EFV, holds 17 people, a reinforced rifle squad, and a crew of three. The EFV, however, is designed more as a combat vehicle than a troop transport. It has a 30 mm chain gun coaxed with a 7.62 mm machine gun. It follows in the line of development from the Alligator, Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and Advanced Assault Amphibious Vehicle. The 35-ton EFV can do 20 knots in water and keep up with the M1A1 tank on land. EFV is to start reaching the field in 2008. Full-rate production of the EFV is scheduled for no later than 2020. ?!
06Jan'11.
Canceled after spending $3B of projected $15B. See Fang
FANG , Fast, Adaptable, Next-Generation Ground Vehicle. Design competition by DARPA : to deliver 17 Marines, self-deploy launch for a distance of 12 miles , do 8 knots in one-foot wave height seas and handle three foot wave conditions. On land, the new vehicle will operate in all terrains with range and speed the same as an M-1A1 Tank. The new ACV should have at least one machine gun and protection against direct and indirect fire, mines and improvised explosive devices. Since the kick off on January 14, 2013, more than 1,000 participated within more than 200 teams. Penn State University’s IFAB (Instant Foundry Adaptive through Bits) will validate the winning design. Phase one (of 3) winners won $1M. Expected to speed development by a factor of 5X. Last design (see
EFV above) canceled after spending $3B. The winning FANG design will be built by the DARPA iFAB led by the Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State University and will validate the manufacturability feedback, foundry configuration, and instruction generation tools as part of the build process. Ultimately, the as-built design will be subjected to test and evaluation.
Read more -- April 2013
This is still taking too long ; complete design not until late 2014, then begin prototype work before submit to the picky, political, military procurement system.
2014. Winning design built, tested, and results will be transferred to industry.
2014. Program phase 2 and 3 canceled. Military claim designs must be secret.
See EFV and $3B waste and ACV indecision.