General Dynamics wins SOCOM competition to build Ground Mobility Vehicle GMV 1.1
MacDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., 25 Aug. 2013. U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) will spend half a billion dollars over the next seven years to buy a fleet of fast, lightweight, and highly mobile combat vehicles from the General Dynamics Corp. Ordnance and Tactical Systems segment in St. Petersburg, Fla., U.S. military officials announced late last week.
Special Operations Command officials announced a $562.2 million contract to General Dynamics late Thursday for the Ground Mobility Vehicles 1.1 (GMV 1.1), which will have advanced vetronics, and is transportable in variants of the CH-47 heavy-lift helicopter.
General Dynamics is providing its Flyer advanced light strike vehicle as the GMV 1.1. General Dynamics developed the Flyer to fill operational gaps in air-transportable lightweight vehicle, which can be reconfigured rapidly for a variety of missions.
The Flyer has a payload capacity of 3,500 pounds and also can be transported aboard the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, General Dynamics officials say. As well as the CH-47 helicopter and V-22 tiltrotor, the General Dynamics Flyer vehicle can be transported aboard the CH-53 helicopter, C-130 turboprop, and C-5 airlifter, company officials say.
The GMV 1.1 contract ends a long competition between General Dynamics, AM General LLC in South Bend, Ind., and a team of Navistar Defense in Lisle, Ill., and teamed with Indigen Armor in Indian Land, S.C.
General Dynamics will build at least 1,300 GMV 1.1 combat vehicles through 2020. Costs cannot exceed $350,000 per vehicle, military officials say. Each vehicle will be able to go from zero to 60 miles per hour in seconds and has top speeds of more than 100 miles per hour.
The GMV 1.1 has A 360-degree turret that can hold any crew-served or remotely operated weapon system will sit atop the vehicle while every corner, flank, and angle will be covered by a machine-gun mount.
Various rail and track systems many different configurations of seating, as well as weapons, command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and munitions.
The GMV 1.1 will provide Special Operations warfighters with long-range reconnaissance, airfield seizure, and other important missions. Each vehicle can put on different kinds of armor, when necessary.
The General Dynamics GMV 1.1 will be adaptable to severe, rugged and restrictive terrains while providing off-road, cross-country mobility in all types of weather conditions.
The vehicle can be reconfigured quickly in the field for missions such as light strike assault, rescue and evacuation, command and control, and reconnaissance, either armored or unarmored. The vehicle also can carry as many as five patient litters.
The General Dynamics GMV 1.1 contains 80 percent commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, and has a 1.9-liter diesel engine that offers 150 horsepower. It has a six-speed power train, cooling, brake and fuel systems, and can get 24 miles per gallon when traveling at 40 miles per hour.
On the GMV 1.1 contract, General Dynamics will do the work in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Ladson, S.C., and should be finished by 2020. For more information contact General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems online at www.gd-ots.com, or Special Operations Command at www.socom.mil.
