Posted on 07/29/2002 6:59:40 AM PDT by TADSLOS
The Army will terminate 14 programs associated with the Legacy Force, including major systems such as the M2A3 Bradley and the M1A2 Abrams System Enhancement Program tank, in its next six-year spending plan, according to defense sources.
The terminations, along with the restructure of six other programs, are necessary to pay for development and fielding of the Objective Force. Maj. Gen. William Bond, director for force development within the office of the G-8, indicated in a recent speech that the Army would reap $12 billion from the changes.
Vice Chief of Staff Gen. John Keane acknowledged in a July 24 meeting with reporters that more program kills are on the way in order to fund fully the Future Combat System between fiscal years 2004 and 2009. According to sources, the Army intends to spend $19.5 billion on FCS across the program objective memorandum.
"We will do what's necessary to fund that program and we will take appropriate risk where we believe we can take appropriate risk," Keane stated. "Does that mean that we will terminate some other programs and restructure some? Yes it does."
The Army last November canceled 18 different efforts and is preparing for the Defense Department-mandated end to the Crusader self-propelled howitzer. Keane declined to name the programs on the service's newest kill list.
According to sources, the two most prominent victims will be the M1A2 SEP and the M2A3 Bradley. The service is moving toward a lighter, more mobile, more agile design, which makes these systems anachronisms. The Army does intend to retain a heavy armor capability in the Counterattack Corps through 2032. However, it will be limited in size, reducing the previous requirement for tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles.
The exact composition of the Counterattack Corps will dictate how many Legacy Force platforms, as they are now called, the Army needs. Sources noted that two designs were under consideration: one with three and one-third divisions and another with two and one-third divisions. If the Army were to select the smaller model, modernization requirements drop significantly.
The Army had planned to end M1A2 SEP procurement in FY-03 but continue upgrading older Abrams already in its inventory to the SEP configuration through the end of FY-04. A separate effort to set M1A1 Abrams tanks back to a zero time, zero miles state, known as the Abrams Integrated Management program, is also under way. The recently completed Army Transformation Campaign Plan includes almost $4 billion between fiscal years 2003 and 2007 for the different pieces of the Abrams program.
Bradley is the battlefield companion piece to Abrams; if the Army ceases tank acquisition, it is only logical to cut off Bradley procurement as well. According to sources, that is just what the service has in mind. The M2A3 Bradley upgrade and recapitalization program was scheduled to run through FY-07. The campaign plan shows $1.9 billion slated for the M2A3 between FY-03 and then.
Interestingly, the funding profiles for Abrams and Bradley in the transformation plan represent increases over projections included in the president's FY-02 budget submission. Abrams actually gained $228.3 million and Bradley monies grew by $94.5 million. However, that bountiful picture, dated June 28, is no longer accurate, sources said.
Bradley is manufactured by United Defense LP, the prime contractor for the soon-to-be-defunct Crusader program. According to sources, the company is very concerned about the prospect of losing another major program. The Abrams is made by General Dynamics Land Systems. Sources indicated the repercussions of its cancellation were less worrisome for GDLS thanks to the Stryker Interim Armored Vehicle contract the firm was awarded last year.
Raytheon will also be hard hit by the cancellations, sources added.
In addition to these two programs, sources expect that 12 others associated with the Legacy Force will be removed from the Army's 2004 to 2009 spending plan. Sources indicated some electronics efforts such as the Improved Target Acquisition System and the Striker command and control vehicle are on the chopping block. The Army will not try to resurrect the Wide Area Munition, which lawmakers killed in the FY-03 budget bills; WAM companion programs Hornet and Raptor are likely dead, too, sources said.
Certain "non-precision" munitions will be excised from the POM, as well. According to sources, the Stinger missile, the Army Tactical Missile System and its Brilliant Anti-Armor submunition (BAT), as well as the regular Multiple Launch Rocket System are likely to be deleted.
The Army Resources Board and Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki were supposed to be briefed July 25 on the POM. Approval authority for any terminations rests in their hands.
Though sources assert that now is the time to take the risk inherent in canceling so many systems, more kills will still be a bitter pill to swallow. However, according to one official, it is absolutely necessary given the looming, and possibly unprecedented, "bow wave" the service faces between 2007 and 2009. Procurement of the still-theoretical Future Combat System and Comanche will be in full swing as the Army starts fielding Block I of the Objective Force. Yet, what exactly will be in the Objective Force has not been determined. Thus the ultimate price tag for the future Army remains unknown, the source warned.
All just to save a measly $12 billion over six years. Meanwhile, agencies like HHD and other "giveaway" programs lose or have stolen more than that in one year, and nobody complains. Well actually, the liberals complain that they need even more money so it can be stolen.
Hmm. So that means MLRS is gone, except for its ATACMS variant.
It seems to me that under the mantra of "transformation", Rumsfeld is transforming the Armed Forces back to the age of attrition warfare - where centralized controllers guided every precision missile and every bomb from afar, and where we basically attrited the enemy through airpower under they surrendered.
It is interesting indeed that every general, every contractor, and every Pentagon bureaucrat has now latched onto the word "transformation" to justify every pie-in-the-sky, whiz-bang, precision weapon out there. It is too bad that the tip of the spear - the groundpounders - are going to see precious little of the new defense dollars.
Back when the news came out about the Crusader cancellation, many people were saying MLRS could do the job better. I guess that won't be the case.
IOW, no intent on defending against other military forces,
More conversion to a global robo-cop police force.
All based on "shazzam" briefings. I sure feel safe < /sarcasm>
Oh well, my all-purpose feel-good Kevlar beret will keep me safe from harm! And it will heat my MRE too!
Patton and Abrams must be spinning in their graves.
You think we'll ever go back to being the thanks-for-your-90-days-service-Marines-now-get-the-hell-out-of-the-way-so-we-can-break-an-enemy-nation's-will kind of war machine? Where we can concentrate on raising and training an ARMY or four?
Our best bet was and is to insist on job specific standards and also that folks assigned to a divisional unit be able to perform as infantry. This would severely limit the ability of most females to get into most positions...but than so what?
Right you are. My son graduated from basic training about 2 years ago at Fort Benning then went to AIT at Ft Bragg. As a retiree of 14 years I was pleasantly surprised to see no women in the ranks at graduation. Made me envious of what lies ahead for him. Hard for an old war horse to take.
SCOUTS OUT!
This is a mistake, the Army and the Corps serve very different functions. The Army needs those tanks, and the artillery that congress took away.
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