Combat Vehicles

The Army's
Stryker Brigade Combat Team program manager told industry executives last week
that they should expect solicitations in the coming months asking for upgrades
to the vehicle's engine, suspension, power supply and network capabilities.

The Defense Contract Management Agency has formally blessed General Dynamics Amphibious Systems' management system, a major improvement following a poor review three years ago.

The Army is
being challenged again by the Office of the Secretary of Defense over its
Ground Combat Vehicle program as Pentagon leaders grapple with a new
national-defense strategy that accounts for shrinking budgets and the scheduled
disengagement from two ground conflicts, according to sources.

Continuing
its effort to justify heavy combat capabilities amid plans for an upcoming era
of fiscal austerity, the Army commissioned the Rand Corporation's Arroyo Center
to produce a study which has found that the continued use of heavy armored
forces will be warranted in 21st century combat.

While the
Army wants to field a Ground Combat Vehicle within seven years at a per-unit
cost of $11 million to $13 million, Defense Department estimates show that the
cost could be more than 30 percent higher, with delivery of the first
production vehicle taking up to a decade, according to the Government
Accountability Office.

Army Vice
Chief Of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli told lawmakers on Capitol Hill last week in
no uncertain terms that the service still requires full-scale modernization efforts
like the embattled Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and Ground Combat Vehicle, and
asserted that losing them to cost cuts would ultimately endanger soldiers.

In an effort
to protect funding for the fledgling Ground Combat Vehicle program, the Army's
top combat vehicle managers have elected to proceed with more incremental and
less ambitious approaches to modernizing the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the
Abrams tank and the Stryker, service officials said last week.

The Army expects soon to have the results of a business-case
analysis that will determine the way ahead for the production of the Paladin
Integrated Management program, according to a service spokesman.

In one of his first acts as deputy defense secretary, Ashton Carter has established a new senior-level governance body -- the Deputy's Management Action Group -- to guide decisions on critically important issues like the Pentagon's five-year investment plan, force structure, global posture and key capabilities such as space and nuclear deterrence.