Infantry Fighting Vehicle Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2021-2031

The Global Infantry Fighting Vehicle Market is projected to expand from USD 10.17 Billion in 2025 to USD 14.22 Billion by 2031, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 5.75%. Defined as specialized armored platforms, IFVs transport personnel into combat while offering direct fire support and maneuverability. Market expansion is chiefly driven by rising geopolitical friction and the critical need for military modernization to swap aging fleets for modular, survivable systems, supported by substantial defense budget increases. For example, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization estimated that collective defense spending among member states reached 1.47 trillion US dollars in 2024 as nations prioritized readiness and equipment updates.

Despite this upward trend, the market encounters a major obstacle in the form of significant lifecycle costs related to procurement and upkeep. The incorporation of sophisticated electronics and active protection systems elevates unit prices, causing affordability challenges for countries with limited defense funds. Consequently, these financial constraints can lead to delays in acquisition timelines and complicate efforts to modernize forces within desired schedules.

Market Drivers

A primary growth catalyst is the modernization and replacement of aging armored fleets, as nations move to retire obsolete Cold War-era platforms in favor of modular, highly survivable systems. Defense forces are prioritizing vehicles featuring advanced kinetic protection and digital architecture to ensure superiority over peer adversaries, leading to large-scale programs replacing Soviet-designed hardware with indigenous or NATO-standard alternatives. Highlighting this trend, Defense News reported in March 2025 that the Polish Ministry of National Defence signed a deal worth approximately 1.7 billion US dollars for 111 Borsuk tracked infantry fighting vehicles to replace its legacy BWP-1 fleet, reflecting a strategy centered on modularity and crew safety.

Escalating geopolitical tensions and cross-border conflicts are further fueling demand, forcing governments to replenish stocks and boost collective deterrence. The return of high-intensity land warfare threats has spurred immediate investment in combat-proven platforms that support rapid deployment and alliance interoperability. For instance, BAE Systems announced in December 2024 that it secured contracts totaling 2.5 billion US dollars to supply new CV90 combat vehicles to Denmark and Sweden, thereby strengthening Nordic heavy brigade capabilities. This urgency is generating significant revenue for industry leaders, with Rheinmetall reporting that its Vehicle Systems division achieved sales of 3.79 billion euros in the 2024 fiscal year, illustrating the financial scale of these security requirements.

Market Challenges

The immense lifecycle costs tied to procurement and maintenance represent a critical hurdle for the Global Infantry Fighting Vehicle Market. As manufacturers incorporate advanced electronics, active protection systems, and digitized battle management suites to satisfy modern lethality and survivability needs, unit prices have surged. This financial pressure forces defense ministries into difficult trade-offs, often leading to reduced order quantities or extended acquisition schedules to balance annual budgets. Consequently, high capital requirements restrict nations with limited funding from fully modernizing their fleets, stalling growth despite the urgent need for upgraded capabilities.

These affordability issues are compounded by administrative friction that slows the deployment of new systems. According to the National Defense Industrial Association in 2025, 64 percent of private sector respondents pointed to complex and prolonged procurement processes as a major obstacle for the defense industrial base. In the IFV sector, such structural delays and budgetary fluctuations hinder the transition from development to mass production. This creates uncertainty for manufacturers and supply chains, preventing economies of scale and leaving armed forces dependent on legacy platforms longer than strategically planned.

Market Trends

The market is experiencing a structural shift toward Optionally Manned Fighting Platforms, driven by the increasing lethality of high-intensity conflict zones for crewed systems. Military requirements are evolving to favor vehicles with digital backbones capable of remote or autonomous operation, allowing commanders to utilize unmanned assets for high-risk tasks while retaining human control for complex scenarios. This technological evolution is exemplified by the U.S. Army's flagship XM30 program to replace the Bradley fleet; as reported by Defense News in June 2025, General Dynamics Land Systems and American Rheinmetall Vehicles have entered the prototyping phase under contracts worth approximately 1.6 billion US dollars, highlighting the massive investment in next-generation optionally manned systems.

Concurrently, there is a clear trend toward High-Caliber Programmable Cannons, driven by the enhanced armor protection of peer-adversary vehicles. Armies are upgrading from standard 25mm armaments to 30mm, 35mm, and 50mm main guns capable of firing airburst munitions to neutralize entrenched infantry and unmanned aerial threats. This shift ensures new platforms maintain lethality overmatch against modern threats resistant to smaller calibers. A key example is Italy's fleet renewal; according to Army Recognition in January 2025, the Italian government launched a 16 billion euro procurement for new combat vehicles under the A2CS program, prioritizing platforms equipped with larger caliber turret systems to replace their aging inventory.

Key Players Profiled in the Infantry Fighting Vehicle Market

• General Dynamics Corporation
• Rheinmetall AG
• BAE Systems PLC
• Textron Inc.
• Elbit Systems Ltd.
• Oshkosh Corporation
• Nexter Group
• Denel SOC Ltd.
• FNSS Savunma Sistemleri A.S.
• BMC Otomotiv Sanayi ve Ticarest AS

Report Scope

In this report, the Global Infantry Fighting Vehicle Market has been segmented into the following categories:

Infantry Fighting Vehicle Market, by Type:

• Wheeled
• Tracked

Infantry Fighting Vehicle Market, by Configuration:

• Amphibious
• Non-Amphibious

Infantry Fighting Vehicle Market, by Application:

• Combat
• Armored Reconnaissance
• Others

Infantry Fighting Vehicle Market, by Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• South America
• Middle East & Africa

Competitive Landscape

Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies present in the Global Infantry Fighting Vehicle Market.

Available Customization

The analyst offers customization according to your specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:

• Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to five).

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