WASHINGTON, Jun 27 US Department of Defense awards contracts to businesses General Dynamics Land Systems and American Rheinmetall Vehicles for a total of $1.6 billion to create prototypes to replace the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles supplied to Ukraine, the department said in a statement released on Monday.
It is assumed that each of the companies will develop its own model of a new military vehicle, after which it will submit it for approval by the Pentagon. Following this, the US defense department will determine the contractor, and mass production is planned to be launched in 2027.
The US military announced the acceptance of applications from defense contractors for the production of new infantry fighting vehicles in the summer of 2022, and the competition itself was held in November. Over the following months, the Pentagon evaluated possible candidates and their proposals until it narrowed down the pool of applicants to two companies.
In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the German Leopard tanks and the US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, which are used by Ukraine in the special operation zone, burn perfectly, and ammunition sets fire inside these tanks.