ACV News. The line up....and unconfirmed rumors...

Well finally we have a little...and I do mean little...view of the contenders in the ACV contest.

Ignoring the fact that this program has been going on for over a decade plus, ignoring the fact that it has been screwed up beyond recognition, and ignoring the fact that its so many years away from actually having a vehicle in battalions that YET ANOTHER upgrade of the AAV is going to take place (and even that won't happen till 2019!), we still see or rather still hear about some strange happenings among the manufacturers.

*  Rumor has it that a MAJOR manufacturer is basically stabbing its partner in the back.  My advice?  Never team up with a corporation that is lacking in morals.
*  Rumor has it that a certain "information" corporation has been probing a competitor for information on their vehicle (call it the domestic version of North Korea vs. Sony).

The biggest worry is the time frame. These corporations won't keep design teams intact for a project that won't start cutting steel for another 5 or more years. It just doesn't make sense from an economic viewpoint.

We're still seeing the inertia from the past Commandant in action here.  I have yet to see Dunford's fingerprints on the program or his hand on the wheel that is the Marine Corps.  More to come I'm sure.