WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps has signed off on another rapid prototyping phase for both Textron and General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) for the Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV) program.
The Marine Corps is seeking an ARV “family of vehicles” for the program to replace its Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) fleet. The new vehicles Textron and GDLS will deliver are designed to take on a series of roles with a command, control, communications and computers-unmanned aerial system (C4/UAS) variant; a 30mm autocannon and anti-tank guided missile variant; and a logistics variant.
“In the future fight, the Marine Air-Ground Task Force [MAGTF C2] must out cycle the fight for information to shape the battlespace and deliver precision fires,” Col. Chris Stephenson, program manager for Light Armored Vehicles (PM LAV), said in a Marine Corps news release on Wednesday.
“This highly contested environment is drastically more complex, and Mobile Reconnaissance Battalions must have a purpose-built capability such as the ARV that can sense, communicate, and fight by incorporating manned and unmanned systems and sustaining effective sensor webs tied to kill chains,” Stephenson said.
The Marine Corps first tapped Textron and GDLS in July 2021 to build ARV early prototypes that this latest phase is expected to refine.
The service’s announcement Wednesday comes as Textron revealed on Wednesday that it had wrapped up the build and evaluation period of its Cottonmouth 30mm prototype. GDLS also announced in February that it had also completed additional testing of its 30mm prototype, and that prototype testing would continue the remainder of 2026.
These assessments included land mobility, lethality, and ocean swim testing conducted at locations including Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California, and the Army’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center in Michigan.
Following a contract award, the service anticipates vehicle deliveries in fiscal 2028, and a production decision in FY31.
