The Ministry of Defence has formally launched a competition worth an estimated £2 billion to deliver a new Light Mobility Vehicle for the Armed Forces, replacing capabilities currently provided by legacy fleets, including Land Rover and Pinzgauer, according to a tender notice.
The notice, published on 31 July, sets out the department’s intention to competitively assess, select and award a contract covering the vehicles and associated support services. It states that the programme “is expected to deliver a range of vehicles, including the provision of a wheeled utility platform designed to modernise capabilities currently fulfilled by legacy fleets such as Land Rover and Pinzgauer.”
The estimated total value is £2 billion excluding VAT, or £2.5 billion including it. The contract is expected to run from 31 May 2027 to 30 May 2036, with up to eleven option years that could extend it to 2047, giving a potential duration of 20 years.
Central to the approach is a single Common Base Platform from which nine variants would be built: a General Purpose Vehicle, Battlefield Ambulance, Tactical Mobility Vehicle, Utility Vehicle, Enhanced Protection Vehicle, Command and Control Vehicle, Equipment Support Vehicle, Troop Carrying Vehicle and Mission Systems Vehicle. The notice says the common platform “will support a variety of warfighting roles across the Joint Force, enhancing interoperability, flexibility, and operational effectiveness.”
The initial purchase carries options to expand the fleet substantially. The contract includes options “to support future operational requirements, fleet growth and replacement needs vehicles with the ability to increase the vehicle fleet to in excess of 9,500,” the notice states.
The UK has opted against dividing the competition into lots, explaining that a lotted approach carried a “high potential of a mixed fleet of solutions based on multiple platforms from multiple suppliers.” A single common platform, it says, promotes standardisation, reduces fleet complexity and enables economies of scale.
Chinese suppliers are barred from the competition. The notice states that “in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023, the Authority is exercising its rights under Section 19 (3)b to exclude Chinese Suppliers from this procurement.”
The competition will run under the competitive flexible procedure in four stages. Requests to participate close on 1 September 2026, with a maximum of seven suppliers to be invited to tender following assessment of a Procurement Specific Questionnaire. Down-selected bidders then enter a limited dialogue phase while simultaneously taking part in UK-based vehicle trials, with the notice proposing that “Tenderers that fail the trials will be notified immediately and eliminated at this stage.” A paper-based assessment and award stage follow, with an estimated award decision date of 31 May 2027.
The notice specifies that assessment criteria for the trials will be fixed and will not form part of the dialogue stage, and that the Cardinal Points Specifications to be trialled will be final when issued in the draft invitation to tender.
Award criteria place cost first and quality second, with the authority intending to use a Weighted Value for Money Index considering whole life costs across both vehicle delivery and support. Social Value and the Land Industrial Strategy are to account for between 10% and 20% of the overall tender.
Beyond the vehicles themselves, the contract covers a support solution that may include maintenance, repair and logistics to sustain availability across the fleet’s life, along with a training element. The primary delivery location is the United Kingdom, though the notice specifies the support solution must be capable of providing services worldwide. Post Design Services are included to allow continued development of the variants as technology matures.
The notice also lists known risks that could prompt later modification of the contract, among them the integration of emerging technologies not yet defined at award, obsolescence or export control restrictions affecting components, and “evolving geopolitical conditions, shifting Defence priorities, or changes in the nature of conflict” that could increase demand beyond the quantities and options included.
The notice marks the formal start of a competition that has been years in preparation. LMV is the first of three Category A sub-programmes within the wider Land Mobility Programme, alongside Light Protected Mobility and Medium Protected Mobility, and was previously known as the General Support Utility Platform. Defence Equipment and Support briefed industry on the requirement at the Defence Vehicle Dynamics event in September 2024 and issued a Request for Information in January 2025.
Several contenders have already shown vehicles publicly. Babcock has developed its Toyota-based General Logistics Vehicle in Long and Medium variants, Supacat has displayed a Light Mobility Vehicle built on a HiLoad chassis, and Team LionStrike, formed between GM Defence, BAE Systems and NP Aerospace, has proposed a range including the General Motors Infantry Squad Vehicle. Speaking about the requirement earlier this year, Defence Readiness and Industry Minister Luke Pollard said: “I want this to be, as much as possible, an off-the-shelf purchase.”
The Land Rover Wolf and Pinzgauer fleets have provided light utility mobility across all three services for decades, with both types originally envisaged as having a 15-year service life before their out-of-service dates were extended to 2030. The British Army began the phased withdrawal of the Land Rover at a ceremony at Bovington Camp in March 2026, after more than 70 years of service. With the contract estimated to begin at the end of May 2027, the timetable leaves a narrow margin against the 2030 out-of-service date for the fleets being replaced.
Don’t like that cost first quality second comment – putting cost first usually means an inferior product that won’t do the job properly … also, for what is in commercial terms a small order I agree we need to use off the shelf option rather than try to make our own (expensive) tailor made versions. So one of the things above I agree with, one I don’t.
Fits in with the government’s approach to defence at the moment, cost first capability second.
£2Bn sounds a lot until, as you say, bespoking starts and then costs rise dramatically….
£200k sounds a lot for a 4×4 vehicle but they readily come to this price point for event builds.
“Mind the Gap” incoming, if OOS is 2030.
Though when has MoD and HMG ever worried about capability gaps. I might make a list…..
I’m especially keen on LPM and MPM to get going, after decades of false starts, as I’d like to see 4 Bde get a PM vehicle, and also a sizeable CAVS order now that Boxer batch 2 has quietly died, bar a few variants.