Army leaders are hoping foreign sales and private partnerships will help military vehicle makers continue production during years the Pentagon does not plan to buy tanks and trucks from them.
Some House Armed Services Committee (HASC) members expressed concern during a hearing on the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2013 budget proposal last Friday about the potential temporary halt in production of vehicles including General Dynamics’ [GD] M1 Abrams tank and Stryker vehicle and BAE Systems’ Bradley Fighting Vehicle starting in FY ’14.
“That is a very real concern on behalf of industry, that the skilled workers are not going to be there after such a lengthy shutdown,” said Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas). “After going cold for three to four years, how can we be sure that that capacity will be able to regenerate itself?”
Army Secretary John McHugh said his service is “very concerned about, and very focused on” the potential shutdowns.
He said he hopes some relief for individual production facilities can come after the Pentagon completes its sector-by-sector, tier-by-tier analysis of the industrial base that started last year. The Army also is examining how it could help companies facing line mothballing, he said.
“Our folks in the acquisition community are looking at those things,” McHugh said.
For example, he said the service is working with Abrams maker General Dynamics Land Systems in Lima, Ohio, to line up sales to foreign militaries. Such sales could keep the company’s high-skilled engineers working from the end of 2014 to 2017, when the Pentagon isn’t planning on buying any tanks. The service cannot afford to pay $2.8 billion just to keep the production line running, while its tank fleet it in “good shape,” Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno added at the HASC hearing.
The Army is “being aggressive with our Foreign Military Sales programs and identifying potential suitors who need this type of equipment,” Odierno said. McHugh said such efforts are “of great interest.”
The service also is looking at public-private partnerships to maintain the workers’ skills, McHugh added.
“As far as we’re concerned we’re willing to pursue any reasonable path to ensure those particularly critical jobs remain viable,” the Army secretary said.
Reyes asked if the Army would consider maintaining a lean production of Abrams. McHugh, though, said the General Dynamics facility requires a minimum production of roughly 70 tanks per year; that’s “far beyond…not just our fiscal ability, it’s far beyond our need,” the Army leader said.