Didn’t get picked for IFPC interceptor competition? Army says come demo anyway

A Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck and one of the launchers assigned to 1st Battalion, 51st Air Defense Artillery, 1st Multi-Domain Task Force, participates in new equipment fielding, training, and gunnery certification of the Integrated Fires Protection Capability (IFPC) on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., Nov. 20, 2025. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Brandon Rickert)

WASHINGTON — After tapping two teams to continue development for a second interceptor for its Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) Increment 2 launcher, the Army is creating a way for other vendors to keep competing, according to a three-star general.

Lt. Gen. Frank Lozano the Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Fires described the effort as an “off-shoot opportunity” that the service will pursue even as it works with competition winners Lockheed Martin and a team-up from Boeing and Anduril. The opportunity would allow for another competition planned for the fourth quarter of 2027.

“We wanted to turn up the heat on that program,” Lozano told an audience Tuesday at the annual Association of the US Army conference. “I want to run an in parallel, what I call an in-strike competition.”

“We basically just said, ‘Hey, if there’s any other company who didn’t make the first cut … but oh by the way, [if] you continue to invest in its second interceptor capability, we’d love for you to come out to the range,’” he later added. “We’ll give you range time. We’ll present targets and will allow you to recompete with an opportunity to get back into the program fold.”

The service is using the same set up for the for next generation short-range interceptor program, allowing other companies to compete against Lockheed and Raytheon who are under contracts with the Army and competing for a production deal.

The move comes as the Pentagon looks for ways to ramp up critical munition production and refill its stockpiles. In recent months the department has inked a series of framework agreements designed to pave the path of multi-year contracts.

A Question Of Budgets

When it comes to Army programs, acquisition czar Brent Ingraham told the same audience that the service will need to see where the 2027 defense budget lands and make sure these munition deals are a funding priority.

The challenge for the Army and other services is, in part, centered on the administration’s decision to place a large swath of the munition buy inside a reconciliation request instead of the base budget. Lawmakers are not yet moving forward with that reconciliation request and defense officials may reshuffle the base budget request.

“Depending on where a budget lands, what a top line looks like, whether there’s a reconciliation or not … all those things will drive us to figure out how we ensure that we continue to give the right demand signal to industry” on critical munitions, Ingraham said.

Despite the rash of framework agreements, he acknowledged, “I can’t expect industry to sort of invest like we’ve been asking them to invest on a wish list or a dream.”

Should the CR run for a full year, the Army may need to “reprioritize” funds to make sure the dollars are there to support the multi-year buys, he said.

2025年11月20日，在华盛顿州刘易斯-麦科德联合基地，一辆重型扩展机动战术卡车和隶属于第1多域特遣部队第51防空炮兵营第1营的其中一辆发射器参与了综合火力防护能力（IFPC）的新装备部署、训练和射击认证。（美国陆军照片，由参谋军士布兰登·里克特拍摄）

华盛顿——据一位三星将军称，陆军在选定两个团队继续为其间接火力防护能力（IFPC）第二阶段发射器开发第二种拦截弹后，正在为其他供应商继续竞争创造条件。

负责火力系统采购的弗兰克·洛萨诺中将称这项工作为“衍生机遇”，军方将在与中标的洛克希德·马丁公司以及波音公司和安杜里尔公司组成的联合体合作的同时，继续推进这项工作。这一机遇将为计划于2027年第四季度举行的另一场竞标创造条件。

洛萨诺周二在美国陆军协会年会上对听众说：“我们想加大对这个项目的投入。我想同时开展一项我称之为‘内部打击竞赛’的活动。”

“我们基本上就是说，‘嘿，如果还有其他公司没能通过第一轮筛选……不过顺便提一下，如果你们继续投资研发第二代拦截器，我们非常欢迎你们来靶场，’”他后来补充道。“我们会提供靶场时间，我们会提供目标，并让你们有机会重新参与竞争，重回项目名单。”

该部门正在为下一代短程拦截器项目采用相同的设置，使其他公司能够与洛克希德·马丁和雷神公司展开竞争，这两家公司都与陆军签订了合同，正在竞标生产协议。

此举正值五角大楼寻求提高关键弹药产量并补充库存之际。近几个月来，国防部签署了一系列框架协议，旨在为签订多年期合同铺平道路。

预算问题

谈到陆军项目时，采购主管布伦特·英格拉姆向同一批听众表示，陆军需要看看 2027 年国防预算的最终结果，并确保这些弹药交易是优先拨款事项。

陆军和其他军种面临的挑战部分源于政府决定将大笔军需采购纳入预算协调请求，而非基本预算。国会尚未推进该预算协调请求，国防部官员可能会调整基本预算请求。

英格拉姆表示：“预算最终确定下来，总预算是多少，是否有预算调整……所有这些因素都会促使我们思考如何确保我们继续向业界发出正确的关键弹药需求信号。”

尽管框架协议层出不穷，但他承认，“我不能指望业界按照我们要求他们根据愿望清单或梦想进行投资的方式进行投资。”

他说，如果持续拨款法案运行一整年，陆军可能需要“重新调整”资金优先顺序，以确保有足够的资金支持多年采购。