The Army's Quest for a New Ground Combat Vehicle

Abstract

Abstract : The Future Combat Systems (FCS) was conceived in 1999 as a System of Systems whose separate parts would operate as a whole with an advanced network and move quickly with a minimal logistics tail to hostile environments. Its design focused on the high intensity conflict also known as Major Combat Operations. The Manned Ground Vehicle portion of the program was terminated by the Office of the Secretary of Defense in a June 2009 Acquisition Defense Memorandum because it was not the proper vehicle for the current environment. Following that decision, the Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) developed a new Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) requirement and wrote a new Capstone Concept. The vehicle envisioned is not part of a family of systems and it does not need to move quickly to hostile environments. The Army chose to focus the initial increment of the GCV on an Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV). This decision was driven by both the inability to upgrade current Army infantry platforms and the density of IFVs across the 24 heavy brigades programmed by the Army. The Army is now pursuing a platform replacement and upgrade strategy, rendering Shinseki's vision unachievable for the foreseeable future.