bobdina
05-13-2010, 11:48 AM
House cuts funds from Army modernization scheme
By Kate Brannen - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday May 12, 2010 20:02:15 EDT
House authorizers remain unimpressed with the Army’s Brigade Combat Team Modernization program and are cutting $891 million from the service’s 2011 funding request, according to congressional documents.
For 2011, the Army requested $1.6 billion for research and development for the BCT Modernization program and $682.7 million to procure two brigades’ worth of equipment included in Increment 1 of the program.
In its markup of the 2011 defense authorization bill, the House Armed Services air and land forces subcommittee is authorizing the purchase of only enough gear to equip one brigade.
Citing poor performance results, the committee cuts all $682.7 million in procurement funds in its markup. That includes the $350.6 budgeted for the Non-Line of Sight Launch System program, which, as the committee notes, the Army is seeking to cancel.
NLOS-LS is the most costly item within the early infantry brigade combat team. Without it, Increment 1 equipment now consists of the Tactical and Urban Unattended Ground Sensors, the Class 1 Unmanned Aircraft System, the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle and the Network Integration Kit. The equipment was originally developed as part of the Future Combat Systems program.
Based on the cancellation of NLOS-LS, the committee concludes that existing program funds will provide for brigade sets 1 and 2.
The Army has awarded a low-rate initial production contract to Boeing for the first brigade’s set of equipment. After a second limited user test this fall, the Army plans to seek permission to buy sets 2 and 3.
Within the procurement funding cuts are $44.2 million for the Class I UAS, $29.8 million for the Unattended Ground Sensors, $176.5 million for Network Integration Kits, $20.6 million for the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle and $61.6 million for fielding support.
The committee cuts an additional $208.3 million in research and development funding based on the NLOS-LS termination and “expected contract overhead savings,” according to congressional documents explaining the committee marks.
Of the $891 million cut, $433 million is directly related to the change of plans for NLOS-LS.
Explaining the other funding cuts, the committee cites the equipment’s poor performance during the 2009 limited user test. During that test, many of the systems demonstrated “performance, reliability and operational concept problems,” making it “premature” to invest in additional brigade sets, the committee notes.
Army officials have told Congress that the service has found fixes for the problems and has already begun implementing them. They have also said that if the systems do not meet expectations during this fall’s limited user test, the Army will not field them.
The committee is particularly concerned with the performance and cost of the Network Integration Kit, a set of computers and radios, including the Joint Tactical Radio System Ground Mobile Radio, that are mounted onto vehicles to provide connectivity within the brigade.
The kits showed problems during the 2009 test; however, the Army is quick to point out that they were relying on early versions of the JTRS radios and that more advanced radios and software will be available for this fall’s test.
Despite these improvements, the committee remains concerned that the 2010 test will not include enough network nodes and that these will be operating in an unencrypted format, unexposed to network interference like jamming, according to the documents. Without a bigger, more robust test, the committee worries it still doesn’t have enough information about the network integration kits’ capability.
“The committee also notes that even if the [Network Integration Kits] perform as planned, they may provide little additional capability to [early infantry brigade combat team] units and will likely be very expensive,” an excerpt from the committee’s mark up reads.
The committee says it is not sure the network kit is worth its $1 million price tag.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/05/army_budget_markup_congress_051210w/
By Kate Brannen - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday May 12, 2010 20:02:15 EDT
House authorizers remain unimpressed with the Army’s Brigade Combat Team Modernization program and are cutting $891 million from the service’s 2011 funding request, according to congressional documents.
For 2011, the Army requested $1.6 billion for research and development for the BCT Modernization program and $682.7 million to procure two brigades’ worth of equipment included in Increment 1 of the program.
In its markup of the 2011 defense authorization bill, the House Armed Services air and land forces subcommittee is authorizing the purchase of only enough gear to equip one brigade.
Citing poor performance results, the committee cuts all $682.7 million in procurement funds in its markup. That includes the $350.6 budgeted for the Non-Line of Sight Launch System program, which, as the committee notes, the Army is seeking to cancel.
NLOS-LS is the most costly item within the early infantry brigade combat team. Without it, Increment 1 equipment now consists of the Tactical and Urban Unattended Ground Sensors, the Class 1 Unmanned Aircraft System, the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle and the Network Integration Kit. The equipment was originally developed as part of the Future Combat Systems program.
Based on the cancellation of NLOS-LS, the committee concludes that existing program funds will provide for brigade sets 1 and 2.
The Army has awarded a low-rate initial production contract to Boeing for the first brigade’s set of equipment. After a second limited user test this fall, the Army plans to seek permission to buy sets 2 and 3.
Within the procurement funding cuts are $44.2 million for the Class I UAS, $29.8 million for the Unattended Ground Sensors, $176.5 million for Network Integration Kits, $20.6 million for the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle and $61.6 million for fielding support.
The committee cuts an additional $208.3 million in research and development funding based on the NLOS-LS termination and “expected contract overhead savings,” according to congressional documents explaining the committee marks.
Of the $891 million cut, $433 million is directly related to the change of plans for NLOS-LS.
Explaining the other funding cuts, the committee cites the equipment’s poor performance during the 2009 limited user test. During that test, many of the systems demonstrated “performance, reliability and operational concept problems,” making it “premature” to invest in additional brigade sets, the committee notes.
Army officials have told Congress that the service has found fixes for the problems and has already begun implementing them. They have also said that if the systems do not meet expectations during this fall’s limited user test, the Army will not field them.
The committee is particularly concerned with the performance and cost of the Network Integration Kit, a set of computers and radios, including the Joint Tactical Radio System Ground Mobile Radio, that are mounted onto vehicles to provide connectivity within the brigade.
The kits showed problems during the 2009 test; however, the Army is quick to point out that they were relying on early versions of the JTRS radios and that more advanced radios and software will be available for this fall’s test.
Despite these improvements, the committee remains concerned that the 2010 test will not include enough network nodes and that these will be operating in an unencrypted format, unexposed to network interference like jamming, according to the documents. Without a bigger, more robust test, the committee worries it still doesn’t have enough information about the network integration kits’ capability.
“The committee also notes that even if the [Network Integration Kits] perform as planned, they may provide little additional capability to [early infantry brigade combat team] units and will likely be very expensive,” an excerpt from the committee’s mark up reads.
The committee says it is not sure the network kit is worth its $1 million price tag.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/05/army_budget_markup_congress_051210w/