Washington: An Army two-star general has told staff that the service expects to halt work on its embattled Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) programme and pause a new howitzer competition, according to several service and industry sources.
The news was delivered just hours after Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and top Army leaders unveiled a massive service shake up that will combine Army Futures Command and Training and Doctrine Command, and stop production on the new light tank, the M10 Booker.
“Here’s what we believe is true of today, RCV will stop development. The future of the robotic software program is unknown,” Program Executive Officer for Ground Combat Systems Maj Gen Glenn Dean wrote in an internal Army email, according to one of the industry sources.
An Army spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about this letter or new details about expected program cuts. However, three Army sources confirmed that RCV would not move forward, despite a previously expected contract award.
“We need robotic combat vehicles, but we want a consortium of vendors to bring their robotics and the best software folk,” that first Army sources explained. “We don’t want to downselect just to one vendor and pay almost $3 million per copy.”
