Ricardo Inc. staging DARPA challenge

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VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich., July 3 (UPI) -- A competition for a new Fast, Adaptable Next-Generation Ground fighting vehicle is being staged by Ricardo Inc. for the U.S. military.

The challenge competition for the heavy amphibious infantry fighting vehicle comes under a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

"Ricardo is proud to be working with DARPA on this ambitious program, and it further builds on our portfolio of work with FANG and the United States military," said Robert Ellis, director of military vehicle programs at Ricardo. "DARPA's Adaptive Vehicle Make initiative has the potential to change the way that complex acquisition programs are performed, and it is exciting to be part of that effort."

The FANG Challenge will use a crowd-sourcing model to produce design ideas. There will be three competitions in which participants design and develop progressively more complex vehicle sub-systems that eventually result in the design of a full infantry fighting vehicle.

The winning crowd-sourced design will be eligible for consideration as the go-forward design for the ACV program.

"The FANG program employs Ricardo's full breadth and depth of vehicle engineering capabilities," said Paul Luskin, program director of the DARPA AVM portfolio at Ricardo. "The effort draws upon the company's traditional strengths in vehicle design and testing, software development, advanced engineering tools and processes, and systems engineering.

"We also have the opportunity to delve into innovative areas like crowd source-based product development."