FMTV choice puts HIMARS program in a bind - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

FMTV choice puts HIMARS program in a bind

The Army’s decision to give the next contract to build Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles to Oshkosh instead of incumbent BAE Systems has complicated the procurement of the service’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

“We were in a crunch once Oshkosh got that award,” Col. Dave Rice, program manager for precision fires, rocket and missile systems, said during a Tuesday conference call with reporters. The change has opened up “a big Pandora’s box,” he said.

Currently, the government sends FMTV chassis from BAE’s plant in the company’s facility in Sealy, Texas, to Lockheed Martin, which makes the rocket launchers and installs them on the new trucks.

But as BAE shuts its line down and Oshkosh prepares to begin production, Rice expects a gap right when the HIMARS program needs chassis.

The Army has two more years of procuring HIMARS, but there is a 14-month lag between the time the HIMARS production contract is awarded and the time the system is produced, Rice said.

The Army planned to procure its last 44 BAE chassis for the HIMARS system in fiscal year 2011, said Rice, but BAE is expected to discontinue FMTV production over the period of time it would take to build the chassis.

BAE’s loss put the HIMARS program in an “immediate bind,” he said.

Some of the HIMARS chassis will be included in the Army’s last buy of FMTVs from BAE, said Rice, but that leaves one more year’s worth of BAE chassis that the HIMARS program needs.

“We need advanced authorization to procure those and we are working that action right now,” said Rice. “If we’re not able to get our last 44 chassis out of BAE, then we’ve got to start looking at some serious options.”

Rice is also worried that the Oshkosh trucks won’t have cabs that protect their crews as well as BAE’s Increased Crew Protection (ICP) cab.

“The design of the ICP CAB is proprietary to BAE,” said Rice.

The Army could buy the rights to the ICP cab, but they are expensive, he said.

The service will have to see if the cab changes are militarily significant, he said.