FY 14 also marks the end of production for the M88A2 HERCULES heavy recovery vehicle.
“We have both M88A2s and A1s resident in our motor pools simultaneously,” Sheehy explained. “The A2 is a more robust vehicle and it can haul one tank – one A2 to one tank. If you don’t have an A2 you’ve got to use two A1s. We are working with the Army leadership to go to a pure fleet M88A2. Why? Well, if you go back to my lead chart, it spoke to where we are with space, weight, and power. And we are not getting any lighter. The Heavy Brigade Combat [Team] fleet is getting heavier. And when we replace the Bradley infantry vehicles with GCV, it will be a markedly heavier vehicle. When we replace 113s with AMPV, it will be heavier. And tanks and Bradleys continue to get heavier as we add things on board. So it only makes logical sense that while we are in production with the [M88]A2 that we continue that production so we don’t have that break and get it ‘pure fleeted.’ We are working toward that. But the ground truth today is that production line ends.”
U.S. Army soldiers fire illumination rounds from a 120 mm mortar on a mortar carrier Stryker in Mosul, Iraq, July 4, 2006. The mortar carrier variant is one of eight in the Stryker family in full production. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jeremy T. Lock
In addition to SWAP issues across the fleet, another heavy vehicle focus area involves commonality.
“I’ve got five vehicles in my portfolio and I’ve got five different kinds of track right now,” he observed. “I have to try to get that down to two – by weight class – a tank level and a Bradley level. And that would help us with a huge cost burden. It helps us with inventory and it helps us with our log footprint going forward into combat.”
Remaining focus areas involve both schedule and cost.
“Schedule and cost – this gets us to the new battlefield we find ourselves on,” Sheehy observed. “Requirements are known. And you have to be able to strictly control schedule and cost. We don’t have the time nor the fiscal strength to get into some long, drawn out developmental process. GCV is the Army’s ‘No. 1’ effort. I will not compromise their work going forward by allowing my schedules and costs to get out of control. I will not do it.”
He added, “So make sure you come in with strict discipline when you come in to help us with our ECP efforts.”
SBCT
David Dopp, PM SBCT, provided industry day attendees with a similar look at the current status and future plans surrounding the Stryker family of vehicles.
“The bottom line is that we are on our 15th deployment, as we speak,” he said.
The Stryker family currently includes 10 variants fielded to the SBCTs at various densities, with the highest density fielding being the Infantry Combat Vehicle (ICV) variant, fielded at 130 per SBCT, and the lowest density being the Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicle (NBCRV) variant, fielded at three per SBCT.