Textron recently won another clean-sheet design effort to build medium Robotic Combat Vehicle prototypes for the U.S. We’ve already incorporated an amphibious cooling system and automated trim veins to ensure the requirements are met, which is a seaworthiness in up to 2-3 feet of waves, and allowing rapid transitions between land and water modes.” The prototype, he noted, “incorporates dual, mechanically driven water jets to provide simultaneous land and water propulsion. “The vehicle not only has to have outstanding land mobility it has to swim in the ocean, it has to depart from connectors and it has to transition through the surf zone,” Philips said. He also said the Corps wants to keep the vehicles under 18.5 tons so it serves as an agile ship-to-shore connector. The service desires an open-architecture approach, he added, to integrate any payload it wants, such as an organic, tethered unmanned aircraft system with automated launch and retrieval capability.
“The Marines are asking for a naval sensor node, and we see that as a next-generation scout vehicle requiring multidomain capability,” Philips said. Textron submitted its Cottonmouth prototype as its offering to the Marine Corps' Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle competition. The vehicle should be able to accommodate future technology and capability as well as be designed with future variatns in mind, the solicitation stated. “It will balance competing capability demands to sense, shoot, move, communicate and remain transportable, as part of the Naval expeditionary force.” “The ARV PV will be a modern combat vehicle platform, with an open system architecture, and it will be capable of fighting for information dominance,” the posting noted. “This will require multiple and resilient means to process information and communicate,” the solicitation stated, meaning the vehicle must be equipped with a resilient and robust communication sensors suite. The vehicles will need to operate both on land and amphibiously.
Work on the LAV replacement is being coordinated by MCSC, Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Capabilities Development Directorate of Headquarters Marine Corps (CD&I).The Marine Corps wanted proposals for the research and development of an ARV prototype vehicle as part of its pursuit to acquire its replacement of roughly 600 1980s-era Light Armored Vehicle-25s in order to enable light-armored reconnaissance battalions to function as a battlefield manager, according to a solicitation posted on the federal contracting website. General Dynamics Land Systems USMC and Navy Business Development director Phil Skuta said: “This innovative, multi-domain capability will be able to control air and ground robotics and provide critical reconnaissance information through onboard and networked sensors.” “We are proud to support the service in this next phase of the competition and look forward to working together.”ĭata gathered from the prototyping efforts of the ARV competition will be delivered to USMC in Q1 2023.Ī six-month government evaluation will follow in Q3 2023 after the prototype delivery. “The Cottonmouth is a testament to Textron Systems’ commitment to the Marine Corps’ vision and needs. Textron Systems senior vice-president David Phillips said: “Built from the ground up in less than nine months, the Cottonmouth is a low-risk, mission-oriented solution backed with over 750 miles of data using scenarios representative to the Marine Corps’ mission profile and requirements. Textron’s Cottonmouth ARV is designed to operate within the USMC’s Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO) construct. Textron Systems plans to start these activities from 22 September to 21 December this year.ĭuring this period, Textron will produce a 6×6 wheeled amphibious reconnaissance vehicle ‘Cottonmouth’ for the USMC.