Since its delivery in October 2020, soldiers across the U.S. Army’s light infantry formations have been experimenting and training with the Infantry Squad Vehicle as they seek to move faster and farther across the battlefield.

Based on a Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 platform with 90% commercial off-the-shelf parts, the Infantry Squad Vehicle, or M1301, is an air-transportable, unarmored, fast tactical truck that can seat nine soldiers. Fielded to units including the 82nd Airborne Division, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), the 25th Infantry Division, the 75th Ranger Regiment and the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, the Infantry Squad Vehicle has been incorporated into events including training events and rotations at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Johnson, Louisiana.

“The Infantry Squad Vehicle provides enhanced tactical mobility for the infantry brigade combat teams’ nine-soldier infantry squads and their associated equipment to move quickly around the battlefield,” Col. Shaun Conlin Jr., director of the Army Capability Manager Infantry Brigade Combat Team at Fort Moore, Georgia, said in an email. The team finds ways to increase capabilities for the Army’s 33 infantry brigade combat teams and supports new equipment programs throughout the acquisition process, according to the team’s website. “This capability provides the Army flexibility for entry operations, allowing forces to rapidly expand from a lodgment and converge from multiple entry points before transitioning to combined arms maneuver,” Conlin said.

Future Initiative

The Infantry Squad Vehicle is part of the Army’s transformation for a future battlefield, where speed and lethality will be critical as soldiers can expect to face unmanned vehicles, electronic warfare threats and more.

GM Defense LLC won the contract to build the Infantry Squad Vehicle in June 2020, and the program was approved for full-rate production in March 2023. The Army plans to buy 2,593 Infantry Squad Vehicles, according to John Hufstedler, product director of Ground Mobility Vehicles in Program Executive Office Combat Support and Combat Service Support.

Based on extensive testing of designs of ultralight and light tactical vehicles, the Army found that the Infantry Squad Vehicle provides soldiers more mobility than the Humvee, Conlin said. It also “allows the Army to retain its base formation of the Infantry Rifle Squad in one vehicle with reduced demand for additional drivers or security for vehicles,” he wrote in the email.

As of January, the Army had fielded over 700 Infantry Squad Vehicles to eight infantry brigade combat teams and special operations units, “and they provide unmatched mobility and agility to commanders in the field,” Conlin said.

Lighter Loads

In addition to giving light infantry forces added mobility and speed, the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) can be used as a small-unit logistics enhancement vehicle to lighten soldiers’ loads and help them move heavy equipment and supplies, Conlin said. It also can move casualties to the next level of care.

“The ISV and the M10 Booker Combat Vehicle will allow [infantry brigade combat teams] to increase their pace and tempo of operational maneuvers,” Conlin said. “The capacity of the ISV brings to bear the full combat power of an Infantry Squad while the M10 … provides unmatched capability against fortified positions and lightly armored vehicles.”

Working in Tandem

As an M10 Booker opens maneuver lanes for follow-on infantry forces, the Infantry Squad Vehicle allows those forces to move rapidly through those openings and seize the initiative against any adversary, Conlin said.

The M10 Booker is one of the Army’s first major combat vehicles produced since the 1980s. An armored vehicle that features a 105 mm main gun, armor, smoke grenade launchers, blowoff panels and automatic fire suppression, the M10 Booker is intended to support infantry brigade combat teams.

Soldiers in the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, received the Infantry Squad Vehicle in 2021. The vehicle “increases small-unit speed and tactical mobility, important attributes for creating advantage in close combat,” Lt. Col. César Santiago, director of public affairs for the 82nd Airborne Division, said in a written response to questions.

The Infantry Squad Vehicle provides “infantry small units with self-sufficient mobility, agility, logistics flexibility, and casualty collection depth,” Santiago said. Additionally, the vehicle’s handling, which is like many other passenger vehicles, simplifies driver training and crew familiarity.

Reliable Transportation

So far, paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division have trained with the Infantry Squad Vehicle during a rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center and at home at Fort Liberty. The vehicle is “reliable troop transport for an organic squad,” Santiago wrote. “Further, it is easy to train on, durable in several environments, relatively quiet, generally fuel efficient, [and] serves as a power source [for charging devices]. Its compact design enables it to go places others cannot,” he said.

Santiago noted the vehicle’s lack of armor or mounted weapons for protection, but said, as soldiers often do, the paratroopers experimented with and modified their Infantry Squad Vehicles to add an equipment roof rack, communications upgrades, camouflage nets and even commercial trailer hitch attachments.

“Faster and flexible infantry small units, teamed with [the 105 mm main cannon of the] M10 [Booker Combat Vehicle] and other enablers, should increase the combined arms potential of our [brigade combat teams],” Santiago wrote.

Welcome Addition

In Hawaii, soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, also have been experimenting with the Infantry Squad Vehicle. Soldiers from the brigade’s Company C, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, have been training with 14 of the vehicles, Capt. Erwin Samson, the company commander, said via email.

“The ISVs allow us to mobilize around the battlespace more effectively through unrestricted to restricted terrain within the jungle environment more than our [Humvee] and [Light Medium Tactical Vehicle],” Samson said. The Infantry Squad Vehicle also is quieter than the Polaris MRZR light tactical vehicle, and it transports nine soldiers and their rucksacks without sacrificing much speed with the load, he said.

“All training has been in and around Hawaii which provides us a varied amount of terrain from jungle to lava rock,” Samson wrote. “We feel this is the best opportunity to train for use in the various environments in the Pacific and look forward to potentially taking the ISVs with us on Operation Pathways.” Operation Pathways is a series of exercises with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific.

The Infantry Squad Vehicle also is getting some use in U.S. Special Operations Command. As special operations forces train with the vehicle, the command is seeking some upgrades to the platform, including a suspension upgrade for payload increases, casualty evacuation requirements, secondary weapons mount improvements and primary weapons mount integration, according to Navy Cmdr. Joe Vermette, a spokesman for Special Operations Command, in email comments.

“The Army’s ISV provides [U.S. Army Special Operations Command] with a highly transportable ground mobility capability that, with further [special operations forces] modifications, will be both lighter and more lethal,” Vermette said. The goal is to acquire about 200 Infantry Squad Vehicles for Army Special Operations Command, he said.

With future upgrades and additions in cargo and lethality, variants of the Infantry Squad Vehicle should complement and support soldiers in different mission sets and provide benefits that airborne, light infantry and Special Forces troops have not had as the Army transforms for a more transparent and deadly future battlefield.

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Peter Ong is a freelance writer based in California. He writes for defense, maritime and emergency-vehicle publications. He has an MBA from Touro University International.