Is the Army playing games with the Stryker upgrade?

Thanks to Lee for the link!

via Defense News.

Then there’s the cost, “which the Army has informed the defense committees may be approximately $4.5 million per vehicle,” the conference report continues. Part of the problem is you can’t just slap a bigger gun atop the Stryker and call it a day: The 30 mm cannon and its ammunition are much heavier than the current 12.7 mm machingun, requiring a redesign of the roof. But part of the problem, the conference report argues, is that the Army plans to build the new guns — and the new superstructure to support them — onto disused Stryker chassis that were mothballed after Strykers were converted to roadside-bomb-resistant Double-V Hulls (DVH). “This approach appears to add significantly to the unit cost,” say the skeptical conferees.

Here.

Wow.  Is this an "urgent need" or simply a money grab?  At that price point they could almost buy new vehicles (or at least get close to it).  Additionally is the Army signalling the RWS they're aiming to buy?  Having to redesign the roof to handle additional weight seems like they're going for one of the "heavier" options out there...like the one pictured above.

I don't know what's going on in Army land but this just doesn't smell right.