Adaptive Vehicle Make Adaptive Vehicle Make ( AVM ) is a portfolio of programs overseen by DARPA , of the United States Department of Defense . AVM attempts to address revolutionary approaches to the design , verification , and manufacturing of complex defense systems and vehicles . The three primary programs are META , Instant Foundry Adaptive through Bits ( iFAB ) and Fast Adaptable Next - Generation Ground Vehicle ( FANG GV ) programs . Many components of the program leverage crowdsourcing and will be open source and the ultimate intent is to crowdsource a next generation combat vehicle . The program is managed by Nathan Wiedenman under DARPA ' s Tactical Technology Office . A Proposer ' s Day was held and several Broad Agency Announcements released on 7 October 2010 . Background . A frequently cited criticism of the DoD is the expensive and often inefficient way that it buys and builds new things . The scope of this process can be seen in the Integrated Defense Acquisition , Technology , & Logistics Life Cycle Management Framework . One of the big challenges associated with these processes is the craftsmen - like nature of building these complex cyber - mechanical systems . A typical approach is to break the system into subsystems and have separate teams embark on building the individual subsystems and optimize them for Size , Weight , and Power . Once the subsystems reach a reasonable level of development , an integration effort takes place to tie the subsystems together . The system is then tested against requirements which are almost never met on the first integration - testing cycle . The steps will then be iterated until the system meets its requirements . This is a costly approach , especially compared with something like chip production . Intel , for instance , has an excellent track record in getting systems right in the design phase so that extensive testing and integration are not needed . This " correct - by - construction " methodology is powerful and would not be possible without high - level design languages to support validation and verification . The goal of the AVM program is to move to this model for building large , complex , heterogeneous cyber - mechanical systems for increased cost and schedule efficiencies . META . The goal of META is to analyse interactions between components and provide verification and validation ( V & V ) of designs without prototyping in order to shorten development time . META will develop new languages or language extensions ( Generic Modeling Environment and CyPhyML ) that encapsulate sufficient complexity to compile a component library , context library , and manufacturing library for this type of analysis and certification . META I began in mid - 2010 and is scheduled to last 15 months . META II begins in late 2010 and lasts 12 months . An infantry fighting vehicle library will be compiled in late 2011 and will continue for 1 . 5 years . C2M2L . A series of solicitations to build the Component , Context , and Manufacturing Library ( C2M2L , pronounced " camel " ) are being introduced . The first of these will be introduced in mid - 2011 and will be focused around drivetrains . Labeled C2M2L - 1 , the draft BAA is under development by the program office which is soliciting remarks from participants at all levels , including a live IRC session using the # avm channel on freenode . Component models are straightforward to understand but a context model refers to the physical environment that the design lives in . This includes characteristics such as the expected terrain morphology and climate properties such as temperature and humidity . Instant Foundry Adaptive through Bits . Instant Foundry Adaptive through Bits ( iFAB ) attempts to design a manufacturing facility that can fabricate vehicles and can be reconfigured to manufacture other systems . The facility would be capable of manufacturing the FANG vehicle . iFAB looks to lay the groundwork for development of a foundry - style manufacturing capability – taking as input a verified system design specified in an appropriate metalanguage – capable of rapid reconfiguration to accommodate a wide range of design variability and specifically targeted at the fabrication of military ground vehicles . Fast Adaptable Next - Generation Ground Vehicle . Fast Adaptable Next - Generation Ground Vehicle is a portfolio of three loosely related projects . The Fast Adaptable Next - Generation Ground Vehicle ( FANG GCV ) attempts to crowdsource the design of an infantry fighting vehicle culminating in prototypes . Participants will use the META metalanguage with the option to use Vehicleforge . The program occurs in three phases . The Mobility / Drivetrain Challenge lasts three months and begins in 2013 . A prize of $ . 5 – 1 million will be awarded for the winning design . The Chassis / Integrated Survivability Challenge lasts three months and begins in the middle of 2013 subsequent to the Mobility / Drivetrain Challenge . A prize of $ . 5 – 1 million for the winning design ( s ) will be awarded . The third challenge , the Total Platform Challenge lasts six months and begins in early 2014 . A prototype will be completed that would be eligible for consideration for the Amphibious Combat Vehicle program . The vehicle will be capable of amphibious transport and will have requirements similar to the U . S . Marine Corps Amphibious Combat Vehicle program . The vehicle design would be open source . In April 2013 , DARPA awarded US $ 1 million to a three - man team of designers for its drivetrain for the Marine ACV . The team , Team Ground Systems , used the online design tools and open - source code provided by DARPA to put together a proposal that won for system performance and manufacturability . 1 , 000 other competitors ultimately participated in the contest . The design now must be validated for manufacturability feedback , foundry configuration , and instruction - generation tools , then tested and evaluated . DARPA will award a $ 1 million prize for a hull design and $ 2 million in 2014 for the complete vehicle design . Vehicleforge . mil . The vehicleforge . mil program will attempt to provide the necessary infrastructure for sharing design files among distributed design teams . Similar approaches in software have proven very successful for collaboration and innovation , such as the " clone - and - own " paradigm commonly used on sites like github . com and sourceforge . net . vehicleforge . mil will be built on a 12 - month contract cycle starting in mid - 2011 and will have a minimum additional three years of support . All resultant infrastructure components will be released under an open source license . Manufacturing Experimentation and Outreach ( MENTOR ) . Manufacturing Experimentation and Outreach ( MENTOR ) facilitates collaboration among high school - aged students . MENTOR will provide materials for high school - aged students to utilize . Up to 1 , 000 3D printers will be distributed . Schools will compete in prize challenges for design of moderately complex systems . The effort begins in 2011 and will attempt to reach 10 schools in its second year , 100 schools in its third , and 1 , 000 schools in its fourth .