CHARLOTTE, North Carolina – Special Operations Command (SOCOM) will continue reducing the size of its vehicle fleet citing ongoing budget constraints and its shift to focus on integrated deterrence operations in more urban environments, an official said Tuesday.
Vincent Grizio, program manager for Family of Special Operations Vehicles (FOSOV), said SOCOM has already trimmed its fleet from 3,400 to 3,200 vehicles over the last year and it’s likely to shrink by another 200 vehicles over the next 12 months.
“It goes back to the operating environment. The fleet I have today is not the fleet I need for tomorrow,” Grizio said during remarks at NDIA’s Tactical Wheeled Vehicles conference here. “But that capacity doesn’t have to be traded off for capability.”
Along with acknowledging the shift away from a fleet designed primarily for counter-violent extremist organizations operations, Grizio cited the constrained fiscal environment as driving SOCOM’s priorities for its vehicle portfolio.
“We are in a flux of trying to understand our own budget constraints as well as trying to understand the changing operational environment that we’re in. And I think, just based off of where the funding is, that our capacity is going to be naturally reduced,” Grizio said, noting FOSOV has an annual budget of around $220 million.
Grizio noted SOCOM is continuing to divest of its GMV 1.0s, its up-armored Humvee, as well as the MRZR-D as it brings on the new Polaris-built [PII] MRZR-Alpha, its new Light All-Terrain Tactical Vehicles (LTATV).
Polaris was awarded a seven-year, $109 million deal in May 2020 deal to deliver the MRZR Alpha to SOCOM for the LTATV program as well as for the Marine Corps’ Ultra Light Tactical Vehicle (Defense Daily, June 5 2020).
In about two months, Grizio said SOCOM will also start divesting of its RG-33 mine-resistant light armored vehicles as well.
“Again, it’s an acknowledgement that we are moving out of a certain environment and that we need to start reducing capacity where we need to to help us find some efficiencies for some of the other things that we need to be doing,” Grizio said.
Grizio said SOCOM’s approach to its vehicle fleet priorities may be informed by the Army’s forthcoming Tactical Wheeled Vehicle strategy, set to be released alongside the upcoming FY ‘25 budget request.
“When it comes to the reduction of capacity, there’s also an acknowledgement that we might need some other vehicles to fill some of that capacity gap. But we’re not quite sure exactly what it’s going to look like in the future,” Grizio said.
FOSOV is also continuing to look further “SOF-unique” modifications to current Army platforms such as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and exploring such opportunities for the new GM Defense [GM]-built Infantry Squad Vehicle, with Grizio adding SOCOM is interested in payload expansion capabilities that offer “mission extension.”
“The affordability of going after SOF-unique platforms is definitely going to get more challenging as we go forward in the future, so [we understand] our ability to leverage the support of the services and being able to procure the platform support for our operators and then we can focus on putting the SOF-unique requirements and capability on those [platforms],” Grizio said.
GM Defense has previously showcased a five-seat, heavy gun-carrier version of its ISV that it said could be geared toward potential Special Operations customers (Defense Daily, Oct. 11 2021).