Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2009
- Messages
- 9,560
- Reaction score
- 1,748
Yes! Evaluate and buy the rights to manufacture the best stuff in the world thereby getting hardware that has already been fielded and tweaked and save money at the same time.
U.S. Army Recently Sought Demo Of German Puma Armored Vehicle It Had Rejected Years Ago
The service is looking to rush ahead with its plans to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and develop new unmanned ground combat vehicles.
18 Mar 2019
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...uma-armored-vehicle-it-had-rejected-years-ago
A senior U.S. Army acquisition official recently had to cancel plans to view a demonstration of the German Puma infantry fighting vehicle. The revelation is curious given that the service rejected this same design in a previous competition and the Germany's Rheinmetall, together with American partner Raytheon, is already competing to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle family with another vehicle.
On Mar. 16, 2019, Defense News was first to report that the U.S. Army’s Jeffrey White, who serves as a deputy to Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology Bruce Jette, had been planning to observe the Puma in action at the German Army’s Munster training facility. The event ended up cancelled due to a scheduling conflict and it is not clear whether or not White, or another Army official, will get to see the demonstration in the end.
It is also unclear why White was looking to see the Puma in the first place. The Army is in the midst of a program to acquire a replacement for the Bradley, formally as the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV), which is part of the larger Next Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV) effort. But there has been no previous indication that Rheinmetall or Krauss Maffei Wegmann, who developed the Puma as a joint venture, would look to submit this particular design.
In October 2018, Rheinmetall did announce its intention to bid on the OMFV deal, in cooperation with Raytheon, but with a vehicle based on its new KF41 Lynx design. The demonstration could indicate that the Army is looking at Puma, as well.
“Many of our NATO allies have very capable tanks,” Secretary of the Army Mark Esper told reporters in January 2018 during a visit to U.S. Army Europe’s headquarters in Germany. “As I think about a next-generation combat vehicle, we should look at our allies, and look at their designs, and look at how they’ve built combat vehicles and combat systems, and think about adopting some of those.”
The Army has actually already evaluated Puma itself as part of the abortive Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program, which began in 2009. For that competition, Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei partnered with American companies Boeing and SAIC.
In 2013, the Congressional Budget Office issued a scathing report lambasting the service over its choice of GCV prototype design, which had ballooned in weight to 84 tons, more than that of an M1 Abrams tank. That same report had said the Puma had been the most capable of the designs the Army had evaluated and would also have saved it almost $15 billion in total program costs. The service ultimately cancelled the GCV program entirely in February 2014.
U.S. Army Recently Sought Demo Of German Puma Armored Vehicle It Had Rejected Years Ago
The service is looking to rush ahead with its plans to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and develop new unmanned ground combat vehicles.
18 Mar 2019
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...uma-armored-vehicle-it-had-rejected-years-ago
A senior U.S. Army acquisition official recently had to cancel plans to view a demonstration of the German Puma infantry fighting vehicle. The revelation is curious given that the service rejected this same design in a previous competition and the Germany's Rheinmetall, together with American partner Raytheon, is already competing to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle family with another vehicle.
On Mar. 16, 2019, Defense News was first to report that the U.S. Army’s Jeffrey White, who serves as a deputy to Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology Bruce Jette, had been planning to observe the Puma in action at the German Army’s Munster training facility. The event ended up cancelled due to a scheduling conflict and it is not clear whether or not White, or another Army official, will get to see the demonstration in the end.
It is also unclear why White was looking to see the Puma in the first place. The Army is in the midst of a program to acquire a replacement for the Bradley, formally as the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV), which is part of the larger Next Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV) effort. But there has been no previous indication that Rheinmetall or Krauss Maffei Wegmann, who developed the Puma as a joint venture, would look to submit this particular design.
In October 2018, Rheinmetall did announce its intention to bid on the OMFV deal, in cooperation with Raytheon, but with a vehicle based on its new KF41 Lynx design. The demonstration could indicate that the Army is looking at Puma, as well.
“Many of our NATO allies have very capable tanks,” Secretary of the Army Mark Esper told reporters in January 2018 during a visit to U.S. Army Europe’s headquarters in Germany. “As I think about a next-generation combat vehicle, we should look at our allies, and look at their designs, and look at how they’ve built combat vehicles and combat systems, and think about adopting some of those.”
The Army has actually already evaluated Puma itself as part of the abortive Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program, which began in 2009. For that competition, Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei partnered with American companies Boeing and SAIC.
In 2013, the Congressional Budget Office issued a scathing report lambasting the service over its choice of GCV prototype design, which had ballooned in weight to 84 tons, more than that of an M1 Abrams tank. That same report had said the Puma had been the most capable of the designs the Army had evaluated and would also have saved it almost $15 billion in total program costs. The service ultimately cancelled the GCV program entirely in February 2014.
