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USMC: Moog's Reconfigurable Integrated-weapons Platform too heavy for JLTV

US Marine Corps (USMC) leaders are moving on with plans to field a new ground-based air-defence system built around the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) to defeat manned and unmanned aircraft. However, challenges integrating Moog’s Reconfigurable Integrated-weapons Platform (RIwP) onto the vehicle led, in part, to programme delays and the service’s hunt for a different turret, Janes has learned.

Initially, the service had anticipated using the RIwP for its Marine Air Defense Integrated System [MADIS] Increment 1 programme but associated weight and egress hurdles pushed the service to seek a “lighter turret”, according to Fiscal Year 2021 (FY 2021) budget request documents.

“The MADIS programme is built on the premise of integrating mature components into the recently fielded JLTV as a means of getting capability to the warfighter in an expeditious and cost-effective manner,” Barb Hamby, a spokesperson for the Program Executive Officer (PEO) Land Systems, told Janes in a 3 June email. “Early challenges experienced while integrating army and Marine Corps developed components into a JLTV required the programme office to seek alternative solutions for the turret, command and control (C2), and effector systems.”

Although these changes have delayed the programme, Hamby said the service is still anticipating fielding a “relevant capability” by the fourth quarter of FY 2022.

Under the MADIS effort, the USMC envisions fielding two vehicle variants dubbed Mk1 and Mk2. The MADIS Mk1 includes a turret-launched Stinger missile, multi-functional electronic warfare (EW) capability, direct fire weapon, electro optical infra-red (EO/IR) optic, and a shoulder-fired Stinger missile for dismounted operations, according to the service. The MADIS Mk2, meanwhile, is envisioned as the counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) variant and includes a multi-function EW capability, 360° radar, direct fire weapon, EO/IR optic, and supporting C2 communications suite.

1st Lieutenant Taylor Barefoot programs a C-UAS on a Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System (LMADIS) during a predeployment training exercise at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California in 2018. The service is now moving forward with developing MADIS Increment 1 but had determined the RIwP turret was too heavy for the vehicle.

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