Modified Lynx IFV to be offered for US Army's OMFV competition

Raytheon and Rheinmetall are poised to modify their Lynx infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) and enter it as a candidate for the US Army’s revamped M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle replacement effort.

The duo have kept their joint venture intact, Raytheon Rheinmetall Land Systems, and are in discussions with the service about the way ahead for the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) programme, representatives from both companies told Jane’s during a 4 May interview.

“[Our proposal] is not going to be the Lynx in its current form, as everybody saw at [the Association of the US Army conference] two years ago,” said Matthew Warnick, the American Rheinmetall Vehicles managing director. “This is going to be revised and evolved based on the final RFP [request for proposal] but it's a great starting point given its next-generation attributes to meet the specific US Army requirements.”

The team initially proposed its Lynx-41 prototype for the army’s initial OMFV competition. However, it was not able to transport its bid sample and armour coupon to the US by the 1 October 2019 deadline, and army programme officials declined to give an extension or accept ‘bonded’ control of the bid sample in Germany. The army then moved swiftly to cut the Lynx from the competition, leaving only General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) as the sole candidate since BAE Systems had dropped out of the competition earlier that year.