Program Executive Office (PEO) Land Systems is a busy place these days–where weapon systems including the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) and Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV) are taking shape–and its leader predicts the morphing organization will continue to have an integral role in the Marine Corps.
William Taylor, the program executive officer for Land Systems, in an interview said programs that were challenging earlier in the PEO’s five-year history are on the right path, and he’s looking forward to focusing his attention on the ACV, an amphibious vehicle intended to carry combat-ready Marines to land from ships far off shore.
“It’s a good point in time within the PEO’s portfolio,” he said. “All of the programs are succeeding. They’re stable. They’re exceeding their baselines. And now we’re looking forward to focusing attention on the Marine Corps’ top priority, ACV.”
PEO Land Systems oversees the acquisition–while also helping with the development and requirements-setting–of light-tactical, medium/heavy, and amphibious vehicles, as well as command-and-control, radar, and towed-artillery systems.
When the PEO was stood up, officials were working on putting the now-defunct Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) amphibious vehicle program on track after a major cost breach. EFV was canceled last year–in terms of overall affordability, after service officials said it was in good shape technically and programmatically–and its replacement development effort, the ACV, is moving forward after the recent completion of an analysis of alternatives (AoA).
Taylor is proud two command-and-control programs–the Common Aviation Command and Control System (CAC2S) and Ground-Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR)–are advancing. After the service essentially canceled a previous CAC2S effort, a reoriented CAC2S’s first phase now is fielded. Taylor’s team, as of this writing, also is on the brink of awarding a contract to industry for phase 2.
G/ATOR, similarly, was struggling with technical, cost, and schedule goals when PEO Land Systems was stood up. It has since been restructured and has entered government-led developmental tests.
Taylor meanwhile said he is “ecstatic” no companies are protesting the Army’s Aug. 22 awarding of JLTV engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) contracts to Lockheed Martin [LMT], AM General, and Oshkosh Defense [OSK]. Navistar [NAVZ] had contested the award to the Government Accountability Office, but quickly withdrew the challenge.
While Marine Corps officials previously voiced concerns about the JLTV being too heavy, Taylor said he is “confident” industry can work with the latest requirements that keep the weight desirable.
Meanwhile, PEO Land Systems has undergone organizational changes this past year, as Marine Corps officials work to synergy between developmental programs and their predecessor legacy programs at the PEO.
After the Pentagon canceled the EFV, the Marine Corps put three related amphibious vehicle programs, new and old, under the same management structure within the PEO. Then, last winter, Taylor and Marine Corps Systems Command head Brig. Gen. Frank Kelley undertook a similar rejiggering to bring together new vehicles in development and production with related legacy programs they are replacing or following.
For example, the Marine Corps program manager for the developmental JLTV is now managing the services’ part of the legacy Humvee program. Similarly, Oshkosh’s Logistics Vehicle Systems Replacement program, the legacy Logistic Vehicle System, and associated trailers for the vehicles are now managed under the same program manager.
“It’s a much-more-logical portfolio, particularly at the program-manager level,” Taylor said. “He’s got authority and responsibility for all efforts that support each other.”
These changes come following the shift in recent years to have the requirements and procurement communities in the Marine Corps work more closely together.
Looking ahead, Taylor said he sees an enduring need for the PEO, even when the Pentagon is not equipping itself for major conflicts.
“We’re not just about taking a new requirement and developing and fielding it and forgetting it,” he said. “Ten years from now, the vehicles we’re fielding today will require something in terms of modification to keep them safe, modifications to provide upgrades or improvements, simple sustainment programs. There’s going to be business, and it goes well beyond developing and fielding.”
He added: “In fact, that may be the most important aspect: sustaining and maintaining vehicles once fielded. So there is a need for the acquisition piece of that process in ensuring that we have adequate engineering and logistics support to keep those vehicles up and operating and safe.”