GDLS plans to deliver prototype armed Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle in 2025
GDLS C4/UAS ARV prototype undergoing testing in September 2024 in northern Michigan. (Photo: GDLS)
General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) is building the Advanced Reconnaissance Vehicle (ARV) Command, Control, Communications, Computers/Uncrewed Aerial Systems (C4/UAS) for the US Marine Corps (USMC). Approximately 500 ARV 30mm autocannon (ARV-30) are expected to be procured by the USMC.
GDLS expects to deliver a prototype armed ARV-30 to the USMC for trials in 2025 following USMC directed and company-led tests and demonstrations of the C4/UAS ARV prototype in 2024.
Testing of the C4/UAS ARV took place March to December 2024 at the Michigan Technological University Keweenaw Research Center in Calumet, Michigan and the US Army’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center, Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan.
The company has already delivered one Systems Integration Lab (SIL) for the ARV programme which is designed to replicate the interior of the company’s C4/UAS vehicle and will this year deliver a second.
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The SIL will be used to validate the integration of the C4 and Intelligence systems and software and serve as an immersive experience for ARV mission operators and crew to train and simulate real-world missions with full, representative vehicle functionality.
The C4/UAS ARV is described by GDLS as “built to serve as the USMC’s quarterback on the mobile and multi-domain battlefield [by connecting] to an array of onboard and off-board sensors, plus UAS and, in the future, ground and water robotic systems”.
Richard Trotter, ARV program director at GDLS, said: “[Last year’s trials] helped us collect additional data to ensure we can meet or exceed the USMC’s requirements for ARV, especially in the critical area of maintenance, logistics and training.
“The ARV is [designed to be] highly mobile on land and in the water, allowing Marines to sense, communicate and connect to kill webs on the future battlefield. The recent tests were some of the most extensive to date for us to trial technologies.”
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