U.S. Senators Criticize Generals Over GCV, Budget

By MICHAEL HOFFMAN Published: 6 Apr 2011 05:35

The U.S. Army's top acquisition generals continued to make the case for the service's Ground Combat Vehicle program even as senators lined up to rip the Army's inability to produce new vehicles on time or on budget.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) asked Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli point blank why Congress should fund the $20 billion to $30 billion GCV program if it's only a minor upgrade from the Bradley infantry variant it will replace.

Chiarelli told Lieberman, the Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee chairman, that his service had learned from its past acquisitions failures, namely the canceled Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, and would bank on current technologies, allowing the Army to deliver the GCV to soldiers in seven years.

"Rather than reach deep, we want to look at technologies that can be delivered in seven years, ensure that they are included on this vehicle, and that we incrementally improve GCV over time," Chiarelli said.

Chiarelli appeared before the airland panel to testify on Army modernization alongside Army Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Robert Lennox and Lt. Gen. William Phillips, principal military deputy to the assistant secretary of the army for acquisition, logistics and technology.

Senators asked the three generals to defend the Army's acquisition program in light of an internal service review that found the Army has wasted between $3.3 billion and $3.8 billion each year since 2004 on failed weapons programs. Chiarelli took responsibility for his service's failures, but tried to explain that the Army has received certain technology benefits even though those weapons programs failed.

Most often the Army's weapons programs broke down because service officials failed to update requirements to adjust to maturing enemy capabilities, Chiarelli told the senators.

"And I do not want to say we are not without fault. What we should have been doing is reviewing the requirements more often," he said.

The top modernization priority remains getting the Army on one network, Chiarelli said. He promised the service is close to putting the concept into practice.

All three generals prepared to speak about modernization, but the buzz on Capitol Hill revolved around the pending government shutdown if Congress can not settle on a budget for the remaining six months of fiscal year 2011.

The senators all framed their questions around fiscal responsibility, as each tried to outdo the other in grilling the generals on responsibly using taxpayer dollars.

However, the subcommittee's ranking Republican, Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, asked about the Army's decision to shut down the Abrams production line from 2013 to 2016 before the Army plans to upgrade the Abrams fleet.

Lennox said the Army couldn't justify keeping the production line open those three years because it would be too costly.

"When we talk to General Dynamics and others ... the amount that we've been given that it would take to keep those plants open is extraordinarily large," he said. "So it was something that we had to address in prioritization about whether or not you could afford to buy more of something that we already have enough of or put our scarce resources against something else."

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