Back to news

March 29, 2019 | International, Land

US Army cuts current vehicle fleet to make way for next-gen tech

By:

Update: This story has been updated to reflect correct procurement numbers for the Armored Multipurpose Vehicle (AMPV).

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has telegraphed its plans to terminate 93 programs and truncate another 93to make room for next-generation technology under ambitious and rapid modernization plans, and the first major programs to feel the ax blows in the next five years are vehicles in the current fleet.

According to fiscal 2020 budget request documents released March 12, the service plans to cut back on upgrade plans for its Bradley Fighting Vehicle program, an aging platform in the fleet currently unable to effectively support technology like active protection systems.

But the Army is also planning to cut not-so-legacy systems as well — the Armored Multipurpose Vehicle (AMPV) built by BAE Systems and the Oshkosh-manufactured Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) — that recently replaced legacy systems, Army Comptroller Lt. Gen. Thomas Horlander said during a March 12 budget briefing with reporters at the Pentagon.

The service has not reached a full-rate production decision for the JLTV. That was pushed back from December 2018 to May 2019 due to new plans to alter the vehicles — to include larger windows and the addition of a muffler — based on soldier feedback.

And the first prototype for AMPV — the M113 personnel carrier replacement — rolled off the line in 2016.

The budget documents lay out the Army's FY20 plans to cut Bradley A4 upgrade plans from 167 vehicles to 128.

The plan is to procure five more sets of Bradley A4 vehicles with one going to pre-positioned stock in Europe and the other four replacing the oldest sets of Bradleys. Then the program will stop around 2023 to make way for the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle, or NGCV, according to Lt. Gen. James Pasquarette, the Army's G-8 chief.

Although the Bradley will be curtailed, Pasquarette noted that its funding in FY20 was up 37 percent from last year at $639 million.

While the Army — as of last year — planned to buy 3,035 JLTVs, it now plans to purchase just 2,530 of the vehicles in FY20.

Army Under Secretary Ryan McCarthy told an audience at the McAleese & Associates and Credit Suisse Defense Programs conference in Washington on Wednesday that the service would stop at five brigades of Bradley A4 vehicles. That decision, he said, would sync with an investment increase for the NGCV expected in 2023 and beyond.

And while the Army plans to decrease JLTV buys in 2020, cuts will likely not stop there.

McCarthy said the Army is looking to lower the requirement for JLTVs and could soon be locking in a new top-line requirement number.

Yet, Pasquarette also said at the McAleese conference that the top-line requirement would not change for the JLTV but would just be pushed to the right.

McCarthy added that cutting the fleet of JLTVs was justified because the Army has a wealth of vehicles, from 55,000 Humvees, and 49,000 more JLTVs and another 800 Infantry Squad Vehicles planned.

“We clearly have more capability than we need,” he said.

The AMPV buy holds steady in FY20 at 131 vehicles. The FY19 plan shows the Army wanted to buy 130 vehicles. The five-year plan has yet to be released by the Army, but it's likely to show a decline in AMPV buys following FY20.

Pasquarette said the AMPV top-line requirement remains unchanged, but the service was simply slowing the procurement rate per year.

The cuts to current programs were made following painstaking deliberations among Army leadership over the course of last year in a forum dubbed “night court.” Through the process, the service measured current capability against its contribution to increasing capability in a modern, more lethal Army, and it terminated or truncated programs that didn't fit the bill.

Pasquarette noted that the programs that were fully terminated were small ones that did not contribute to the lethality of the future force. Some of the bigger programs were slowed such as the vehicle programs.

Overall, the Army moved an additional $3.6 billion into modernization funding accounts in FY20 over last year's levels — planning to spend $8.6 billion on programs that get after a more modern force. And across the five-year budget plan, the service moved an additional $32 billion to fund modernization efforts beyond what was planned in FY19 for a total of $57 billion.

The Army isn't cutting or slowing all of its legacy vehicle systems, Pasquarette noted.

The Stryker Double V-Hull (DVH-configuration combat vehicles) will get $550 million per year over the next five years to outfit a half of a Stryker brigade combat team annually.

The Abrams tank will receive $1.7 billion in FY20 funding, a 64 percent increase over last year, Pasquarette added.

https://www.defensenews.com/smr/federal-budget/2019/03/13/us-army-cuts-current-vehicle-fleet-to-make-way-for-next-gen-tech/

On the same subject

  • Spain’s Indra gets a key role in new Eurofighter radar development

    August 17, 2020 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

    Spain’s Indra gets a key role in new Eurofighter radar development

    Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — Spanish defense contractor Indra is joining Germany's Hensoldt as a co-lead in the development of a new radar for the Eurofighter warplane, the company announced. The news comes after the German parliament in June approved a contract award to aircraft manufacturer Airbus worth almost $3 billion for a new version of the active electronically scanned array radar, dubbed Captor-E. More than half of that investment will go to sensor specialist Hensoldt, a former Airbus subsidiary. The contract is aimed at retrofitting roughly 130 German and Spanish aircraft in the mid-2020s, according to Hensoldt. Officials in Europe have billed the radar upgrade as a key prerequisite for keeping the Eurofighter relevant for future missions and possible sales — including ongoing acquisition decisions in Finland and Switzerland. Indra becoming the co-lead for the Captor-E's follow-on generation, dubbed Eurofighter Common Radar System Mk1, represents a boost to the company's prospects when it comes to developing a new generation of air warfare equipment. “The contract will allow Indra to create long-term highly-skilled jobs, in addition to reinforcing its technological expertise and role as a key supplier in the field of airborne sensors, as well as the leader of the Sensors technological pillar within the FCAS program,” the company wrote in a statement, referring to the German-French-Spanish Future Combat Air System program. The pairing of Hensoldt and Indra for the fully digitized Mk1 version of the radar represents something of a fork in the road for the aircraft's radar developments. To date, the “Euroradar” consortium — made up of Leonardo's British and Italian arms as well as Hensoldt and Indra — has overseen technology development for the multinational fighter program through the Captor-E, or Mk0, version. Kuwait and Qatar also purchased Mk0 upgrades for their respective Eurofighter fleets, though the Mk1 version is slated to go only into Spanish and German planes. The British military has said it wants its own sensor for the fleet of Royal Air Force Typhoons, reportedly with more specialized performance in the areas of air-to-ground and electronic warfare, as well as with an eye on connectivity to the American-made F-35 fighter jet. Italy has yet to declare which way it wants to go, meaning Leonardo stands to lose a lead role in the Mk1 development. The ongoing industrial teaming arrangements for the Eurofighter radar, complete with hedging and betting on political developments, can be seen as a precursor for a similar dynamic in Europe's race for a next-generation air weapon. The United Kingdom is spearheading the development of the Tempest fighter jet as a competition to the mainland's FCAS proposal. For Airbus, a co-lead in the project with France's Dassault, the Eurofighter is something of a test bed and bridging technology on the way toward more futuristic weaponry. https://www.c4isrnet.com/global/europe/2020/08/14/spains-indra-gets-a-key-role-in-new-eurofighter-radar-development/

  • Opinion: ‘Efficiencies’ Alone Cannot Solve U.S. Defense Budget Crunch

    October 23, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

    Opinion: ‘Efficiencies’ Alone Cannot Solve U.S. Defense Budget Crunch

    We are not going to “efficiency” our way out of the hard choices which the next administration will face fitting an already straining defense posture under a flatlined budget. Previously in the Up... More details on https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/budget-policy-operations/opinion-efficiencies-alone-cannot-solve-us-defense-budget

  • Le Royaume-Uni annonce un vaste plan de modernisation de son armée

    March 25, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

    Le Royaume-Uni annonce un vaste plan de modernisation de son armée

    Au Royaume-Uni, le ministre de la Défense, Ben Wallace, a détaillé ce lundi 22 mars son plan de refonte de l'armée. Près de 190 milliards de livres, soit plus de 220 milliards d'euros, seront investis dans les quatre prochaines années, avec un objectif : renforcer la cyberdéfense. Le Royaume-Uni entend donc investir dans les technologies de cybersécurité, créer une « constellation » de satellites de surveillance dans l'espace, mais aussi consolider sa force navale, avec notamment une flotte renforcée. Ces changements vont s'accompagner d'une baisse des effectifs. 4 000 personnes en moins d'ici 2025, soit 72 500 militaires, le chiffre le plus bas depuis trois cents ans. Ensemble de la presse du 23 mars 2021

All news