![\"BAE](\"https:\/\/cdn.defenseone.com\/media\/img\/upload\/2018\/12\/18\/850_4576_MOD\/defense-large.jpg\")
The\u00a0U.S.<\/span>\u00a0Army will evaluate light tanks built by General Dynamics and\u00a0BAE<\/span>\u00a0Systems as it moves ahead with plans to field some 500 of the armored\u00a0vehicles.<\/p>\nWhile the Army is not yet buying large quantities of these tanks, the\u00a0Mobile Protected Firepower\u00a0project is another sign of how the Pentagon preparing for wars against peer competitors \u2014 like Russia and China \u2014 after nearly two decades of counterinsurgency in Iraq and\u00a0Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
\u201cCurrently, the Mobile Protected Firepower capabilities do not exist in our light formations,\u201d Brig. Gen. Ross Coffman, director of the Next Generation Combat Vehicles Cross Functional Team, said Monday shortly after the contract announcement. \u201cThe requirements associated with this will enable\u00a0U.S.<\/span>\u00a0forces to disrupt, breach, and break through those security zones and defensive belts to allow our infantrymen and women to close with and destroy the enemy on the\u00a0objective.\u201d<\/p>\n The Army did not say just how heavy the vehicles would be. But one of the requirements is to fit two of them aboard a C-17 Globemaster\u00a0III<\/span>\u00a0airlifter, which has a\u00a0capacity of about 80 tons. By contrast, the C-17 can carry just one\u00a073-ton\u00a0Abrams\u00a0M1A2<\/span>, the latest version of the Army\u2019s main battle tank. And while the\u00a0M1A2<\/span>\u00a0mounts a 120mm gun, the new tank\u2019s cannon will fire a projectile between 105mm and 120mm in diameter, Coffman\u00a0said.<\/p>\n General Dynamics and\u00a0BAE<\/span>\u00a0received\u00a0deals\u00a0to each build 12 prototypes for the Army. The contracts could be worth up to $376 million over the coming years, and the first prototypes from each company are expected to arrive 14 months from now, Army officials said. The Army is using\u00a0special buying authorities, allowing the service to move quicker than a traditional acquisition\u00a0program.<\/p>\n \u201cThe vehicles don\u2019t exist, but the technologies, the pieces, the systems, the sub-systems, they do exist,\u201d said David Dopp, the light-tank project manager. \u201cIt\u2019s about\u00a0integration.\u201d<\/p>\n Soldiers will test the vehicles during the Army\u2019s trials. The tanks will also be fired upon to determine how they stand up to enemy\u00a0weapons.<\/p>\n The Army plans to choose a winner in fiscal 2022 and have battle-ready tanks by 2025. In all, the service is planning to buy 504 of these\u00a0light-tanks.<\/p>\n The Army is eying the tanks for battles in fortified cities and muddy\u00a0terrain.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no precision munition to remove bunkers from the battlefield, to shoot into buildings in dense urban terrain to allow infantryman to close with the enemy,\u201d Coffman said. \u201cThis is a huge need and it\u2019s a huge advancement towards the way we want to fight our future\u00a0wars.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt has to be able to move over the terrain that we would expect light infantrymen can manver alongside,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to go over every terrain that a soldier goes after, but it has to have the mobility to keep up and lead our soldiers in some really bad\u00a0places.\u201d<\/p>\n Army officials would not say why they chose the General Dynamics and\u00a0BAE<\/span>\u00a0bids over a light-tank\u00a0pitched\u00a0by\u00a0SAIC<\/span>\u00a0and Singapore-based\u00a0ST<\/span>\u00a0Engineering.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t talk about the different proposals that we got,\u201d Maj. Gen. Brian Cummings, program executive officer, Ground Combat Systems, said at Monday\u2019s\u00a0briefing.<\/p>\n A\u00a0BAE<\/span>\u00a0statement said its tank \u201cis the result of more than 30 years of research and development for an optimized, rapidly deployable, light-combat vehicle designed specifically to support light\u00a0infantry.\u201d<\/p>\n SAIC<\/span>\u00a0\u2014 which earlier this year\u00a0lost a competition\u00a0to\u00a0BAE<\/span>\u00a0for new Marine Corps Amphibious Combat Vehicles \u2014 expressed disappointment that its proposal was not\u00a0selected.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe that our vehicle, developed with our teammates\u00a0ST<\/span>Engineering,\u00a0CMI<\/span>\u00a0Defence, and Plasan, is an innovative solution at best value to meet current and future requirements,\u201d Lauren Presti, an\u00a0SAIC<\/span>\u00a0spokeswoman, said in an email. \u201cWe are extremely proud of our\u00a0MPF<\/span>\u2019s performance and look forward to continuing our support for Army readiness and modernization in other\u00a0areas.\u201d<\/p>\n