On March 30, 2026, the U.S. Army released a Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) for an Infantry Squad Vehicle – Heavy, designated ISV-H. The solicitation marks a significant development in the ISV program, signaling that the Army sees a capability gap between the existing ISV and the needs of certain missions — particularly around power generation and command-and-control on the move.
What the Army Is Looking For
Under the CSO, the Army could award up to three contracts for 606 ISV-H vehicles, though the solicitation notes that numbers could vary. The Army is specifically interested in ISV-H candidates with exportable power — the ability to generate and export electrical power to support Mobile Brigade Combat Team on-the-move command and control systems.
That requirement is telling. One of the ISV’s known limitations is that its commercial platform origins mean it is not designed to support power-hungry military electronics. As MBCTs increasingly rely on networked command-and-control systems that require reliable power, a vehicle that can carry the squad and power the systems becomes operationally valuable in a way the current ISV cannot deliver.
The Acquisition Mechanism
The Army is using a Commercial Solutions Opening — a flexible acquisition authority similar in spirit to the Other Transaction Authority used in the original ISV prototype phase. The CSO is intended to attract commercial solutions quickly and with less bureaucratic overhead than a traditional defense acquisition program.
Vendors had ten business days from March 30, 2026 to submit white paper business proposals — an aggressive timeline that reflects the Army’s interest in moving fast.
Open Questions for the Program
The ISV-H raises a set of questions that the Congressional Research Service has flagged as potential oversight issues for Congress:
Impact on the original ISV program. Would an ISV-H take on roles originally planned for existing or planned ISV variants? If so, would that change the required quantities of standard ISVs — and how would it interact with the Army’s current Acquisition Objective of 2,593 vehicles?
Support and maintenance. A heavier platform with exportable power capability likely has different maintenance requirements and a different sustainment footprint than the current ISV. How the Army manages two related but distinct vehicle types within the same tactical formation is an open logistics question.
Weapons and payload integration. A heavier vehicle with more power available may be able to support weapons systems and payloads that the current ISV cannot. Whether the ISV-H is designed with those integrations in mind — or whether that becomes a future program — remains to be seen.
Overall ISV requirements. Senior Army officials have reportedly stated that units may require more ISVs than the current acquisition objective reflects — with estimates as high as 260 ISVs per MBCT and 170 per Light BCT, subject to change. Adding an ISV-H procurement on top of an already-expanding ISV program will require the Army and Congress to revisit the overall vehicle count across both platforms.
Source: Congressional Research Service In Focus IF13092, “The U.S. Army’s Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV),” updated April 6, 2026.