Pentagon seeks $100M to speed equipment and arms to troops

[Jacklou59]

Pentagon seeks $100M to speed equipment and arms to troops
Posted 2/15/2007 10:40 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions | Subscribe to stories like this



By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Fierce fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan has forced the Pentagon to speed new weapons and equipment to troops at faster rates than ever, according to military records and officials.
The Pentagon budget proposed by President Bush adds even more money for what military leaders call "urgent need" requests. For the first time, the budget includes $100 million for a Pentagon "rapid acquisition fund" aimed at getting vital supplies to troops in the field more quickly.

Although the rapid-acquisition fund will be controlled by the Defense secretary, each branch of the military has its own pools of money to fill urgent needs. The Marine Corps, which faces some of the heaviest fighting in Iraq in Anbar province, has made 75% more urgent-need requests per month in the past six months than it did in the first 3½ years of the war.

"There is a sense of urgency here," says Len Blaisol, director of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Integration Division in Quantico, Va. "Over time, the enemy has adapted to our successful operations."

The urgent-need requests aren't necessarily for new technology. Most of the weapons or equipment already exist but weren't bought or deployed to troops in the field. When combat commanders notice a problem in the field, such as the increased use of homemade bombs, they send the urgent requests through their chain of command or to a special Pentagon office, which then decides whether to buy the material or not.

Many of the requests reflect the increased intensity of the Iraq insurgency. Others stem from threats that were not anticipated before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, such as homemade bombs called improvised explosive devices (IEDs). They include:

•New vehicles to withstand IEDs and insurgent ambushes. The Marines have awarded contracts for prototypes of "Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles" that feature V-shaped hulls to disperse the force of blasts from under the vehicles. The Marines are leading tests for the vehicles, which could be used by all services. After choosing the model it wants, the Pentagon hopes to have 4,100 in combat by year's end.

•Advances in first aid. IED attacks have prompted urgent-need requests that have resulted in improved bandages, artificial blood-clotting agents and a new blanket to keep injured troops from going into shock, Blaisol says.

•Improved rifle scopes. New scopes allow Marines to kill enemies from farther away and in lower light than before, says Scott Allen, a Marine Corps acquisition official in Quantico. "Insurgents think we've got a whole lot of snipers out there," Allen said. "Marines can see much better, hit them from a greater distance."

In recent weeks, the Navy has also made urgent orders for more radios, the Army for flame-resistant uniforms and the Air Force for more global positioning systems for its aircraft, Pentagon purchasing records show.

Although Congress first gave the Pentagon rapid-acquisition authority in 2004, the Pentagon didn't use it enough, according to a May 2005 House Armed Services Committee report. That report also said former Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld "failed to provide sufficient resources and authority" to the Pentagon's rapid-acquisition programs.

Now, however, the Pentagon is acting more quickly, said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.

"People think that industry has moved too slowly," Thompson says. "This shows that may not necessarily be the case."


Posted 2/15/2007 10:40 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions | Subscribe to stories like this

Pentagon seeks $100M to speed equipment and arms to troops - USATODAY.com