By Emelie Rutherford
The new head of a naval panel in Congress plans to examine the Pentagon’s proposed cancellation of an amphibious vehicle and the overall mission of the Navy during upcoming hearings.
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) officially began its work for the 112th Congress yesterday, naming the members of its subcommittees and adopting a new oversight plan and rules that rejigger the responsibilities of those subpanels.
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) said yesterday in an interview he is preparing hearings for the Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee, which was previously called Seapower and Expeditionary Forces and now will be chaired by Akin and have Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) as its ranking member.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ planned termination of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) is on Akin’s short list of topics for upcoming hearings, he told Defense Daily.
The Missouri lawmaker said his position on whether to continuing building the EFV is “more nuanced” than simply wanting to keep around General Dynamics‘ [GD] long-delayed and technologically challenged tracked-amphibious vehicle.
Gates wants to cancel the EFV, which he said would cost $12 billion more to build, and instead build a cheaper amphibious vehicle and upgrade the Amphibious Assault Vehicle the EFV was intended to replace.
“My position is that the requirement of moving troops from the ocean to the land is, as far as I’m concerned, not negotiable,” Akin said. “That’s something that defines what the Marine are. I believe we’ve always needed that capability and we still need the capability. So to me that’s off the table for negotiations, that’s a given. We must meet that requirement.”
Akin, an engineer, said he wants to examine the alternatives the Marine Corps has to the EFV.
The service has been preparing to formally ask industry for input on developing a New Amphibious Vehicle, upgrading the AAVs, and buying Marine Personnel Carriers. The service expects to have feedback on those three vehicle efforts next month.
“Show me the alternatives” to the EFV, Akin said yesterday. “I want the best product for the lowest price.”
“My concern, the reason (I) came out as being strongly for EFV is, I don’t know of any other vehicle that can do it,” he added. “We put $3 billion into developing this sucker. We’re just going to walk away from $3 billion?”
General Dynamics wants lawmakers to compel the Marine Corps to keep developing the EFV, but to purchase 200 instead of 573 vehicles. Reducing the buy to 200 vehicles would save $4.6 billion from the current estimated cost for the EFV program, while still outfitting two Marine Expeditionary Brigades, the company said.
Still, Akin said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos impressed upon him during a Wednesday night meeting that the service cannot afford the EFV.
“(Amos is) shooting straight and telling me, ‘Look, I got this kind of budget. I got all these vehicles wearing out over in Iraq and Afghanistan, I’ve got to replace them. I don’t have the money to do it,'” Akin said.
“He just doesn’t think he can make it work with all of his other priorities,” the congressman added. “But I want our committee to take a very good look at that question and see what are our alternatives.”
Under the new HASC rules, the Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee Akin chairs no longer has oversight of naval aviation programs and most Marine Corps acquisition programs, which have shifted to the Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee, though it still has Marine Corps amphibious-assault-vehicle efforts.
The seapower panel also will start overseeing weapon-system efforts including deep-strike bombers and airlift programs, which previously fell under and air-and-land subcommittee.
Akin, who has advocated for aircraft made by homestate employer Boeing [BA] in the past, said he is ready to dig into shipbuilding matters. He served as the ranking member of the seapower panel last year, when Democrats controlled the HASC.
“The question is how do we take the Navy budgets, and redirect the money in more efficient ways, and do a better job of acquiring what we must get,” he said.
He said he plans to kick off his subcommittee’s hearings with a big-picture, “why-do-we-even-need-a-Navy” discussion with experts including former service secretaries.
The congressman said he wants to talk about “the challenge of a very limited budget, a requirement for many more ships that we really have.” He also plans to look at the number of ships being built in relation to Navy personnel building them, “because I suspect we’ve been getting fat on people and we’re producing fewer and fewer ships.”
Akin also intends for the Seapower panel to examine “places where our capabilities are not what they should be.” Such examinations, he said, could look at the potential vulnerability of aircraft carriers to ballistic missiles, the threat posed by to extremely high-speed cruise missiles, and diesel-electric submarines’ level of stealth.
This session the Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee, previously called Air and Land Forces, will be chaired by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.), who was its ranking member last year, and have Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) as its ranking member.
Bartlett, through a spokeswoman, declined to be interviewed. In a statement he said: “I support the HASC oversight plan for the Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces. The oversight plan reflects the consensus agenda for the 112th Congress developed by HASC leaders to provide a logical framework to assess and improve the ability of our armed forces to balance costs and risks to overcome immediate, near-term, and long-term threats. Before we receive the president’s budget, there isn’t any more to be said about specific programs.”
President Barack Obama is expected to send his fiscal year 2012 Pentagon budget proposal to Congress the week of Feb. 13. The HASC plans to hold a hearing on Jan. 26 on proposed Pentagon budget reductions and efficiencies that Gates unveiled Jan. 6.
Other new HASC ranking members, officially announced yesterday include Democratic Reps. Jim Langevin (R.I.) on the Emerging Threats and Capabilities and Loretta Sanchez (Calif.) on the Strategic Forces subcommittees.