Not budget over runs, not vehicles under performing...no, the newest and perhaps biggest contributor to program failure in the modern era is a lack of urgency.
I will always contend that one of the primary reasons for the EFV program failing is because it was done in a leisurely manner. There was no rush. No desire to get it done. It was simply business as usual.
I can almost see the EFV Program Manager walking into his office every morning, pouring himself a steaming cup of coffee, spending two hours reading the news and catching up on the latest office gossip...taking an early lunch and then coming back to knock out a couple of hours of work before leaving early to go hit a couple of balls or catch happy hour at the O-club.
Once the program was firmly in the sights of Congress.
Only then did I see (from the outside looking in) a bit of urgency.
That same type of laissefaire attitude is creeping into the Marine Personnel Carrier, Amphibious Combat Vehicle and AAV upgrade programs.
The way it currently stands, the competitors will submit this summer. This fall we will begin trials with a selection probably next summer...if we're lucky.
The world will change in the meantime.
If Obama is re-elected...and I fear he will be, then you can expect an unbridled President coming at the US Military and defense programs to pay for his pet projects.
Promises made to reprogram money to update vehicles will be forgotten.
And he won't have to worry about re-election after this one. He said so himself to the Russian President.
Its time to get busy. Crack the whip and get the vehicles to Pendleton so that they can be tested. Now. If industry isn't ready then too bad so sad.
If not you'll see another generation of Marines riding in these very same vehicles.
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