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Inside the Army
Monday, October 4, 2004, Vol. 16, No. 40
Industry officials are anticipating the Army will allocate
$300 million for convoy security vehicles in a supplemental
budget request the Pentagon is expected to issue early next
year.
The move is intended to boost force protection provided to
soldiers traveling in convoys, which have frequently come
under attack in Iraq. The new funding would likely buy a combination
of vehicles, primarily Armored Security Vehicles and humvees.
More specifically, the Army is considering buying 696 Armored
Security Vehicles, said Jay Johnson, director of business
development at Textron, the company that makes the ASVs.
The requirement coming out of the Military Police School at
Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, is much larger, however. Six years ago,
the school wanted nearly 2,000 vehicles, and its requirement
has since increased to close to 3,000, said Pete Bergstrom,
chief, materiel branch of the MP school.
The increase in demand is due in part to the growing need
for MPs to conduct stability missions, he said. The school
bases the number of vehicles it needs on the number of MPs
it trains.
"It's grown over the years and looks like it's going to continue
to grow as we look at future missions," Bergstrom said.
About one month ago, officials from the Army's programs office
(G-8) and Army Materiel Command chief Gen. Paul Kern visited
Textron's ASV plant and asked if the company could boost production
to 36 vehicles per month, Johnson said.
Textron is currently producing four vehicles a month -- up
from one every three weeks in April of last year. They expect
to be producing eight per month by December, he said.
Currently, 72 ASVs are fielded in Iraq.
The wheeled vehicle, which costs approximately $600,000, sits
on a V-shaped hull, which along with ceramic armor aids in
blast protection. It carries a 40 mm MK-19 grenade launcher
and an M2 .50-caliber machine gun. In 2002, then-Army Chief
of Staff Eric Shinseki canceled the ASV program after producing
close to 100 ASVs, far from the previous requirement of 1,940
vehicles, Inside the Army reported in June 2002 (ITA, May
3, p1).
Production of ASVs has increased throughout the year. In May,
Kern approved the purchase of 28 systems. The company was
later told by Army officials to expect another contract for
25 vehicles and received authorization to purchase long-lead
parts and additional steel, he said.
The $25 billion contingency fund accompanying the fiscal year
2005 National Defense Appropriations Act included $1.3 billion
for critical force protection requirements, and about $587
million of that was designated for the Army and Air Force
to purchase up-armored humvees (ITA, Aug. 30, p4).
That supplemental did not provide as much money for ASVs as
Textron hoped, Johnson said. As a result, the company expected
the Army would move ahead in one of two ways -- either the
Army would consider reprogramming money within its budget
for ASVs, or it would wait until the February supplemental,
he said.
"The Army leadership supports the purchase of ASV, but the
question is whether funding is available," Johnson said.
And so far, the Army has given Textron a fair amount of assurance
that the money will come and will likely be in the form of
next year's supplemental, he said. Officials expect a firm
answer sometime in the first quarter of FY-05.
In addition to ASVs, the anticipated supplemental request
for $300 million would likely include funding for humvees,
said officials from Armor Holdings and AM General, the companies
that produce the up-armored humvees. In the meantime, they
are continuing production of the light wheeled vehicles and
are preparing to upgrade their production lines.
The companies are making a sturdier version of the light-skinned
humvee and retooling production lines to produce the vehicles
with armor kits that can be easily added and taken off as
needed.
-Jen DiMascio
Copyright © 2004, Inside Washington Publishers.
All rights reserved.
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