Polaris begins producing new MRZR Alpha baseline vehicle with 1 kilowatt of exportable power
The company has also produced a five-kilowatt version of the vehicle that is more suitable for “power hungry” systems, explained John LaFata, Polaris’s chief engineer.
Polaris showed off its new MRZR Alpha baseline vehicle this week at Modern Day Marine. (Ashley Roque/Breaking Defense)
MODERN DAY MARINE 2025 — As the US military looks for ways to generate power on the battlefield, Polaris this week unveiled its new MRZR Alpha baseline vehicle with one kilowatt of exportable power.
The company showed off that updated variant at the Modern Day Marine conference in Washington, DC, noting that it just started vehicle production earlier this month.
“As we developed the export power variants, both the one kilowatt and the five kilowatt, working with both Marine Corps … it became readily apparent that they weren’t going to want to procure vehicles and then add a kit later,” John LaFata, Polaris’s chief engineer, told Breaking Defense Tuesday.
“They wanted that vehicle to have that export power coming down the line, so we made the decision that [a one-kilowatt vehicle] would become the base variant … then everything will build off of that,” he added.
The change did not require a massive overhaul to the light tactical vehicle that has been used for a number of purposes including the USMC’s Light Marine Air-Defense Integrated System (LMADIS), and hosting directed energy weapons, command and control kit, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. The company added a wiring harness into the vehicle, and it can now power things like Teledyne’s TacFLIR 280-HDEP or offload power into a “jerry can battery storage system.”
If the USMC opts to retrofit existing MRZR Alphas with the one-kilowatt capability, LaFata said the company is producing a kit that includes the DC-to-DC converter, associated wiring and cabling, and updated software that can be added on in the motor pool.
LaFata said the company is also working on a MRZR variant capable of generating five kilowatts of power that includes a new main vehicle harness, as well as a 24-volt generator instead of a 12-volt alternator in the one-kilowatt version.
“That allows for systems like LMADIS, network on the move, CAC2S [Common Aviation Command & Control System] and those power hungry, energy hungry systems to now fit onto this platform and now we no longer have to carry a separate generator,” LaFata added.
