Here is some prime pork-barrel fodder..
We don't need liberals making monkey jokes,, when we do a better job
ourselves...
If this reads correctly,, 500k USD each???
I think I shall invent the P50 can opener,, @ 25 USD each,, it's a steal...
Quote:
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs...a-8a8de0739d7a
Would You Drive This Through Afghanistan?, by Paul McLeary at 2/3/2009 9:07 AM CST
Walter Pincus flags yet another Pentagon procurement program that has
blown apart its budget in this morning's Washington Post-the Marine Corps'
"Growler," a light (and lightly armored) jeep that is set to be delivered
"10 years after conception and at twice the contract price, after delays
that were caused by changing concepts and problems in contracting,
development and testing."
The vehicle-actually, there are two variants of the internally
transportable vehicles or ITVs-is starting to be deployed to Marine units,
even though as John Garner, the Marines' program manager for the vehicle
told Pincus, due to its light armor, "you can't run it up the highway in an
urban area such as Iraq," adding that "it could accompany foot-mobile Marine
infantry in a not-built-up area such as Afghanistan."
Yeah? Well take a look at the vehicle and tell me if you would want to
tool around IED alley in Afghanistan in this thing
All that, and the average cost of a single Growler has "risen 120 percent,
from about $94,000 when the contract was awarded in 2004 to $209,000 in
2008. The unit cost for the vehicle with mortar and ammunition trailer has
grown 86 percent, from $579,000 to $1,078,000." The overall cost of the
contract with vehicle maker American Growler Inc. has shot up from $12.1
million in 2004 to $107.8 million by July 2008.
The vehicles, designed to be carried in the MV-22 Osprey for quick use by
Marines, look like they would do just fine for non-combat related roles in,
say, Africa, but I have a hard time believing that too many Marines or
soldiers would be excited about driving the jeep through Kandahar.
According to the Marine Corps Times, a Pentagon inspector general report
also recently found problems in the procurement process
The inability of the EFSS and ITV systems to demonstrate acceptable
performance in testing showed that the systems were not technically mature
and should not have been approved for entrance into [the early production
phase].Their not meeting the systems performance requirements during
developmental testing in 2006 and 2007 leads to questions about whether the
EFSS and ITV were accurately defined as non-developmental items.
I seem to recall Secretary of Defense Gates saying something about
acquisition programs, "in order to remain viable, will have to show some
utility and relevance to the kind of irregular campaigns that, as I
mentioned, are most likely to engage America's military in the coming
decades." This isn't to say that the Growler is a waste, but at its inflated
price, it's hard to see how it will be used in a conflict that has forced
the Pentagon to add more armor it its vehicles, not less.
Photo: U.S. Marine Corps
|
The Canadians have their own problems with their Gators:
http://www.deere.com/en_US/ProductCa...M=HO&link=enav
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/0...ghan-nato.html
I also want to be the sole source for those Twelve(12) two(2) tonne tie-down shackles used on the Gator,, @ 100 USD each...
Can you say "I'm Retired"...
God Bless the Marines...
PS: I'll not argue the requirements,, it's the cost of execution...