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US Army's Infantry Squad Vehicle Buy Grows 18-Fold as Soldier Demand Reshapes Procurement
Defense Mobility

US Army's Infantry Squad Vehicle Buy Grows 18-Fold as Soldier Demand Reshapes Procurement

By Heavy-shift 3 min read
US Army's Infantry Squad Vehicle Buy Grows 18-Fold as Soldier Demand Reshapes Procurement
US Army's Infantry Squad Vehicle Buy Grows 18-Fold as Soldier Demand Reshapes Procurement

US Army's Infantry Squad Vehicle Buy Grows 18-Fold as Soldier Demand Reshapes Procurement

The US Army has raised its procurement objective for the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) to 11,582 units — an 18-fold increase over the original plan for 649 vehicles. The service confirmed the expanded target in February 2026, and program officials now describe the growth as driven entirely by operational demand, validated through continuous soldier feedback rather than by the requirements creep that plagues many defense programs.

From 649 to 11,582

The ISV program began in 2019 with a procurement objective of 649 vehicles. That figure climbed to 900 in February 2021, was raised twice more to 2,593, and then jumped again in April 2025 when the Army approved the ISV utility variant and set the combined objective at 5,733 vehicles across both variants. In February 2026, the service established its current position and procurement objective at 11,582.

"This led to an explosive growth driven entirely by operational demand," said Susan Fung, deputy project manager for the mobile brigade combat team at the Army's Portfolio Acquisition Executive Maneuver Ground. "Not because of requirements creep, but really because soldiers validated the capability in the combat training environments and demanded more."

Commercial speed, military utility

The ISV is an ultra-light tactical vehicle carrying nine soldiers and their equipment, designed to fill the mobility gap between heavy platforms such as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and the aging HMMWV. GM Defense builds it on the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 midsize truck architecture, with roughly 90 percent commercial off-the-shelf components — the Duramax 2.8-liter turbodiesel, Dana M190/M220 axles with electronic locking differentials, and Multimatic spool-valve dampers among them. Curb weight is around 4,930 pounds (2,236 kilograms).

That commercial foundation is the point. Traditional defense acquisition, with custom mil-specs, extensive government testing and sequential milestone gates, typically takes four to ten years. The ISV was fielded to its first equipped unit within 24 months. John Hufstedler, product director for ground mobility vehicles at PAE Maneuver Ground, credits program discipline: leadership repeatedly declined requests to hang radios, encrypted equipment and other add-ons on the platform, keeping it focused on moving a full nine-soldier squad.

"With the ISV program, we proved that calculated risk works," Hufstedler said. "Trusting our soldiers' judgment and moving at the speed of relevance, I think we've delivered that capability."

The heavy ISV is coming

Building on the expanded objective, the Army is developing a heavier ISV variant with increased onboard power generation and energy storage to support next-generation command-and-control systems. The ISV-Heavy (ISV-H) is being prototyped by three companies: incumbent GM Defense, Ford's Industrial Platform subsidiary and BC Customs, each delivering three vehicles under Other Transaction Agreements awarded June 30. First prototypes are due by March 30, 2027.

The requirement is as much about power as payload. The Army wants a six-seat platform able to export 60 kilowatts of continuous high-voltage DC power, plus 15 kilowatts of 28-volt DC and 4.8 kilowatts of 120-volt AC — enough to run field command posts, counter-drone systems, electronic warfare and directed energy equipment from a mobile platform. The service's fiscal 2027 budget request calls for an initial 34 ISV-H vehicles at an estimated $463,000 each, with a long-term goal of 606 units. Ford's prototype is based on the heavy-duty Super Duty truck, and GM Defense expects the ISV-H program to exceed $1 billion over its lifetime.

"Overall, the ISV program is a great example of our acquisition reform, which allows getting capabilities to the field faster, leveraging commercial technologies while staying agile and giving soldiers what they really want," Fung said. For a defense industry long criticized for slow, over-engineered procurement, the ISV's trajectory — and the 18-fold expansion that followed it — is a case study in what happens when the customer actually drives the requirement.

Sources

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