By Emelie Rutherford
Lawmakers are weighing a new Pentagon request to reprogram hundreds of millions of dollars initially pegged for buying new Humvees to instead refurbish existing copies of the trucks.
Some lawmakers are said to have reservations about approving the Pentagon’s request to reprogram $560 million within the Army’s coffers to recapitalize nearly 8,000 of the AM General-built vehicles, which the Army plans to stop buying.
The request to reallocate the Humvee monies is part of a 34-page proposal from the Pentagon to reprogram $2.8 billion in already appropriated fiscal year 2010 and 2009 funding. The Pentagon sent the April 8 reprogramming action to the Senate and House armed services committees and defense appropriations subcommittees last week. Any of the four panels can deny portions of the money-shifting request.
The request seeks to reduce the Army line item for procuring Humvees by $573.3 million, and to instead allocate $560 million to two existing programs to recapitalize soft-sided and up-armored Humvees.
“Funds are required to support the recapitalization to rebuild and upgrade approximately 7,700 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs)–consisting of both utility (non-armored) and up-armored variants that will remain in the inventory for 20 years and can be distributed throughout the Army,” the reprogramming document states. More than 5,000 non-armored Humvees are intended to go to the Army National Guard and Army Reserve, it notes.
The Army determined it exceeded its Humvee requirement after conducting a portfolio review of its acquisition of the vehicles, service Secretary John McHugh said last month.
“So we’ve just executed a termination to that contract, not an immediate termination but a drawdown that will exercise the option of the contract,” McHugh told the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee on March 23. “We’ll procure several thousand more, 2,662 in fact, in the coming months and then some other-than-Army sales, about 8,995. And after that we expect the Humvee to still be a part of our vehicle fleet, but it will be much adjusted in its activity based on what we’ve experienced in Afghanistan.”
The April 8 reprogramming request states the $573.3 million can be taken from the Humvee procurement line item because of “lower than expected battle losses and the need for fewer replacements.”
The Army estimates AM General’s Humvee production line can stay open until at least the end of 2013, McHugh said last month, adding that date could be extended if the company is tapped to recapitalize the vehicles.
The service is considering creating a new Humvee recapitalization program, distinct from the two current efforts, that would have AM General and other companies compete to recapitalize up-armored Humvees and outfit them with enhanced explosive-deflection features.
The Army sought $1.3 billion in FY ’10 for buying 8,120 Humvees, but requested no monies for buying any of the vehicles in FY ’11, which starts Oct. 1.
Defense-spending watchers said the Humvee reprogramming request is not a surprise.
“It was inevitable that the Army would begin targeting excess 2010 Humvee fresh production for other immediate requirements,” said defense analyst Jim McAleese of McAleese & Associates in McLean, Va.
The Pentagon’s April 8 reprogramming request seeks an array of additional weapon-system program changes and new-start programs. Proposals include a new Navy effort to equip four leased light-attack aircraft with weapons and sensors for the Imminent Fury Joint Combat Validation light attack/armed reconnaissance demonstration/deployment to theater, and a new Air Force initiative to buy 19 replacement glider aircraft for the Air Force Academy.