Wearing Out and Adding Up (Cost of equipment maintenance/Iraq)

[kskiska]

Army Costs Increase as Terrain Takes Toll on Equipment

Saturday, September 13, 2003; Page A01

If lawmakers and citizens wonder how much of the Iraq war's eventual cost will be covered by President Bush's $87 billion emergency spending request, they need look no further than a Bradley Fighting Vehicle's track.

Normally, a Bradley gets new treads just once a year, after about 800 miles. But for the U.S. Army, these are anything but normal times, and the 600-odd Bradleys in Iraq are trudging 1,200 miles a month, running security escorts the military never imagined would be needed so long after "major combat operations" had ended.

The result is that Bradleys in Iraq need new tracks every 60 days, at $22,576 per vehicle. As many as a third of the Bradleys patrolling the dangerous "Sunni triangle" are out of commission. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is running three shifts a day, seven days a week, at the Red River Army Depot in Texas, but workers are still three months behind the Army's demands. Tracks are being flown to Baghdad as fast as they can be made, then apportioned to the units that need them most.

The tracks this fiscal year will have cost $230 million, nearly triple the $78 million the Army spent on track repair and replacement in 2002.

(snip)

"This $87 billion is really just a down payment," said Scott Lilly, the Democratic staff director of the House Appropriations Committee and a military procurement expert.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3335-2003Sep12.html

[JohnyCanuck]

1. No disrespect folks,

but I am glad I am not a US taxpayer right now.

[PartyPooper]

2. I'm glad you're not.

And, I wish I wasn't one, too.

:-(

[Porcupine]

3. It's not the cost. It's dieing becouse your vehicle suddenly quits....

annd the locals have time to pull up the RPG's. Believe me this will happen as equipment is run past it's normal service cycle. The paper pushers never have apreciated how vulnerable troops are to equipment failure. It killed thousands of Russians in Afghanistan.

[underpants]

4. 1,200 miles a month in a Bradley?!?!? Ouch that hurts, I know

Your a**, spine, ears, and nervous system will never be the same. I lived on a Bradley for 1 out of the 3 years I was in the service and let me tell they don't ride like your father's Oldsmobile.

Tracks are getting chewed up to.

[saigon68]

5. APPARENTLY THEY DO LITTLE TO STOP A B-40

Thats an RPG, for this generation of war observers.

A bradley, will however deflect 7.62 fire.

What happens is the guy with the RPG fires a round, the thing explodes, the Bradley crew bails out, only to be greeted by guys firing AK-47s.

The flak jackets they are wearing stop a 7.62 FMJ (full metal jacket) about as well as a sheet of paper stops a samurai sword.

[underpants]

6. Recycle those beer cans we need more Bradleys

We used to say that they would melt not blow up. I'm sure that an accurately aimed (not towards the front) RPG would take out a Bradley and M1's even have a weak spot.

Aside from the bone jarring ride Bradley gunners (me) also enjoy head banging when on rough terrain (cleared my sinuses once) and halucinations when staring through the retical for too long. There's nothing like seeing screaming faces in trees at night to tell you you need to go back to college and find other work.

[pfitz59]

7. Helicopters wear out too!

Nasty mid-east dust sand-blasts rotor and turbine blades, clogs intakes and erodes protective coatings! Not to mention what it does to visibilty!