North County Times August 24, 2010
MILITARY: Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle shows its muscle
By Mark Walker
The Marine Corps' troubled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle showed its muscle in operational tests Tuesday off the coast of Oceanside.
When its engine throttled up, the 68,000-pound behemoth rose from the surface, threw out a large wake and reached speeds of nearly 25 knots.
It was a virtually flawless display for a land-and-sea vehicle whose development has been anything but trouble-free.
"There have been a lot of naysayers, but at the end of the day the Marine Corps doesn't want to do away with its amphibious capability," said Manny Pacheco, a civilian spokesman for the service's EFV program.
Over budget and overdue, the General Dynamics product is intended to replace the Marine Corps' nearly 40-year-old Amphibious Assault Vehicle.
The heavily armored, aluminum-hulled EFV uses two 23-inch water jets to propel it at sea. When it reaches land, the nearly 11-foot-tall vehicle converts from watercraft to land cruiser, rolling out tank-like tracks propelled by a 12-cylinder diesel engine.
The vehicle is heavily armed with a 30 mm, front-mounted cannon and an M240 machine gun that can hit targets from about 2,000 yards. It can carry enough fuel to cruise more than 200 miles on land.
The concept is simple enough. The Marine Corps envisions using it to ferry troops from 20 miles or more offshore ---- or "over the horizon" ---- where the ships can't be seen and the troops can come ashore without being noticed.
Developmental problems have delayed full-scale production, pushing the due date from 2007 for the first delivery to Marines in the field to 2011. The service also has scaled back its original purchase plan of more than 1,013 vehicles to 573.
Putting all those to sea with all the developmental and operational changes, fixes and delays will cost taxpayers nearly $12 billion. Development costs are up 132 percent from the year 2000.
While Defense Secretary Robert Gates has publicly questioned if the costs are worth it, the Marine Corps has steadfastly stood by the EFV, drawing comparisons to its stance on the similarly troubled Osprey aircraft.
In the end, the tilt-rotor, combination helicopter and airplane was built and put into operation two years ago. Officials vow the same will happen with the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.
"It's a vital piece of our future operations," said Maj. Brian Strack, who is helping put the vehicle through its paces. "The key goal is to get the vehicle's reliability established."
While many question the Marine Corps' seeming fixation with vehicles and training aimed at large-scale shore invasions, which haven't happened since World War II and once in the Korean War, service officials have said the capability remains necessary to the nation's defense.
The problems in software, handling and related woes that have delayed the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle are as much the fault of the Marine Corps as the manufacturer, according to Pacheco.
"Early on in the program we asked a lot of the builders that we really didn't have the money for," he said. "We underestimated what we asked the builder to do."
The Marine Corps now believes the EFV and its climate-controlled interior is on the right track.
"This is its time," Strack said. "This is when we need to be able to show what it can do so we can move ahead with production and get it into the fleet."
Despite continued criticism from Congress and within the Pentagon, John Pike of the defense monitoring group GlobalSecurity.org in Washington said he believes it will survive.
"When it comes down to it, going across the beach is the Marine Corps' signature capability, so they have to have the vehicle for that," he said. "What's driving (the EFV) as much as anything is the fact the vehicles they have for that today are wearing out."
Joe Kasper, a spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, said the congressman believes the EFV is necessary. Hunter is a former Marine and member of the House Armed Services Committee.
"All around, the EFV is a good vehicle," Kasper said. "It's faster, more durable and better armored. The EFV is all about maintaining essential combat capability ---- getting Marines from ship to shore."
© Copyright 2010, North County Times - Californian
