2011 budget delays EFV buy another year - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

2011 budget delays EFV buy another year

The Marine Corps’ next generation amphibious troop transport has survived another budget cycle, but the service’s top officer wants to wait another year before buying any of them.

Under the Pentagon’s proposed budget for 2011, the Corps would spend $243 million continuing to research and develop the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, down noticeably from the $293 million approved for fiscal 2010. As the program moves into its testing phase, research costs are expected to drop, officials said.

The budget also calls for delaying initial purchases of the vehicle for one year, to 2012, but Manny Pacheco, a spokesman for the EFV program, said manufacturer General Dynamics has long since addressed reliability concerns that dogged the vehicle in the past. The Corps always intended to continue research and development in fiscal 2011, he added.

“There seems to be some perception that the program was delayed for a year because of reliability, and that’s not the case,” Pacheco said. “We are on track to do the things we need to do.”

The EFV, which is designed to ferry Marines from ship to shore, is expected to replace the service’s aging amphibious assault vehicles, or AAVs. The Corps plans to purchase a total of 573 EFVs by 2025. If the budget is approved by Congress, it will mean the EFV won’t reach its initial operational capability until 2016, Pacheco said.

“Commandant [Gen. James Conway] wants to carefully assess the program through a series of experiments. He feels this is the right capability, but he is not ready to move forward with full-rate production at this time, but he’s committed to getting it right,” Rear Adm. Joseph P. Mulloy, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget, said Monday at a Pentagon briefing.

The Corps will receive the first seven prototypes — five personnel and two communications — by the end of this year. Those vehicles will be used to conduct the operational assessment, Pacheco said.

The $14 billion program has been heavily scrutinized after the EFV failed a milestone operational assessment in 2006. Testing showed at the time that the EFV could operate only 4½ hours between breakdowns. Pacheco said the EFV has made significant strides since then.

Conway has repeatedly defended the program despite its rising costs, saying the EFV is an asset the Corps can’t do without.

Mulloy said the Corps remains committed to the program but wants to make sure tax dollars are being spent as efficiently as possible.

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