Hope this is not posted.

US Army gets first Infantry Squad Vehicle from GM Defense.

WASHINGTON — GM Defense delivered its first Infantry Squad Vehicle to the U.S. Army in an Oct. 27 ceremony at its proving grounds and production facility in Milford, Michigan, just 120 days after being chosen to build the new troop carrier.

The Army awarded the company a $214.3 million contract to produce 649 vehicles by the end of fiscal 2024. The service is planning to procure a total of 2,065 ISVs.

Designed to carry a nine-soldier squad, the ISV was specifically put together to be light enough to be sling loaded from a UH-60 Black Hawk and small enough to fit inside a CH-47 Chinook, to provide maximum flexibility for deployment.

GM’s design is based off the company’s 2020 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 midsize truck and uses 90 percent commercial parts including a 186-horsepower, 2.8L Duramax turbo-diesel engine and performance race components. It also features a custom rollover protection system.

While the first low-rate initial production vehicles — 27 in total — will be built in Michigan, GM has a long-term plan to move its ISV manufacturing to Morrisville, North Carolina, where it is standing up a facility to manage its higher volume ISV production.

The Army first identified a need for a light infantry vehicle in 2015 when its most recent combat vehicle strategy was released, but nothing materialized until Congress forced the Army to launch the competition as part of the FY18 National Defense Authorization Act. The Army awarded $1 million contracts to three teams in August 2019 to develop offerings — GM Defense, a team of Oshkosh Defense and Flyer Defense LLC and an SAIC and Polaris team.

“One hundred and twenty days from contract award to delivery is a significant milestone, and I am very proud of the team for this accomplishment,” David Albritton, president of GM Defense, said in a statement. “We’re leveraging General Motors' engineering prowess and immense manufacturing capabilities to bring transformative solutions to the military vehicle market. Our initial success with the ISV shows our commitment to our customer and highlights our unique right to win in the military mobility market.”

GM Defense has a “very, very talented team," Albritton said during the ceremony, and “their innovation, attention to detail, flexibility when incorporating soldier feedback during testing and a magnitude of other factors helped us to win this ISV contract and gives me great hope for how we will tackle other pursuits in the future.”

The first vehicles will be going to the 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division, but ultimately 11 IBCTs will be outfitted with 59 vehicles each under the first contract covering the 649 ISVs.

The vehicles are slated to go through tests in the coming year, including further analysis of its air-deployable capability, as well as verification the maintenance manuals are complete. The first unit equipped will take the ISV through an initial operational test and evaluation.

With the success of the ISV, GM Defense is setting its sights on other opportunities with the Army and other military services.

“We have a strong interest in the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle Program,” Albritton said. The Army

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-...antry-183554785.html

Is that the up armored version?

Wow, $214.3 million divided by 649 vehicles is $330,200 each.

quote:

Is that the up armored version?

Seeing it has no sides or top, I'm assuming not.

For the link averse, here's a pic:

Slap some doors on it and throw a nice twin 20mm ‘ish cannon on the back and we are pretty close to the GI Joe. VAMP.

Certainly looks like a $300k vehicle...

If the government is writing the check.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
Certainly looks like a $300k vehicle...

If the government is writing the check.

Da fuq...

What a rip off...its all pipe/tube and sheet metal.

$330k...?? For that??

R&D costs amortized over too few vehicles.

That looks like something a couple red necks built in the garage.. for reference an up armored humvee is around 300k.. god I need to find something that I can sell to the government

Oh, a golf cart...

quote:

Originally posted by Patriot:

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
Certainly looks like a $300k vehicle...

If the government is writing the check.

Da fuq...

What a rip off...its all pipe/tube and sheet metal.

$330k...?? For that??

Factor-in all the R&D, whatever unique machining needed for certain parts, all the spare parts, manuals, teaching aides, various media programs, etc...
It all adds up and people automatically attempt to figure the costs by taking the total of the contract and divide by the number of units. Simple but, doesn't tell the whole story.

Also, keep in mind, these are not fighting vehicles. They're for carrying all the shit a squad needs, they follow behind as the company is on foot or, gets everyone to the drop-off point. SOF has been using various iterations of such vehicles since 2005; all infantry of the non-mech nature has been relearning infantry tactics. Reliability and cargo capacity will be the biggest issues....a Toyota Hilux would've been the measuring stick.

https://soldiersystems.net/202...vehicle-to-u-s-army/

Putting 9 soldiers in that makes for a target rich environment for any one with small arms. That really seems dumb to me. Very bad idea.

The DOD budget for 2020 is north of 700 billion dollars. 214 million dollars is a rounding error.....

Looks like the Dune Buggy the Army played around with back in the 80s.

quote:

Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
R&D costs amortized over too few vehicles.

That's exactly what it is.

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:
For the link averse, here's a pic:

They don't need to shoot at it to disable the thing. Just take the two pounds of wheel weights off each corner and nobody drives it.

GVWR would assumably be a key factor for it to be light enough to be transported fully loaded with gear by air to provide maximum flexibility for deployment.

Couldn't they just buy diesel Toyota Hilux crew cabs and add 5 seats in the bed for less than $60,000?

could have got a razor for 25 k or so... What else is new.

Obviously intended for use only by REMFs