via Defense News.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., questioned the Marine Corps' strategy for one of its key acquisitions priorities, the Amphibious Combat Vehicle. Calling it an "interesting and tortured path" from the canceled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) to an ACV that Marines consider off-the-shelf, Reed asked Dunford, "What are you trying to accomplish by this?"Uh wow.
The Marine Corps, Dunford said, sought in vain to develop a platform to replace its 40-year-old Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV) that could balance protection and ship-to-shore self-deploying capability at the right price.
"The reason we are where we are is we simply couldn't reconcile those three things — the cost, the capability and the protection required against the current threat," Dunford said.
We definitely have a different breed of Congress Critter in office now. Some of these people seemed to ask questions that hit close to the mark. I'm still waiting to get a copy of Dunford's testimony and when I do it'll get posted poste haste.
But today is the day when we get a birds eye view of Marine Corps Ground Modernization. According to the Senate Armed Services calendar Glueck is up today and visibility should be given on a whole range of programs.
Subcommittee: SUBCOMMITTEE ON SEAPOWERDate:Wednesday, March 11, 2015 Add to my Calendar Time: 09:30 AM Location: Room SR-222, Russell Senate Office BuildingWe're up to speed on the ACV issues thanks to General Mullen giving us a bit of his time but the other programs are so low profile that they might as well reside in the classified budget.
Agenda
To receive testimony on Marine Corps ground modernization in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2016 and the Future Years Defense Program.
WitnessesMr. Thomas P. DeeDeputy Assistant Secretary Of The Navy (Expeditionary Programs And Logistics Management) Office Of The Assistant Secretary Of The Navy (Research, Development, And Acquisition)
Lieutenant General Kenneth J. Glueck, Jr., USMCDeputy Commandant, Combat Development And Integration Commanding General, Marine Corps Combat Development Command
Unfortunately it doesn't look like C-Span will be broadcasting the testimony so we'll have to wait for the transcript to see if any news is made.
An interesting nugget I found on Youtube. It is small address given by our National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Disregard the accent and listen closely to the content in the speech.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml44LwterWo
ACV - watch the bouncing ball
ReplyDelete...The Marine Corps plans to release a request for proposals for the ACV 1.1 this month. It's envisioned as an eight-wheeled vehicle priced at $4 million to $7.5 million each.
...The Marine Corps contends that under sequestration cuts that may be imposed in fiscal year 2016, the service's next-generation amphibious vehicle would be "indefinitely delayed."
where did you get that nugget? General Mullen told me not more than 3 days ago that the vehicle was protected from sequestration. WHO IS SAYING THAT?
ReplyDeleteInside Defense, behind a paywall beyond that comment.
ReplyDeletealso this:
Posted on InsideDefense.com: October 23, 2013
The Navy’s top acquisition executive is expected to testify before
Congress today that if sequestration-imposed budget cuts remain, the
Marine Corps’ next-generation amphibious vehicle will potentially be
delayed for up to three years, according to sources.