McHugh: Army eyeing Puma in GCV’s stead - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

McHugh: Army eyeing Puma in GCV’s stead

U.S. Army Secretary John McHugh said Wednesday that his service will still consider buying Germany’s Puma in place of the Ground Combat Vehicle, a $40 billion program to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

McHugh made his comments while the Ground Combat Vehicle program remains frozen after a defense team led by SAIC Inc. filed a protest Aug. 26 against the Army’s decision to issue technology development contracts to defense teams headed by General Dynamics and BAE Systems. The U.S. Army surprised many defense analysts when SAIC Inc. was the only company that submitted a proposal to not receive a contract.

SAIC Inc. is partnered with Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall, which built the Puma infantry fighting vehicle. The defense team used its experience building the Puma for Germany in its GCV proposal. The decision to leave out the team that included Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall was seen as a sign that the U.S. Army was no longer interested in the Puma.

However, McHugh said at a breakfast attended by defense reporters that the Puma and Israel’s Namer remain two candidates the U.S. Army will take a hard look at when it completes the GCV analysis of alternatives it was ordered to complete during the technology development phase.

“We can’t do business as we’ve done in the past, just pull out the checkbook and write it because it’s easy to do. We have to make smart decisions, and if that smart decision is using an upgraded existing platform or going off the shelf with COTS, commercial off the shelf, or going to another country or ally and buying a program that they have developed and works well, then we’ll do that,” McHugh said.

Army acquisition leaders plan to buy 1,874 GCVs at a cost of $13 million per vehicle, a figure that includes spare parts.

BAE Systems’ team received $450 million and the General Dynamics Land Systems team received $440 million for the technology development contract Aug. 18. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has 100 days to issue a ruling on the protest.

Representatives from each defense company have been ordered not to comment on the program during the protest.

At the end of the breakfast, McHugh clarified his statement about the Puma, saying the potential inclusion of it in an analysis of alternatives does not mean the Army will uphold the protest.

“I’m not going to adjudicate their protest here,” he said.