Marine Corps' vehicle buyers turn to auto industry for inspiration.

• Author: Jean, Grace V.
• Position: COMBAT VEHICLES

Sorry, marines, you're not going to get Mustang convertibles for the battlefield. But expeditionary F-150 trucks? Well, maybe.

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When Lt. Gen. George Flynn, the commanding general of Marine Corps Combat Development Command, paid a visit to Ford Motor Co. in November, he was seeking insight into how the automobile industry is able to develop a new product in only a few years and get it out to the market for a reasonable price.

"What do they do that's different? Before they make their production decisions, they have their requirement proved out to the 98 percent solution. But even before that, they've figured out what's possible. There are lessons to take away from that," he said at the National Defense Industrial Association's combat vehicles conference in Dearborn, Mich.

For a force that has been grappling with how to develop and afford technologies that will enable marines to respond to crises ranging from war and civilian evacuations to natural disasters and humanitarian missions, those lessons are vital.

Military equipment especially ground vehicles and infantry gear, has become exponentially more expensive in recent years. Outfitting an individual marine five to six years ago cost $1,500. Today, it costs $7,500. The original Humvee sold for $50,000 when it was first built in 1985. Today, price projections for a potential replacement truck run anywhere between $300,000 to $400,000, Flynn said.

The challenge for the Marine Corps is affording everything it needs to fight in the future on a ground procurement budget that is expected to fall back to an average of $2.5 billion to $3 billion a year, or less. "This is truly the problem that keeps me up at night," he admitted. "We want to spend a nickel and we want you to give us back a quarter. That's just the way it's going to be."

But that is easier said than done. The Defense Department is notorious for making too many demands in a program.

"We overreach on technology and as a result, we underestimate the cost and we underestimate the time to be able to do it. That's typically how a program gets in trouble," he said during a breakfast roundtable with reporters in Washington. Having a conversation with industry on the capability in the beginning, when officials are just beginning to lay out their needs, can help avoid problems.

"I think we need a better dialogue between requirements and acquisition," he said.

They conduct those discussions now, but both parties do not...