Description
The Pentagon’s venture capital arm awarded a $9.8 million contract to engineering consultancy Ricardo to aid efforts to create a new heavy and potentially amphibious infantry fighting vehicle, contract documents show.

The funding came out of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program called Fast, Adaptable, Next-Generation Ground Vehicle. The project aims to use crowdsourcing to build a combat vehicle. A series of challenges inviting nontraditional players to take part would culminate in progressively more complex vehicle designs. A consultant or research laboratory would integrate the ideas tapped from a variety of participants.