The Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle program may be running aground before it can even sign a development contract. And that’s a tragedy. A decade of casualties from improvised roadside bombs – simple weapons easily replicated by any future enemy – has shown that what the U.S. military needs most is the very thing the Ground Combat Vehicle is supposed to provide: a better-protected way to move our troops around war zones that are only going to get more lethal.

The Army already rebooted the program on its own initiative last August, after industry said that meeting the original requirements for armor protection could only be met by an expensive juggernaut weighing 50 to 70 tons. The Army has also tightened its cost targets from $24 million per vehicle to $10 million. Nevertheless, at $40 billion for the program overall, key Defense Department officials still doubt that the military can afford it. The Defense Acquisition Board, which must approve any contract, has repeatedly postponed its meeting on the program and sent the Army back to do more homework to justify the GCV. The review finally happened July 21, and Ash Carter, head of military acquisition, did approve GCV’s first phase worth an estimated $1.35 billion, according to a Pentagon spokeswoman. Keep reading →