Overview
- This week at the AUSA conference, Lt. Gen. Frank Lozano said the Army will run shoot‑offs in late fiscal 2027 that let vendors who were not initially selected demo and try to re‑enter the IFPC Inc. 2 second‑interceptor and NGSRI competitions.
- IFPC Inc. 2 has moved into a capability demonstration phase with Lockheed Martin and a Boeing‑Anduril team, and NGSRI development continues with Lockheed and RTX as the current competitors following successful demos.
- The Army will provide range time and targets so non‑selected firms can prove designs in live demonstrations and potentially earn a path back into the acquisition programs.
- Acquisition leaders say they want multiple production sources to avoid single‑vendor chokepoints and to increase magazine depth, but planned buys — including an RFI hint at about 11,000 NGSRI missiles over ten years — hinge on where the FY2027 defense top line lands.
- The service faces practical barriers to multiple producers, including intellectual‑property and repair‑rights disputes, and officials are exploring budget‑flex tools such as Project Strike to move funds to higher‑priority munitions during the year of execution.