Hmmm. Marine Personnel Carrier let down.

I expected clarity.  But instead we got this.

Posted on InsideDefense.com: August 8, 2012

The Marine Corps has selected four teams to build prototypes of the Marine Personnel Carrier, and the contracts are worth about $3.5 million each, according to a source familiar with the program.

The service will award the contracts sometime this week to a BAE Systems-led team, a team led by Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics Land Systems as well as a team headed up by Science Applications International Corp.

The prototypes will help inform a capability development document, and the Marine Corps is meeting with each team to go over program milestones, according to the source. MPC's primary mission will be to navigate rivers and waterways, and it is meant to be both a wheeled vehicle and robust swimmer.

The systems demonstration and studies portion include a water performance evaluation, limited survivability evaluations or blast tests, a human factors and stowage capacity study and a study with industry to see how much of the vehicle will be built in the United States.

It is uncertain how the MPC will fit into the Marine Corps' amphibious capability plan. During an April Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee hearing, panel Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI) was critical about procuring both the MPC and an Amphibious Combat Vehicle since the two missions are similar, although the ACV is a tracked vehicle and the MPC is a wheeled vehicle. The service recently wrapped up an ACV analysis of alternatives, but the results are not yet public.

Lt. Gen. Richard Mills, deputy commandant for combat development and integration, defended the need for both the MPC and ACV during the subcommittee hearing. He said the MPC makes sense from both an affordability and flexibility perspective.

"It is different, but it also mitigates some risk," he said. "If you lose a vehicle, you don't lose an entire squad." -- Lee Hudson

I REALLY EXPECTED MORE.

I expected this to clarify things.

This is weak sauce.  Quite honestly I expected it to be between BAE/Iveco and Lockheed Martin/Patria.

To have the Terrex and LAV Demonstrator still in the running makes me wonder if the Corps isn't buying time for other options to play out.

I really have to wonder if the Marine Corps isn't just jerking manufacturers around.

More later.  I'm honestly too stunned to know exactly what to think.

UPDATE:
Congrats to the selectees...I guess.