How much money does the Army need to refurbish its worn out weapons?

Manufacturing & Technology News, Oct 17, 2007

The U.S. Army is spending nearly $13 billion per year to refurbish and replace equipment being worn out in Iraq and Afghanistan, but that amount might be more than what is needed, says the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). "In general, CBO's estimates of the annual funding needed to replace and repair the Army's helicopters, combat vehicles and trucks are lower than the [Bush] administration's corresponding funding requests," says CBO in an assessment of Army "reset" accounts.

About 20 percent of the Army's equipment is currently stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of that equipment was built during the Cold War and is operating at rates "below those for which they were designed and, with few exceptions, should be capable of sustaining those rates for many years," says CBO.

Forty percent of the $13 billion is not being used to replace lost equipment or fixing returned systems, says CBO. The Army is using that extra money to upgrade systems and buy new equipment aimed at eliminating shortfalls in the Army's inventories, "some of which are long-standing," says CBO. "The administration's annual funding requests for the Army's reset program have grown over the 2005-2007 period. CBO cannot determine all of the reasons for the increases on the basis of the data that the Army has provided."

Shortages of key pieces of equipment were not caused by the Iraq War. "These shortages had been evident before the start of operations in Iraq," says CBO. "Inventories of most types of the Army's modern trucks were insufficient before the war. As a result, those fleets are too small to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and at the same time fully equip units at their home stations."

The Army has about $30 billion of equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan, one-third of which remains there permanently, the other two-thirds being redeployed with units returning home. Helicopters and combat vehicles return with their units, but many of the Army's trucks are left in the theater to be used by arriving forces. "That policy has intensified long-standing shortages of the service's more modern trucks, particularly among units in the reserve component (the Army National Guard and Army Reserve) because of the Army's practice of equipping units in the active-duty Army first," says CBO.

"Consequently, even fewer of the Army's most modern trucks are available to re-equip reserve-component units in the United States. At the end of 2006, according to CBO's calculations, the Army faced potential shortfalls in equipping its units in the United States and Europe of as many as 13,000 modern high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs); 32,000 family of medium tactical vehicles (FMTV) trucks; and 7,600 heavy trucks. Those inventory shortages were not all due to ongoing operations in Southwest Asia; some would have existed even without those operations as a result of the creation of the Army's new modular units and the service's long-standing underfunding of its truck programs."

Beyond the reset program, the Bush administration requested $25 billion in 2007 to procure additional Army equipment. Since 2005, the Army has received $49 billion in supplemental appropriations, an amount that is "more than enough to purchase replacements for all of the service's equipment deployed at any given time to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan," says CBO.

Equipment in Iraq is not being used to its maximum design capacity. The Bradley fighting vehicles are being driven at a high of 290 miles per month, far less than the 2,500 miles per month envisioned when they were designed during the Cold War. The same is true for Army trucks that are similar to commercial tractor-trailers used for hauling equipment and supplies. While the Army is putting twice the amount of miles on them than during peacetime, "they are still operating at rates below those expected of them during the Cold War," says CBO.

The Army has deployed 57,400 trucks to Iraq and Afghanistan, less than 20 percent of its 300,000 trucks and trailers that it has to support operations there. It has 550 Abrams tanks in Iraq, or about 9 percent of its tank inventory of 5,900. Between 15 percent and 20 percent of the Army's helicopters are in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Overall, the proportion of the Army's equipment that is now in Southwest Asia--about 20 percent of all types--corresponds roughly to the share of its [deployable] forces" or approximately 150,000 Army personnel, says CBO in its report "Replacing and Repairing Equipment Used in Iraq and Afghanistan: The Army's Reset Program" (Pub. No. 2809).

                   Systems Typically in the Theater

                                       Percentage
                     Total              of Total
                   Inventory   Number   Inventory

Helicopters           3, 150      530          17
Combat Vehicles      30, 100   2, 890          10

Trucks

Modern trucks       181, 400  35, 340          19
Older trucks         53, 000   3, 100           6

    Total, Trucks   234, 400  38, 440          16

                    Number of Systems for Units at Home Stations

                                            Surplus or
                   Requirement  Available  Deficit (-)

Helicopters             2, 500     2, 510           10

Combat Vehicles        13, 880    24, 200      10, 320

Trucks
  Modern trucks       174, 360   132, 800     -41, 560
  Older trucks         12, 300    49, 400      37, 100

    Total, Trucks     186, 660   182, 200      -4, 460