AND YET ANOTHER SNAFU

300px-AAAV, originally uploaded by gpj631.

The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) is the newest USMC amphibious vehicle, intended for deployment in 2008. It is an amphibious armored personnel carrier able to transport a full Marine rifle squad to shore. It will — well. It’s supposed to — maneuver cross-country with an agility and mobility equal to or greater than the M1 Abrams. It is designed to replace the aging AAV, and is the Marine Corps' number one priority ground weapon system acquisition. It has three times the speed and about twice the armor of the AAV and accounts for 25.5% of the Corp’s total acquisition budget for fiscal years 2006 to 2011.

Sounds good, right?

Yeah, well, the Government Accountability Office just released a study they did on this puppy. The price has increased 45% since December 2000, unit costs have increased from $8.5 million to $12.3 million, the program schedule has grown 35% and the — get this — reliability requirement has dropped from 70 hours of continuous operation to 43.5 hours.

Oh yeah, this’ll come in on time.