The Stryker Double-V Hull testing effort is officially under way, according to the Army's Stryker program office.
The Stryker Double-V Hull testing effort is officially under way, according to the Army's Stryker program office.
As the Army has hit speed bumps in its strategy for the multibillion-dollar Ground Combat Vehicle, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is moving full-speed ahead with an effort to revolutionize vehicle manufacturing to foster the open-source design of a prototype GCV, according to a DARPA announcement.
Army leaders could soon take the unprecedented step of telling companies entering the race for the revamped Ground Combat Vehicle competition how much taxpayer money the new vehicles should cost, according to defense officials.
As the Army regroups after suspending the Ground Combat Vehicle competition last week, some officials say the program's new way forward likely will shed the kind of reliance on high-risk technology development that sunk parts of the Future Combat Systems effort.
Some defense analysts are welcoming the Army's recent decision to scrap its solicitation for the Ground Combat Vehicle and see it as a sign of level-headed planning, despite the disruption it caused many major industry players.
(Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:30 p.m. to include new information from the Army.)
Based on the findings of a special "red team" report, the Army is canceling its Ground Combat Vehicle request for proposals process and intends to issue revised requirements that will allow industry teams to bid again some time in the future.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway conceded this morning that the Marines might not be able to purchase their full requirement of Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles.
The program has been troubled since its inception, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates has publicly called into question the need for the robust amphibious capability that would be provided by the EFV.
At a press conference this morning, Conway, who has long been a strong advocate for the vehicle, said the Marines are examining the affordability of the program.
Congress has approved a Pentagon reprogramming request to transfer funds directly into the Stryker program's double-V hull protection effort, according to documents sent to the Defense Department comptroller's office last week.
In a prior approval reprogramming request sent to Congress in June, the Pentagon sought to shift $102 million in Stryker savings -- left over from reduced survivability kit requirements -- to test double-v-shaped hull variants being developed by General Dynamics in cooperation with the Army.
The Defense Department has adjusted its $1.6 trillion portfolio of major weapon systems being developed and acquired, formally ushering in 11 new programs and completing paperwork on four major efforts whose procurement runs are complete or nearly finished.
With a make-or-break test scheduled for September, Army and Boeing officials said last week preliminary equipment demonstrations of the Early Infantry Brigade Combat Team Increment 1 suite of equipment have showed marked performance improvements since last fall.
Science Applications International Corporation confirmed last week that its bid for the Army's multibillion dollar Ground Combat Vehicle program includes a hybrid electric engine, after a source close to the bid provided details to Inside the Army regarding the company's GCV design.
The House Armed Services Committee has denied a Pentagon reprogramming request to divert hundreds of millions of dollars from the procurement and modernization of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and Abrams tank to "other priorities," Inside the Army has learned.
The panel denied a measure in the Pentagon's omnibus reprogramming request that would have shifted $200 million from Bradley procurement and $143 million from both Bradley and Abrams research and development, according to sources in Congress and the Army.
The Army's new concept of operations for its proposed Ground Combat Vehicle asserts that the GCV would transform infantry combat because it would allow a full squad to deploy in the thick of a fight, as opposed to splitting squads up among Bradley Fighting Vehicles or putting them in Strykers and dropping them off further from the battlefield, according to documents obtained by Inside the Army.
BAE Systems announced last week it was awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to perform upgrades to the Army's Bradley Fighting Vehicle fleet, shortly after the House Armed Services Committee moved to deny the Pentagon's request to divert funding from the Bradley program to "higher-priority programs."
Some defense industry experts welcomed news last week that heralded a hybrid electric drive option as one of three bids being considered for the Army's multibillion-dollar Ground Combat Vehicle program.
An official from Anniston Army Depot, AL, described the work-intensive process for resetting and repairing combat and battle-damaged Stryker vehicles for defense industry officials at a conference in Tysons Corner, VA last week.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) last week questioned a Quadrennial Defense Review independent panel's findings of sufficiency in Army force structure, given the stress placed on the service by two wars.
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