U.S. Army awards General Dynamics contract for Mobile Protected Firepower.

The U.S. Army has awarded a $335 million Section 804 Middle Tier Acquisition (MTA) Rapid Prototyping contract to General Dynamics Land Systems to deliver 12 prototype vehicles for the Mobile Protected Firepower program. The Griffin III demonstrator was dispayed at AUSA 2018 as a solution for the MPF programme.

General Dynamics Griffin III technology demonstrator at AUSA 2018 (Picture source: Army Recognition)

The medium-weight, large-caliber MPF combat vehicle will support infantry brigades. The vehicles are required to be highly lethal, survivable and mobile. “We are excited about this opportunity to provide the U.S. Army a large-caliber, highly mobile combat vehicle to support the infantry brigade combat teams,” says Don Kotchman, Vice President and General Manager of General Dynamics Land Systems U.S. Market. “We are especially proud of this new opportunity to serve in the Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) formation.”

With the Griffin III, General Dynamics would like to introduce a new generation of light tank with a weight of less than 40 tons that can be easily and quickly deployed by military aircraft, offering a high level of protection and fire power. This demonstrator is based on the hull of the Ajax tracked armored vehicle, formerly known as the Scout SV, developed by General Dynamics UK to replace the CVRT tracked reconnaissance vehicles family in the British Army.

The Griffin III is an armored vehicle in the light tank category fitted with a new turret armed with a 50mm automatic cannon coupled to an auto-loading system developed by the US Army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center. The turret has a traverse of 360°, while the 50mm cannon has an elevation from +85° to -20°. The vehicle is able to carry a squad of 6 infantrymen.

The contract has Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) options for a total of up to $968 million. Work on this contract will be performed at Land Systems locations in Sterling Heights, Mich.; Scranton, Pa., and Tallahassee, Fla., and at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center in Lima, Ohio -- the only operational tank plant in the country.