In a defense industry long shaped by traditional, linear development cycles, American Rheinmetall is helping rewrite the rules to bring a faster, more flexible model for combat vehicle development. At the heart of this transformation is a shift toward digital-first engineering and virtual prototyping, based on a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) that delivers a truly future-ready combat vehicle built with unprecedented transparency, adaptability and cost-efficiency.
“The digital model has everything. It starts with the requirement, and it goes through the architecture of the vehicle, and it touches all areas, including how the vehicle is actually built,” said Ruben Burgos, American Rheinmetall’s program director who’s leading the company’s ground combat vehicle development. “We’re designing a flexible platform that can evolve for decades to come.”
The company recently completed a major program milestone review with one of its customers, confirming that the vehicle’s full design is mature and ready for manufacturing. And, according to Burgos, that’s where the value of the company’s digital approach is shining through. “Our entire model, from the top-level requirements all the way to the physical build, was laid out and traceable. It was satisfying to see the customer assess it and recognize the maturity of what we’ve built.”
American Rheinmetall’s development process is built on a “digital thread,” a continuous chain of interconnected digital data that links requirements, engineering, manufacturing, and sustainment using what Burgos describes as three digital twins.
Each twin plays a distinct role in speeding development and enabling smarter decisions. The engineering twin captures every subsystem—from mobility and survivability to lethality and more—in a living model that informs everything downstream. The manufacturing twin translates that model into real-world production, including automated assembly instructions that update with every design change. “Feedback loops that used to take months now happen in days,” Burgos said.
Finally, the sustainment twin extends the model into long-term planning, allowing the customer to anticipate maintenance, replacements, and upgrades years in advance. “That’s game-changing,” he added.
This new level of visibility allows American Rheinmetall to deliver updated system models to customers in weeks, as opposed to the traditional method of waiting months between milestone reviews. “They can run their own assessments on our model and provide real-time feedback,” Burgos said. “It’s not a ‘gotcha’ process—it’s collaborative. They see how we’re progressing, and we’re aligned every step of the way.”
The company’s manufacturing capabilities further solidify its position as a nimble, vertically integrated contributor to the U.S. defense industrial base. With production underway by its partner, Textron Systems, in Slidell, Louisiana, and at American Rheinmetall’s facilities in Michigan, Ohio and Maine, its combat vehicle development activities are not only a digital-first platform, but one built by and for Americans.
This commitment to U.S.-based manufacturing underpins a broader strategic vision: to strengthen national security by investing in American jobs, supply chains, and innovation ecosystems. “It’s not just about building vehicles. It’s about making sure the customer has the best tech, made in America, by Americans, in a way that makes sense for long-term readiness,” Burgos said.
The approach leverages digital engineering and MOSA architecture to futureproof combat vehicles, while providing SWAP-C growth margins that enable rapid integration of emerging technologies. “We account for growth margins across our vehicles,” Burgos explained. “We’ve already thought through future growth—power, compute, physical space. So, when the customer is ready to add something new, they don’t need to redesign the entire vehicle.” The ability to upgrade quickly, easily, and without major redesigns is essential, especially as modern innovation drives faster and more frequent advancements in technology.
“The big shift here is that the customer doesn’t have to come back to the OEM for everything. In the past, if they wanted to swap out a sensor or turret, it could take up to a year, driving up costs considerably,” Burgos added. “Now they can look at the model, understand every interface, and make that change in weeks instead of months or years.”
This is especially critical as the military looks to incorporate uncrewed and robotic systems, advanced autonomy, and AI-driven capabilities into its next-generation combat platforms in the near future. American Rheinmetall’s combat vehicles will support semi-autonomous operation at launch, with pathways to full autonomy as those technologies mature.
Burgos is clear that modularity is much more than bolting on a different turret. “Some say a platform is modular just because you can swap components,” he said. “But true modularity means knowing exactly what a new subsystem needs—how it connects, what power it draws, what data interfaces it uses, and how it impacts the rest of the vehicle. Our digital model defines all of that, so when a new sensor, system, or AI module becomes available, the customer knows exactly how it fits and how it performs and can proceed to integration and fielding much faster.”
That level of precision, flexibility, and transparency sets American Rheinmetall apart. The company’s mix of defense, commercial, and automotive engineering talent gives it a unique ability to combine innovation with rigorous standards.
“Many of us came here because we saw a better way to serve the Warfighter,” Burgos said. “We wanted to be part of a company that was willing to challenge the old paradigm, one that could work hand-in-hand with the military to design for the future—not just build for today.”
That mindset is now helping shape how the military approaches digital engineering and modular architecture more broadly. The work being done today is setting a precedent for faster, more adaptable acquisition programs across the defense landscape. “We’re trailblazers with this MOSA approach, which will set the standard for new programs,” Ruben said. “But there’s also discussion about how this method could be tied back into existing programs.”
American Rheinmetall sees this as an opportunity to deliver not just on the mission at hand, but on the promise of a better way to build. “We’re proving that you can do this differently,” he said. “That you can have transparency, flexibility, and still deliver high performance. That’s what we’re doing—and that’s what military modernization is about.”