The Army’s potential production contract for the future Electric Light Reconnaissance Vehicle (eLRV) may be worth an estimated $672 million and cover production of nearly 1,500 vehicles, according to the service.
A new notice published on October 19 offered more details on the Army’s interest in pursuing eLRV and confirmed a Request for Prototype Proposals (RPP) for the program will be released soon.
“The Army has a requirement for an electric Light Reconnaissance Vehicle that will provide the Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (IBCT) enhanced mobility, lethality, protection, mission load capacity and onboard power for a six-soldier Scout Squad with their associated equipment to conduct combinations of mounted and dismounted reconnaissance and security missions,” the Army wrote in the notice.
The update on the forthcoming RPP arrives after the Army confirmed in late February it had approved the prototype requirement for eLRV, with an aim to fund prototypes in fiscal year 2024 and receive deliveries in FY ‘25 (Defense Daily, Feb. 28).
In July 2022, the Army awarded deals to GM Defense [GM] and advanced mobility startup Canoo [GOEV] to each provide an electric vehicle for demonstration, with the goal of informing the eLRV program (Defense Daily, July 26).
“Army Futures Command has identified the need to incorporate a scalable and adaptable capability that reduces reliance on fossil fuels and effectively generates, stores and distributes power to the maneuver and reconnaissance formations. eLRV will achieve these capabilities through electrification enhancing the combatant commanders’ ability to fight cross-domain maneuver in [multi-domain operations],” the Army wrote in its new notice.
The eLRV is intended to provide a platform with a reduced acoustic and thermal signature while offering silent mobility and silent watch capabilities, increased dash speed, extended range, greater reliability and reduction in fuel requirements over the current Humvee platform, according to the Army.
“This capability provides strategic flexibility for entry operations (penetration), both permissive and non-permissive, to counter threat anti-access strategies by using multiple austere entry points to bring in combined arms combat configured units,” the Army has said.
The Army noted eLRV, which is the first full capability being pursued under the new Tactical and Combat Vehicle electrification (TACV-e) initiative, is intended to operate alongside the new General Dynamics Land Systems [GD]-built M10 Booker combat vehicle and GM Defense’s [GM] Infantry Squad Vehicle “to enhance the lethality, mobility, and survivability of the IBCT.”
The potential production contract for eLRV following the prototype effort may be awarded “without the use of competitive procedures,” according to the notice.
The forthcoming RPP will be released to the National Advanced Mobility Consortium, with a draft version available for review now to members of the organization.
AM General earlier this month unveiled its Humvee Charge hybrid-electric concept, which the company has said showcases potential for a “quickly-fieldable solution” in the vehicle electrification space (Defense Daily, Oct. 13).