The Army's plan to divest 13,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles due to high maintenance costs has prompted critics to allege that the service is phasing out a proven, paid-for technology in favor of protecting the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, which is still in development.

The automatic spending cuts triggered by sequestration are poised to delay testing of the Army-Marine Corps Joint Light Tactical Vehicle by three to four months, according to the Army's top uniformed acquisition official.

The Army plans to apply a set of recommendations for how to make weapons testing more efficient to its Armored Multipurpose Vehicle and Distributed Common Ground System-Army programs, according to service officials.

As U.S. Special Operations Command mulls an impending contract award for a new fleet of Ground Mobility Vehicles, an Ohio-based company has announced a blanket purchase agreement with the Defense Department to begin transforming standard pickup trucks into tactical vehicles for SOCOM.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno last week shed new light on the service's plans for its tactical wheeled vehicle fleet, telling Congress the service planned to divest itself of 13,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, keeping just 4,000 in an effort to cut maintenance costs.

The Defense Logistics Agency at Red River Army Depot, AL, accumulated nearly $10 million in excess humvee repair parts due to inventory mismanagement, according to an April 15 report from the Defense Department inspector general.

Despite budget constraints, the Marine Corps must upgrade its amphibious assault vehicles and its humvees after roughly a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Thomas Dee, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for expeditionary warfare and logistics management.

The Army is poised to cease spending on the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles at the end of fiscal year 2014, but that hasn't stopped contractor Oshkosh Defense from marking the milestone of 15,000 vehicles delivered.

The Army has highlighted the continued development of new military vehicles as a high priority in its fiscal year 2014 budget request and is seeking more than $1 billion in research and development funding to get there.

The Office of Naval Research wants industry help with an expeditionary laser weapon system to protect ground troops from drones, according to a notice issued by ONR last week.

The Army last week released a market survey in preparation for the final phase of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle it is pursuing with the Marine Corps.

Fidelity Technologies Corp. has been selected by the Army to provide add-on, B-kit armor to the service's family of heavy tactical vehicles -- a five-year contract that could exceed $200 million, the company announced last week.

The Navy is ramping up its reset effort of about 500 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles brought back from Afghanistan as the U.S. military presence winds down, with each vehicle carrying an estimated price tag of about $380,000 for refurbishment, according to a Navy spokeswoman.

The Marine Corps recently canceled a solicitation for humvee on-board vehicle power kits because of the across-the-board sequestration cuts, according to Marine Corps spokeswoman Barbara Hamby.

The Army last week canceled a planned competition for a Mine Resistant Ambush protected vehicle joint logistics integrator contract due to the drawdown in Afghanistan, according to a government notice.

DynCorp International announced last week that it has won a total package fielding (TPF) contract for the Army's family of medium tactical vehicles that could be worth $35 million.

The Army issued a market survey last week seeking information from industry on work associated with the production of a new armored replacement cab for the Heavy Equipment Transporter truck.

The Marine Corps is slowly starting to ramp up its reset effort of 1,231 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles brought back from Afghanistan as the U.S. military presence winds down, with each vehicle carrying a price tag of about $250,000 for reset operations, according to a Marine Corps spokesman.

The Army's top acquisition executive said last week that a schedule delay expected to impact the Army-Marine Corps Joint Light Tactical Vehicle as a result of sequestration could ultimately derail the entire program.

Lockheed Martin recently demonstrated the ability of its Direct Attack Guided Rocket to launch from its Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, according to a company statement.