The Pentagons acquisition community breathed a huge sigh of relief when the Government Accountability denied protests to the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle Program award by Northrop Grumman and Textron.
If this major program protest had been upheld it might well have brought Pentagon acquisition efforts to a slow and painful grind, even slower and more painful than they already suffer from, according to several senior acquisition officials with whom Ive spoken over the last several weeks.
The prose from the Joint Light Tactical vehicle program offices Wednesday afternoon press release was bland. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), today, denied the protests of Northrop Grumman and Textron Marine & Land Systems against the awards of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) Technology Development (TD) contracts.
But the prose from some Army sources was vibrant. You could hear literally some in the Army whooping it up that the GAO had found in their favor. However, the Army still faces a very fundamental problem, one it shares with the Marines. It does not have a clear and viable vehicle strategy. The J-8 is working on the issue but the budget is being rebuilt as we speak and the two services are buying an insupportable range of vehicles up-armored Humvees, MRAPs, FCS and JLTVs. And the move to Afghanistan will force purchase of a fairly large quantity of vehicles, leaving the services with less flexibility to make a rational, long-term decision.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Can’t we just put a rush order on these like we did the mrap? Makes sense to do that so they can quickly be deployed to A-stan. Leave all of the bells and whistles out for future upgrades, for example it doesn’t have to have an APS yet.
It’s to bad, the Textron model was the best of the bunch.
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I agree with Greg. We need this capability in Afghanistan ASAP, since the rough terrain isn’t good for MRAPs. Get some Congressmen onboard and say it’ll create American jobs, and get it done.
“It’s to bad, the Textron model was the best of the bunch.”
Boeing was in Textron’s team, this suggests that they would have offered an overpriced gold-plated Rube Goldberg machine when finished years after schedule.
Kindof reminds me of some of the old WW2 German “Light Armored Scout” type vehicles…
I want one…be great for driving in the city.
I agree with the OP’s comments regarding it be a shame that Textron wasn’t the winner or at least a contender.
I disagree with Coolhand regarding Boeing’s involvement would lead to Textron presenting an over-priced, gold plated vehicle. If one were to use that argument, couldn’t you then make it for the other firms like Lockheed Martin or BaE who also are contenders? Are they not the firms that also make your typical gold plated, delayed programs?
I would have hoped Textron won because the design of their vehicle was actually a MillenWorks design. A firm known for its cross country and highly agile vehicles. Textron would come in providing an anti-RPG defense that could even be used in city streets with soldiers and civiies around, unlike some other designs. And finally, it also was addressing the REQUIREMENT in the proposal that the vehicle be ultra efficient which they were attempting via a hybrid electric engine.
Nowhere in the reqs did it say this program required something that needed to be produced right away for Afghanistan. For those who suggest that, sorry, but that is EXACTLY why the Pentagon has ANOTHER program called the MRAP-ATV.
See here:
http://www.fbodaily.com/archive/2008/11-November/15-Nov-2008/FBO-01704272.htm
are any of yall even in the army or marines …im in iraq right now and they need these things badly there mraps r junk they break down constantly and the roads here r somewhat ok but alot of big bumps n these things can barely handle that so i know they are pisses of shit in those mountains and steep hills bottom line the army wastes lost of many each year on dumb shit how about you give the soldiers the shit they need asap and say fuck what it cost