Comments on: Army Dishes $1 Billion for GCV; Design Pending

By: soonergrunt

soonergrunt — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:03:18 +0000

There are some interesting programs being pursued at the moment, but the official program to replace OH-58 is currently on hold following the cancellation of the ARH-70 project.
EADS is working on an armed version of the UH-72 Lakota and Boeing is working on an AH-6S (stretched, updated version of AH-6) and Bell is supposed to be working on a newer version of the ARH-70.

By: HasBeen

HasBeen — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:39:49 +0000

I think the acquisition costs are ridiculous. We’re making very expensive targets.

We may have to re-think the way we are going to fight our wars so that it can be affordable.

By: BOOMER

BOOMER — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:39:07 +0000

If you want to see waist and how the govt is being over charged look at the money being spent on the items above, I mean I could build strykers in my garage using off the shelf parts so how come 83 of them cost 447 million??? I could but a lot more than 2000 10 ton and semi trucks for 918 million. Someone needs to open a SAMS club for military equipment, I thought you got better deals buying in bulk, we would be better off having the individual units purchase these items from retail vendors with better warranties than we are actualy getting directly from the contractors.

By: BOOMER

BOOMER — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:34:35 +0000

William — if you take a look at the Jan contracts signed on the home page you will see there is an upgrade program for the Abrahms. Another thing you will see is how most of the Army’s budget is eaten up by the ARMY corp of engineers. for a long time I have felt that this organizations responsibilities should be taken over by a civilian agency since it mostly involves DYKES — DAMS-RIVER & LAKE dredgings –DAMS-ROADS, I dont see any defensive aspect to any of these programs but they are taking more than half of the ARMY’s budget which should be spent on troops and equipment.

By: William C.

William C. — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:44:42 +0000

Another thing to consider is if we will see any major work on a “M1A3” upgrade for the Abrams beginning in 2011. The Chinese have several advanced variants of their Type 99 MBT in development and the Russian “T-95″ may finally be shown this year.

By: FormerDirtDart

FormerDirtDart — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:21:57 +0000

“Here are some quick hits from the Army’s 2011 shopping list:” mean this list is not all inclusive. There is a whole lot more items in the budget.
But I do agree that OH-58 replacement needs to be identified sooner not later

By: William C.

William C. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:26:43 +0000

Very good regarding the GCV, there is plenty of potential there. Most of the other developments are good to see as well. However the OH-58 Kiowa still needs a replacement sooner or later,and there is hardly any mention of other air defense systems other than Patriot PAC-3.

Still, it is a shame to see the other services did not fare as well.