The Army is quickly going broke, its leaders insist. Worn-out gear can’t be replaced; units can’t properly prep for combat; some bases can’t even afford to mow the lawn.
But there’s one Army account that the generals are still managing to keep packed to the brim: marketing. The annual Association of the United States Army convention is going down this week, in Washington. And the Army is pulling out all the stops, to show just how groovy its $300 billion high-tech upgrade, Future Combat Systems, is going to be.
High above conferees’ heads, a movie theater-sized screen shows Hollywood-grade videos of how awesomely FCS will work in action. Beneath the display, an Army major and a Boeing executive — each equipped with wireless mics — lecture a crowd, seated in stadium seats, about FCS’ virtues. Beside them, to the right, is a mock operations center, manned by a trio of soldiers, pantomiming battle commands.
To the left, an defense contractor is demonstrating the new Future Combat video game. “Kaboom!” he shouts, as he directs some simulated next-gen cannon to waste a pixilated foe. Ostensibly, the game is supposed to start getting officers familiar with “the FCS wireless network-centric operating system that seamlessly links advanced communications and networking systems with soldiers, platforms, weapons, and sensors.” But when I ask the contractor whether the game is really just a marketing tool for the mega-expensive project, he sighs, “Yeah.”
Now, the FCS folks are hardly the only Army team with a booth at the conference. Everyone from Airborne to Special Forces to ROTC has a little set-up — to market themselves within the Department, to show off to the higher-ups, and to prove their worth to Congress. And that makes some sense, in an organization as big and complex as the Army. But still, you’ve got to wonder whether it’s the right thing to do — with multiple wars raging and with budgets apparently so tight. “A real ‘fleecing of America’ story,” says one conference-goer. “It’s like ‘we’re going broke, and here’s a super-slick presentation to show you why.’”
We really need a set of emoticons on this site, so I can post a “roll eyes” smiley.
The fact that we’re spending a lot of money on wars does not negate the need to purchase new equipment in the future. The slick graphic presentations? Merely one of the costs of doing business. Nobody is going to lay out billions of dollars in spending if the only graphic presentation you can provide is a 30 second clip swiped from The Bionic Six.
AUSA conducts their annual national (worldwide) conference each October always in conjunction with Columbus Day. Soldier’s from throughout the world, representing their installation or Major Command spend approximately 3 or 4 days during this period in a TDY status. During this period the opportunity to view and examine the new equipment proposed to the Army by the multitude of defense contractors, is a special and exciting opportunity for our Soldier’s.
In addition to the gizzilions of bucks expended thru the contractors and AUSA, the comparrisson of the trite amount of dollars expended on the Soldier’s having the distinct opportunity to attend is but a drop in the bucket and its results are valuable.
So why is this article of such a sensational need, when this event has been carried out for decades with the same magnitude of cost from the private sector? Has the writter failed to recoginize the purpose of what the contractors and AUSA are promoting, been doing it for years. And the headline is inaccurate the Army does not pay the bill, nor is it cash poor, yet.
My set of emotions on the article go far beyond roll eyes, only the photo that accompanies this article bear any resemblance to truth.
There has been no credible evidence that the Future Army will be any more effective than the current one. The current Styryer family is almost identical to the vehicle family proposed for FCS, so the effort is just wasteful. Stykers are $1M a piece vs. the FCS vehicles priced at likely $10M each! I guess the Army strategy is since Congress cancelled several single platform Army programs, Commanche and Crusader, it’s better to lump everything in one massive program, one that Congress wouldn’t be able to cancel since it touches every district. Despite reports from the CBO and GAO that FCS is spiralling out of control already, even with NOTHING built, the Army charges on irresponsibly claiming FCS is a must-have program and can’t be cost constrianed. From $93B to now $300B+. It’s pure insanity.
The Future Combat System(s)is pure hype. If we cannot currently use ground-based sensors to effectively find insurgents and IEDs, why do we need to spend billions(?)-trillions(?)on an untested technology that we won’t have (or possibly need)until 2010-2012? GAO and COB reports indicate that there is no real improvement in airlift/sealift that will deploy Bridgade Combat Teams or Divisions significantly faster with a less armored vehicle system than the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The computer code for the FCS is more than is required on the Joint Strike Fighter. This thing has boondoggle etched all over it. It will not improve deployability, it will more than likely not work, and we are spending here-and-now dollars for something we won’t see in any number until 2012. It is fiscally and strategically irresponsible at best.