The Army would like to start the Humvee recap effort
this fiscal year, Maj. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, who directs
force development in the Army's G-8, told reporters Jan.
27. Getting the effort started will require the Army to
submit a second reprogramming request to Congress.
Most vehicle makers had an improved Humvee on display
at their booths at the annual Association of the U.S.
Army (AUSA) conference in October. The improved Humvee
designs featured everything from double-V hulls to advanced
armor solutions to structural blast chimneys.
The Army does not plan to buy any new Humvees beyond 2012.
However, the service is working with Humvee maker AM General
to keep the production line running as long as it makes
sense, Bassett said. There are other services' requirements
to fill as well as requests from other countries, he said.
The Army plans to reduce its overall fleet of 260,000
trucks by 15 percent by fiscal 2017, Spoehr said. In doing
so, the Army will reduce what it spends on procurement
for tactical wheeled vehicles from $4.4 billion a year
to $2.5 billion a year.
Part of this divestiture could include some of the Army's
Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
The Army would like to divest around 1,500 of the roughly
20,000 MRAPs in its inventory, Spoehr said. The two models
the Army would prefer to divest are the earlier version
of the RG-33, built by BAE Systems, and Force Protection's
Cougar.
The Army owns later, more capable versions of the RG-33,
and to upgrade the older models is not cost-effective,
officials said. The Army does not own many Cougars, and
therefore, resourcing the maintenance and training for
them also is not cost-effective.
