BAE Storms Hill For Bradley Funding To Keep Penn. Plant Alive

[unhappycamper]

http://defense.aol.com/2013/03/14/bae-storms-hill-for-bradley-funding-to-keep-penn-plant-alive/



BAE Storms Hill For Bradley Funding To Keep Penn. Plant Alive
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Published: March 14, 2013

WASHINGTON: A $140 million congressional plus-up to the Army's Bradley fighting vehicle program has made it past every legislative hurdle into the spending bill now headed for the Senate floor. But with amendments and House-Senate conference still to go, and with the Army still (at least officially) unenthused about the unrequested funds, Bradley manufacturer BAE is leaving nothing to chance and has launched a major camaign online, in the media, and on the Hill to ensure all goes well.

Looking ahead, the total 2013 Bradley bill of $248 million -- half from the Pentagon's initial request, half added by Congress -- is just the down payment to keep BAE's York, Penn. plant running until the Army starts building new armored vehicles circa 2017. While a quarter-billion a year is relatively modest in a Pentagon context, it's scarce funds that the Army is reluctant to spend in the current budget crisis -- even though it may cost more in the long term to shut York down only to reopen it three years later.

"There is a good chance BAE, and others, will seek to do something in FY14 to keep the line in operation," a Hill staffer told AOL Defense. "[But] keep in mind that the FY13 NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] and the about-to-be-done FY13 appropriations bill already include a big Bradley increase," the staffer went on. "The Army hasn't spent any of that yet" -- since Congress has yet to pass a 2013 appropriations bill -- "so those extra funds may mitigate some of the FY14/FY15 shortfalls at the York facility," since the government has three years to spend the money. In the final analysis, the staffer said, "[it] depends on how and when the Army plans to spend it."

If Congress goes back down to the amount the administration's originally requested for Bradley, BAE spokesperson Stephanie Serkhoshian told AOL Defense, "the workload at York will be "significantly less than our Minimum Economic Sustaining Rate," business jargon that boils down to "we'll all slowly starve to death." Serkhoshian continued, "if all the proposed [$140 million additional] funds are allocated to the Bradley line at the York facility" -- there are other places that could do some limited Bradley upgrades, at least in theory -- "then the levels would most likely be sustained through 2014."



unhappycamper comment: The Army is also pushing for a Hummer replacement. That 'thing' is something known as the Ground Combat Vehicle. It weights around seventy tons and costs > than $250 grand a pop.