By Emeie Rutherford
The Marine Corps will include the future Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) in a new vehicle plan and remains committed to developing the Humvee-replacement truck with the Army, a top Marine general said.
Lt. Gen. George Flynn, commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, told lawmakers that while his service has concerns about the JLTV’s weight, it plans to commit to the vehicle in writing.
“(Commandant) Gen. (James) Conway told me…by next month…to have a new ground-tactical-vehicle strategy that’s affordable, that actually goes to creating a family of capabilities that will allow us to do different things, and part of that family of vehicles will be a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle,” Flynn told the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee (HAC-D) March 25.
Conway said last December the prototype JLTVs developed by three firms were too heavy–roughly 22,000 pounds–for his expeditionary service to transport by helicopter and on some ships (Defense Daily, Dec. 16, 2009).
“We ask ourselves, is that the vehicle that we need to be buying,” Conway told reporters at the time.
Still, Flynn, the deputy commandant for combat development and integration, told the HAC-D last week the Army and Marine Corps are “linked on the requirement.”
“We do understand the need to partner with the Army,” he said.
The key thing for the Marine Corps, Flynn said, is having families of varied vehicles “in the right numbers that would give us a range of capabilities to allow us to go everywhere.”
“So we are looking for a mix of capabilities in our ground-tactical-vehicle strategy,” he said.
Army Lt. Gen. William Phillips, the military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, also told the HAC-D his service officials “clearly are in sync with our Marine Corps brothers on going forward with JLTV.”
Three companies are under contract to build competing JLTV prototypes for the two services and Special Operations Command: BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin [LMT], and a General Dynamics [GD]-AM General joint venture called General Tactical Vehicles.
The Marine Corps is also experimenting now with a possible way to recapitalize its Humvee fleet, Flynn said.
“We should have the results of that experimentation in May to see if we can, because we have 27,000 in the inventory right now,” he said. “And if we could capitalize on that, give it some added protection, we may be able to save some money and provide that range of capabilities we’re looking for in an integrated ground-tactical-vehicle strategy.”
The service has looked at adding V-shaped hulls, like those on Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, to its Humvees. Such a newfangled Humvee could be a vehicle for the Marine Corps to use until industry can develop a JLTV light enough for the service.
Flynn told the HAC-D he was not sure if the Marine Corps would seek to reprogram funding already in its coffers for any Humvee-related spending.
Phillips, though, said the Army does plan to request permission to reprogram fiscal year 2010 funds to recapitalize its Humvees.
“The Humvees have a place in our Army and we have a requirement for 152,000,” he said. “So many of those Humvees we want to bring back into the inventory through recapitalization and utilize them.”
A recapitalized Humvee costs the Army around $90,000, while a new one could cost as much as $215,000, he said.
“So it’s cost effective for us to recap Humvees,” he said.
He promised the HAC-D “more to come on the reprogramming,” saying he believed the request still was being vetted by Army officials.