By Marina Malenic
The Army is awaiting a go-ahead from Pentagon leaders to divide its multibillion dollar modernization effort, the Future Combat Systems (FCS), into three separate programs, a top service official said yesterday.
“The large, major defense acquisition program that was heretofore known as FCS will probably devolve into three major programs,” Lt. Gen. Ross Thompson, the military deputy to the Army’s acquisition secretary, told the House Armed Services Air and Land Forces subcommittee.
According to Thompson, the three new programs will include a fresh ground combat vehicle acquisition effort; a “Spin Out” plan to field unmanned aerial and ground vehicles, sensors and other smaller equipment already developed through the FCS program; and continuation of a nascent computer network effort with related software and other components.
The Army anticipates receiving formal approval for the new plan from Pentagon weapons buyer Ashton Carter in a “matter of days,” Thompson said.
Earlier this week, prime FCS contractors Boeing [BA] and SAIC [SAI] announced that the FCS program successfully completed its overarching Preliminary Design Review.
Thompson said the Army has now begun negotiations with the two to terminate their Lead Systems Integrator management oversight authority for the program. Subcommittee Chairman Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) said initial estimates indicate that the Army could be liable for some $1 billion in termination fees to the companies.
The latest restructure of the program is the result of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ recommendation to terminate its Manned Ground Vehicle (MGV) portion and accelerate fielding of the smaller technologies for all Army brigade combat teams.
The general told lawmakers that canceling the vehicle contracts could cost “hundreds of millions of dollars” in fees to subcontractors General Dynamics [GD] and BAE Systems.
Technology and engineering know-how acquired through the MGV development since 2003 will be applied to a follow-on effort for new manned combat vehicles that the Army is now reviewing, according to Thompson. After the Army formally halts work on the MGV, he explained, program managers will “work to harvest the technology out of that.”