By Marina Malenic
CARLISLE, Pa.–Funding for the vehicle portion of the Army’s Future Combat Systems modernization effort should be used to start up a fresh vehicle modernization effort next year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday.
“I have directed that all money for FCS in the out-years be protected to fund the new vehicle modernization program,” Gates told officers at the Army War College here.
Gates last week unveiled his budget recommendations to President Obama, including canceling the vehicle portion of the Boeing [BA] and SAIC [SAI]-run FCS–the Army’s multibillion dollar modernization effort made up of manned and unmanned ground and aerial vehicles linked together by a computer network.
In examining whether modernization programs across the military had effectively incorporated lessons and experiences from combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said he found that the vehicle portion of FCS was not well suited to the kind of irregular warfare the United States will likely encounter for the foreseeable future.
“The FCS vehicle program was, despite some adjustments, designed using the same basic assumptions as when FCS was conceived nine years ago,” he said. “The premise behind the design of these vehicles was that lower weight, greater fuel efficiency and, above all, near-total situational awareness, would compensate for less heavy armor.
“But before we spend 10 years and $90 billion, and before we send young soldiers downrange, we had better be sure to get it right,” he added.
He acknowledged, however, that other parts of the program have “already demonstrated their adaptability and relevance.”
“For example, the connectivity of the Warfighter Information Network will dramatically increase the agility and situational awareness of the Army’s combat formations,” he said. “We will accelerate its development and field it, along with proven FCS spin-out capabilities, across the Army.”
The secretary said the recommendation to terminate the FCS vehicle effort had been the hardest of his budget decisions because the Army leadership–particularly Gen. George Casey, the chief of staff, and Pete Geren, the service secretary–was so committed to the program as a whole.
“I made a decision that, it’s fair to say, they disagree with,” Gates said.
Still, Gates said, the Army needs to modernize its Cold War era vehicle inventory. He said he will recommend that the money the Army had planned to use for FCS vehicles instead be spent on that effort, which will be open to competitive bidding outside of Boeing-SAIC’s FCS contract.
“There will be substantial money in the FY’10 budget to get started and to make sure this happens,” he said. “My hope is that we can be ready to move forward in FY’11.”
Gates said that, upon hearing of his decision on FCS, the Army leadership was concerned that “the money would go somewhere else.”
“I’ve assured them it will not,” he said. “I will make the money available for it.”