Army’s Miscues, Botched Buys May Doom Industrial Base (From AOL Defense)

Sometimes it seems like the U.S. Army’s acquisition community has a split personality. The part that is supporting soldiers in the line of fire today has learned to respond to urgent requests quickly and effectively. The part that is trying to modernize for the soldiers of tomorrow can’t seem to get out of its own way. Remember Comanche and Crusader and the Future Combat System? With a track record like that, the Army should have learned not to let go of anything until it has a replacement firmly in hand. Unfortunately, the lesson hasn’t been learned. Now it wants to kill the production lines that build Abrams tanks and Bradley troop carriers, even though successors to those systems are iffy at best. In fact, in an effort to save money it is dismantling most of the industrial base it has left outside of rotorcraft. This is real risky, and likely to earn a firm rebuke from Congress. I have written a commentary for AOL Defense that you can read here.