning vendor would have 11 months after contract award to supply the Army with prototypes for safety testing, he said, \u201cwhich doesn\u2019t give a ton of time for our contractor, that doesn\u2019t have a mature system already, to work out the kinks and build something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t