Almost 2 months have now passed since the Secretary of Defense announced that he was going to cancel the expeditionary fighting vehicle (EFV). Most readers of the Gazette are well aware that this was the amphibious vehicle of the future on which the Corps was relying to conduct amphibious assault against a contested shoreline. There have been articles in the pages of the Gazette for at least the past 10 years that have lauded the capabilities of or questioned the buy of the EFV.
The capabilities on the vehicle were certainly eye watering: a water speed of 20 knots, a stabilized 30mm Bushmaster cannon, and the cross-country mobility of an M1 tank. On paper what was not to love? Yes, the program had problems. In “acquisition speak” it had a Nunn-McCurdy breach in 2007. Simply put, it experienced such a growth in cost that the program came under congressional scrutiny and required the Secretary of Defense to certify that it was back on track. In addition, the program and the vehicle suffered from reliability and technical issues that, while serious, are not uncommon with the acquisition of a new weapons system.
The Commandant has succinctly stated why he recommended to the Secretary of Defense that the program, as capable as the vehicle was, be cancelled. Gen James F. Amos’ complete statement is available at http://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/cmc-termination-efv. Allow me to sum it up. We could not afford the vehicle.
There are rough fiscal seas ahead for the Department of Defense and the Marine Corps. The Corps had to make some tough choices on where the portion of the defense budget that will be allocated to the Marine Corps will be spent. The purchase of the EFV would have eaten up such a huge percentage of the Corps’ acquisition funding that there would literally be no money for anything else. As we wind down from the war in Afghanistan we have to replace virtually every piece of rolling stock in the Corps. At the same time there are other acquisition programs, such as the Marine personnel carrier, that we should fund in order to modernize the Corps. No other modernization would have been possible if we purchased the EFV.
Having said that, the fiscal bow wave that sank the EFV is not completely destructive. The Secretary of Defense has stated that the funds saved will be retained by the Corps to modernize, extend the life of the current amtrac, and help reset the Marine Corps logistically. If the Corps can be faulted, it is for not having a bump plan in the event that the EFV was cancelled. Somewhere in a basement in Quantico an analysis of alternatives should have been conducted. I am sure we will fast track one now and that includes publishing a requirement for a new amphibious tractor. It will not have all of the capability of an EFV, but given the changes in the world and the threat since the EFV requirement was written, it probably does not need to have the same capability.
Waves do not ride into the shore alone. One wave that will not be so benign is following close behind the fiscal wave that broached the EFV. I have written before that I am concerned that the Corps has lost its ability to maximize resources and train in an austere fiscal environment. Most of the Marines who remember what it was like to have limited flight hours, a paucity of fuel and training ammunition, and SNCOs and officers buying cleaning supplies for the barracks because there was no money for a Servmart run are now gone from the active ranks. Marines still on duty need to think about how they will train when the next wave hits the Corps. Perhaps articles from the Gazette on training from the 1970s might be a good place to start your research.
John Keenan
Comments
Post new comment