The Army came out with a plan to modernize its combat vehicles a year ago at the Association of the US Army's annual convention in Washington. The strategy set out a path to acquire a new lightweight vehicle for infantry brigade combat teams and to replace nearly-obsolete armored vehicles.
Here's a play-by-play of where the service is a year later in executing a few major parts of its strategy to modernize combat vehicles.
Success Stories – JLTV and AMPV
The Army took receipt of the first seven Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) last week, according to Scott Davis, the Army's program executive officer for combat support and combat service support. The vehicles came in right on schedule and will be headed out to various sites to begin testing this week.
A year ago, the JLTV was the one success story in recent combat vehicle procurement amid several major failures, and while it took longer than expected to procure the vehicle, it's been touted as a model in how acquisition should be designed in the future for major programs.
The vehicles will undergo a variety of reliability testing to make sure they meet Army requirements, although Oshkosh Defense, the vehicle's manufacturer, did much of the testing in the engineering and manufacturing development phase to ensure things were on track, Davis told Defense News in a Sept. 30 interview.
The Army – ultimately with 108 vehicles -- will conduct some additional transportability testing, something the service put off until it had selected a winner in the competition because funding all three industry teams in such tests would have been too costly, Davis said. The testing includes some airlift capability and all kinds of lifting and tie-down tests, he added. Other tests will include live-firing and network compatibility and integration.
The Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) is also progressing. A year ago, the Army Capability Integration Center (ARCIC) director Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster said the replacement of the M113 armored personnel carrier was needed because the vehicle was obsolete, lacked adequate protection, and he referred to it as a "death trap."
The strategy called for a near-term replacement.
The Army awarded an EMD contract to BAE Systems for a new AMPV in December 2014 and will take delivery of the first platform this year, Lt. Gen. Michael Williamson, the military deputy to the acquisition chief, told Defense News in a September interview. "That is very fast," he added.
BAE Systems is displaying its prototype of the AMPV medical variant at AUSA.
Light Reconnaissance Vehicle
Last year McMaster told Defense News a Light Reconnaissance Vehicle (LRV) was needed in the near term partly to provide an interim solution to the infantry brigade combat team’s lethality shortfall. He added that the Army doesn’t need a decade to develop an LRV, but at first glance across industry, the Army did not see any products offering all the features of its envisioned vehicle.
Yet, McMaster noted, there could be something to get the job done in the short term in order to get the mobile protected firepower capability the service needs.
In May, it seemed set that the Army would use the JLTV as an interim solution for the LRV, but according to acquisition leadership, that is not set in stone.
"I would not say the [JLTV] is going to be the LRV," the Army’s acquisition chief, Katrina McFarland, told Defense News in a Sept. 29 interview at the Pentagon. "It is going to be looked at as a possibility because … we are looking at the [LRV] through the lens of [JLTV] in order to give us an understanding, conceptually, is that a reasonable, is that an appropriate … capability we seek inside the gap," she said.
Williamson said the JLTV could be a good option because it’s a "very capable vehicle" as "budget pressure" is hindering the ability to buy new. He added there would need to be modifications to consider because the JLTV does not have enough seats for an entire reconnaissance squad and would need weapon mounts and some other equipment for the reconnaissance mission.
The decision is "definitely not" made when it comes to JLTV serving as LRV, even though it is considered an "attractive candidate," Davis said. Right now, "we need two things proved and validated -- requirements and resourcing. We depend on those to kick anything off and right now neither of those have been solidified," he said.
Davis said the Army is investigating JLTV as LRV with Oshkosh, but is still working with the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) to help shape the requirements.
"Once we get those finalized, we will know not only what we will have to do sort of inside of JLTV to make it accommodate those requirements, but it will also give us a better sense of a wider perspective of alternatives so that as we move toward an LRV program, the leadership has choices and cost estimates and all that stuff," Davis said.
Given the Army’s interest, Davis noted, it’s possible that "sometime in the first half of next year, we should be able to get ourselves in position with a path ahead."
Ground Mobility Vehicle
The Army identified a critical shortfall in the IBCT’s ability to rapidly deploy in restrictive areas with protected firepower essential to securing terrain or lodging counterattacks, the strategy states. The vehicle requirements to meet this shortfall were noted as the most pressing among the priorities laid out in the strategy.
This means the Army is looking to procure a GMV fast.
McMaster said the plan was to get three battalions' worth of vehicles and assess them for possible fielding. The Army spent the summer of 2014 trying out vehicles at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and has continued experimentation with the 18th Airborne Corps out of Fort Benning, Georgia.
The Army kicked off an analysis of alternatives the week before AUSA last year, and that study is complete, Davis said.
"We have gotten the final version of the AOA and we’ve got all of our acquisition planning set," he added. The AOA confirmed that the requirements the Army laid out for GMV "can be met within sort of the cost parameters and technical parameters of a program," according to Davis.
But since GMV is considered a new start, and movement forward is now based on fiscal 2017 funding, the program can’t progress, Davis said. Congress passed a continuing resolution last week which funds the government for the next three months at fiscal 2016 levels.
"We are unable to actually execute anything officially toward a program of record until we get a defense appropriation," Davis said. "We’ve got a team standing by and they’ve done the due diligence to work with TRADOC to support the AOA and construct the [request for proposals]."
He added, "We had hoped to be moving farther forward, but some things you just can’t help."
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.
