By Emelie Rutherford
Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway pledged yesterday to fight for the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle’s (EFV) continuation, while also saying his service won’t need a new mine-resistant vehicle and may not buy a developmental light-tactical vehicle.
Conway emphasized during a Pentagon roundtable with reporters that the Marine Corps needs the EFV, a long-delayed amphibious tracked vehicle that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called for the Pentagon to review in the new Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR).
“The EFV has a whole host of critics who simply do not understand its importance,” Conway said. “We’ve got to do a better job making sure that the critical individuals in our government and in our department understand the potential of the vehicle, the current status of the vehicle, and the absolute need for the vehicle if we’re going to retain a forcible-entry capability.”
The developmental vehicle intended to quickly carry Marines inland from ships far offshore has suffered significant cost and technical problems. Yet the high-tech effort successfully emerged from a Critical Design Review late last year. General Dynamics [GD] is in the midst of building redesigned test vehicles and modifying existing, faulty prototypes (Defense Daily, April 28).
Gates during an April 17 Naval War College speech questioned if the United States will again launch major amphibious actions requiring such a forcible-entry vehicle.
“The United States Marine Corps, the Navy, and arguably Army paratroop units represent the nation’s forcible-entry capability; the EFV is inextricably linked to that capability and an absolutely critical requirement for us,” Conway said yesterday. He noted amphibious operations do not only involve storming hostile beaches.
House Appropriations Defense subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.) recently warned EFV funding from Congress could be in jeopardy if the program’s costs are not controlled (Defense Daily, March 16).
Asked about Murtha’s concerns, Conway said a Pentagon review of the EFV following a so-called Nunn-McCurdy cost breach in 2007 showed “there are no other manufacturers out there that can give you this kind of a capacity.”
“No one else is willing to attempt to go through the (research and development) and so forth to give us a vehicle that does the same thing at perhaps a lesser cost,” Conway said.
“What (I’m) unequivocal on is the requirement, to get my Marines ashore from 25 miles out,” he added. “Now if somebody can come up with a faster, better cheaper means to do that, I’m happy to discuss it…At this point…there are no hands in the air.”
He repeated his often-stated concern that some people “are operating off some old understandings of what the vehicle does.” He noted the EFV exceeded goals set for the CDR’s reliability assessment (Defense Daily, Feb. 23).
The commandant also said he was pleased with plans for an EFV armor applique, which was crafted in response to lawmakers’ calls for the vehicle to have more protection from underbelly blasts while on land.
He also emphasized yesterday his service’s need for light vehicles.
While the Marine Corps is conducting an industry competition with the Army for a new all-terrain Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle (M-ATV), Conway said his service does not intend to buy any more Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) than the 2,200 it has now.
“The Marine Corps doesn’t need more MRAPs, so we’ve gone about an engineering effort to enhance those that we’ve got” to make them more agile off roads, he said. “We would much rather see a program where we redesign those that we have and gain long-term utility with those vehicles….From a Marine Corps perspective it’s much cheaper, much faster, and there’s utility for the long term in the other vehicles.”
The service has added independent-wheel suspensions to its category 1 MRAPs to make them better suited for Afghanistan, where the terrain is mountainous and there are not developed road networks. Multiple modifications of the extended suspension systems were required in testing, Conway said. Such modifications to the service’s fleet of category 1 MRAPs will ensure Marines can use those vehicles for “long-term use,” he said.
The Marine Corps is buying the suspension from the manufacturers of the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement truck, the commandant said.
“We’re going to move as rapidly as we can,” Conway said. The Marine Corps’ entire fleet of category 1, 2, and 3 MRAPs eventually will be refurbished, he said.
Conway also cast doubt yesterday on the Marine Corps buying the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), a future joint-service Humvee replacement vehicle for which the Army is managing an industry competition.
“It’s my belief at this point that industry has not stayed apace of the vision, though, of a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle that equals the protection of a joint heavy-protection tactical vehicle,” Conway said. “So we are taking a look at that program. And if it comes in at the weight where it is right now, the Marine Corps simply cannot get involved, will not buy a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle that’s 20,000 pounds. It doesn’t fit our expeditionary kind of capacity.”
Conway said if the weight of the JLTV doesn’t decrease during the ongoing development process, the Marine Corps “may have to depart ourselves from that buy and, again, rehab what we’ve got to take us into the next decade.”