Army Will Test-Fire New OMFV Infantry Fighting Vehicle Prototypes & Launch Drones – Bradley Replacement in 2029

by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

Deliver a nine-man soldier squad under armor into hostile fire, control drones while maneuvering to contact with the enemy and conducting fully unmanned attack missions are merely a few of the anticipated missions to be performed by the Army’s next-generation Bradley replacement Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle infantry carrier. 

The first unit equipped, an Army essay explains, will be in 2029 with major production beginning in 2027.  Army is preparing to receive 11 prototype OMFVs each from two major defense industry providers, General Dynamics Land Systems and American Rheinmetal Vehicles. 

“With the initial digital design phase of the program now complete, the Army is redesignating the OMFV program as the XM30 Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle,” the Army essay writes. 

The mission scope for the OMFV will likely be much greater than that of the Bradley, which can of course fire a cannon, use anti-tank missiles and deliver armed infantry for forward dismounted ground attack. The OMFV will do these things, while also likely control air and ground drones and robots, conduct forward surveillance linking air and ground sensors and conducting unmanned assault missions directed by humans operating in a command and control capacity. 

OMFV can be adapted is due to the fact that the program has been going through a digital design concept phase, a process which continues to rely heavily upon digital engineering. This technique continues to show great promise across DoD acquisition by virtue of enabling developers to test, assess and refine design and key performance parameters through computer simulations. Precise computer modeling is now consistently able to replicate combat systems and technologies with great precision, a scenario which enables faster adjustments and improvements by removing the need to “bend metal” and actually build prototypes before testing. Multiple design configurations can be analyzed against threats, tested and precisely modeled by computers, allowing the Army to perform a number of operational assessments concurrently.

Intended to operate a communications “node” within an integrated or meshed system of interconnected combat platforms across multiple domains, the Army’s OMFV vehicle will operate as both a sensor and an effector. The concept is for the vehicle to identify targets and possible strike or attack itself, or pass along targeting specifics to another platform or weapons system potentially in better position to attack. This relies upon what is now a massive emphasis for the Pentagon…networking. There are various potential so-called transport layers for communications between nodes, ranging from RF connectivity to GPS or even laser optical data transmission, and much of the specific regarding the Army’s approach to this are likely still to be determined. One strong possibility for the OMFV is the potential use of a force-tracking, GPS-reliant networking system called Joint Battle Command Platform (JBC-P).