Army delays future tactical truck project; today's fleet is in need of upgrades and more vehicles, says program manager.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

The Army's new family of high-tech trucks, originally scheduled to be deployed in 2010, alongside the Future Combat Systems, will be delayed by at least five years.

The slip in the program is raising concerns that the Army will have to rely on older trucks to deliver fuel and ammo for the FCS fleet. Further, the Army recently transferred nearly a billion dollars out of truck accounts to help pay for FCS, prompting questions about how the service will be able to maintain and upgrade the current fleet until a new generation of vehicles comes along in 2015.

Even though the FCS vehicles will be lighter and more technologically advanced than current ground combat platforms and armored personnel carriers, the reality is that "tanks are going nowhere without trucks to move them," said Col. Robert Groller, the Army's program manager for heavy tactical trucks.

An FCS brigade (called a unit of action) will need 204 support vehicles, plus 155 utility vehicles. "In a lean Army, the logistics tail still is bigger than the combat force," Groller said at a conference of the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement. "We'll be a lean Army, but we still will have more support vehicles than combat vehicles."

The Army shifted about $900 million from truck programs to FCS accounts in the 2004-2007 budget. The medium-truck fleet lost about $450 million, the heavy fleet nearly $350 million and the light fleet $100 million.

Besides having to contend with budget cuts, Groller must deal with a growing demand for trucks, as the Army augments its deployments around the world. Altogether the Army operates 250,000 trucks, of about 40 different variants.

Groller reported that the National Guard is 500 short of its requirement for heavy trucks.

One Guard unit that needed to be activated on short notice this spring, for example, was so hard-pressed for trucks that Groller had to buy six used Freightliner vehicles off the lot. "Some trucks have 300,000 miles on them, but are still drivable," he said.

The Army will need to continue to upgrade existing trucks, until they can be replaced by the next-generation vehicle, the Future Tactical Truck System, said Groller. He predicted that the current fleets of heavy, medium and light trucks will be around until 2030 or beyond. Even after FCS enters service, most of the Army's equipment will be very much like it is today, he noted.

FTTS so far only exists in Powerpoint slides, and program requirements are likely to remain...