The Army Wants a ‘Heavy’ Infantry Squad Vehicle to Use as a Battery on Wheels
26th June 2026
As the Army retools many of its top-tier infantry units around the buggy-like Infantry Squad Vehicle, or ISV, it’s already looking for a new, beefier version of the truck, dubbed the ISV-Heavy.
Despite the “Heavy” name, that variant won’t be inherently more rugged or armored than its open-sided predecessor. Instead, the trucks will carry a suite of batteries and generators to produce power for electricity-hungry drones, communications equipment, and even a “Directed Energy Weapon Systems,” according to Army contracting requirements released in late March.
An Army official said last week that the ISV-Heavy is designed to fit a “niche requirement” to act as a roving power station for modern, electricity-hungry infantry units. Jesse D. Tolleson Jr., the principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, said during a Senate subcommittee budget hearing last week that the ISV-Heavy is “really going to be focused on the power generation part. One of the things that we do have a critical capability gap on right now is power generation at that mobile brigade combat team level,”