However, the Army’s concept has changed substantially this time around, in favor of smaller vehicle carrying fewer crew and passengers so as to control weight and still achieve a higher density of armor. Ironically, the finalists are the same final two teams from the third iteration, likely drawing from the same basic designs. Revealed: Japan's New Fighter Prototype.Procurement costs are expected to total $45 billion for an unspecified number of XM30s. In 2027, the Army will choose a winner and begin procurement, with first operational units receiving deliveries in 2029. The Pentagon plans to spend $1.6 billion more over the next three years for rival teams assembled by vehicle manufacturers General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) and American Rheinmetall (a subsidiary of a German company) to digitally design and, starting in 2025, physically assemble between seven and 11 prototype vehicles that will face off in trials.

XM30 will boast much bigger 50-millimeter cannon, have a smaller two-person crew, use a hybrid-electric engine allowing quiet idling, and feature signature reduction and active protection systems to improve survivability. For the competition’s current iteration, the OMFV was eventually re-designated the XM30 Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle-a throwback to a 1960s-era acronym. The most recent, the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV), was terminated abruptly and dramatically in 2020. This marks the fourth attempt by the Army to procure a Bradley replacement in the last 20 years. The Bradley vehicles recently saw a brutal baptism of fire in Ukrainian service assaulting a Russian minefield. Army announced that, of five teams tapped to submit detailed proposals for a successor to America’s thousands of 40-year-old Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, two had made the cut.

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