The Army is slated to return by Labor Day a large-scale review that addresses its brigade combat team modernization strategy -- including its new ground combat vehicle effort, the remaining parts of the Future Combat Systems program and the FCS spin-out effort, according to an Army official.
The source tells Inside the Army the plan, due to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and being prepared by the Army office for programs (G-8) and Training and Doctrine Command, is part of the service’s effort to adapt its modernization strategy to reflect Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ termination of the manned ground vehicle component of the FCS program.
The Army official tells ITA that the service’s sweeping review is being coordinated with the Quadrennial Defense Review now under way.
The analysis is set to certainly address the ground combat vehicle effort, the initiative to find a new vehicle to replace the MGV family. During a May 14 hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gates said the work is now the service’s “highest priority, and I totally support it.”
Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said at a hearing before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee last week that he would like to see the new vehicle fielded in five to seven years. That tight deadline means the service will likely have to rely on existing technology, he told reporters after the hearing.
Casey stressed that the service is starting with a blank page and “will work to include both lessons from the current fight and what we’ve learned from technology and build a better vehicle.”
The Army official tells ITA that the new ground combat vehicle will prioritize survivability, meaning some mobility and transportability requirements may be eased. The survivability requirement could result in a tracked vehicle, the source said.
Speaking to reporters after testifying May 14 before the House Armed Services Committee, Casey said the vehicle must “have a range of capabilities.
“Survivability certainly will be a very important factor, but -- as within all these vehicles -- we have to weigh survivability, mobility, speed, everything,” he continued.
Both Casey and the Army source said the service -- in weighing off-the-shelf technology -- will be open to considering foreign-made vehicles. Additionally, Casey told reporters on Capitol Hill last week that the Army is “going to want to put these on C-17s. Anything we have needs to go on C-17s.”
In its fiscal year 2010 budget, the Army has allotted $100 million in research, development, test and evaluation funding to launch the modernization effort, according to budget documents. The money is designated for “Manned Ground Vehicle,” which the Army official confirmed is for the ground combat vehicle development effort.
According to FY-10 budget documents, the funding reflects “preliminary analysis” and “adjustments may occur which could potentially change planned accomplishments [and] funding requirements.”
“The funding is based on an independent assessment made by [OSD’s Cost Analysis Improvement Group] and [Program Analysis and Evaluation],” the budget justification documents state. “Currently the requirements are being defined for this new combat vehicle program. Preliminary analysis suggest[s] a contract award in the 3rd quarter FY10 to begin the development of the [infantry carrier vehicle] (Bradley replacement).”
Casey told reporters last week that the new ground combat vehicle “needs to be a fighting vehicle, not a troop carrier.
“Whether it’s just one vehicle or whether it’s a family of vehicles, we don’t know yet,” Casey continued. “After Labor Day, we expect to have something.”
The Army’s review is also set to examine the spin-outs planned for the FCS components as well as potential ways to adapt existing vehicles, such as the Abrams tank, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the Stryker and the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, to work with FCS, the source said.
In particular, the service will send both MRAPs and Strykers to Ft. Bliss, TX, home of the Army Evaluation Task Force, for network integration, according to Casey (see related story).
Casey told reporters last week that the Army is faced with balancing its new effort with the needs of existing vehicles.
“So you can imagine what we’re wrestling with,” he said. “You’ve got to keep the tanks and the Bradleys modernized, but at the same time, we’re going to try to bring on replacement vehicles, so we’re trying to get the right balance.”
Almost $1.1 billion is included in the FY-10 budget under “FCS System of Systems Engineer and Program Management,” which the source said will include the costs of networking analysis to consider ways to adapt existing equipment.
After last week’s hearing before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, Army Secretary Pete Geren told reporters that the “network is key” to the new ground combat vehicle initiative.
“The network remains fundamental,” he said.
The $368.5 million set aside for manned ground vehicles and the $58.2 million designated for the Non-Line-of-Sight Cannon in the Army’s RDT&E budget are placeholders intended to represent potential termination liability costs, which have yet to be negotiated, ITA reported last week.
The Army source said the contract renegotiation poses an opportunity for the service to potentially move more of the program management to the service and away from contractors. Both Gates and John Young, the former DOD acquisition chief, have criticized the terms of the contract. During a roundtable last month, Young said the fee was not focused enough on objective results, while Gates during the Senate hearing called the contract “all messed up.”
“Ninety percent of the . . . performance fee . . . is guaranteed at a critical design review,” Gates added at the hearing. “So there’s little performance incentive left for the rest of the program, including prototyping and so on.”
As analysis continues, the Army is also seeking to formally recognize the changes in the FCS program. An acquisition decision memorandum terminating the vehicle component of FCS is expected this week, the source said, following the completion of last week’s system-of-systems preliminary design review.
“When that is over, we, with the Department of Defense, will issue an acquisition decision memorandum that will halt the Future Combat Systems program as we know it today,” Casey said during last week’s hearing. “We will then work with the contractor to split out the manned ground vehicle from the other systems, in an attempt to do that in a way that does not slow the development and the fielding of the spin-outs.” -- Marjorie Censer and Kate Brannen