thedrifter
01-05-08, 07:16 AM
Mobile mortar system for Osprey delayed
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
Investigation slated into cost overruns, production difficulties
A mobile mortar weapon system that was supposed to be ready for deployment with the new V-22 Osprey aircraft is now the subject of a formal investigation into cost overruns and production delays, a Marine Corps spokesman said Thursday.
Known as the "expeditionary fire support system" or EFSS, the 120mm mortar system has been plagued by development issues and escalating costs that have pushed its scheduled production from 2006 until this spring at the earliest.
The system is designed to be carried aloft in the Osprey; in fact, the mobile weapon has been designed specifically to fit inside the controversial tilt-rotor aircraft.
The delay and swelling costs are the latest in a string of such problems for the Marine Corps, which wanted the mortar unit ready to go when the first Ospreys were sent to Iraq late last year.
Cost rises
On Dec. 21, the Government Accountability Office issued a report finding the cost of the mortar system had ballooned by $15.5 million and had run into numerous problems preventing its production.
Had met its original deadline, the system would have been available for Camp Pendleton troops now deploying to Iraq's Anbar province where they will serve for the rest of the year.
The accountability office report, requested by U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, identified safety issues such as potential injury to crew members and general reliability problems with the system.
The Defense Department's inspector general is now investigating the program, said Bill Johnson-Miles, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va.
Johnson-Miles declined to discuss the accountability office report or the program in detail, citing the probe.
"It is inappropriate for Marine Corps Systems Command to respond to queries or grant interviews," Johnson-Miles said Thursday in an e-mail response to the North County Times. "It is also against DOD (Department of Defense) policy to discuss matters under investigation prior to the requesting official or government agency receiving a formal report."
Planned since 1999
The mortar system is intended to be a rapid-deployment system that Marines can move quickly to trouble spots.
It was begun in 1999 when the Marine Corps said it needed a weapon system that could be carried inside the Osprey to support ground assault operations.
Six prototypes were produced in 2005 and some testing took place last summer. Tests in cold weather slated for last February were not conducted, and the accountability office said in its report that those tests could be delayed again because of a problem with the propellant section for the mortar's ammunition.
The system requires two of the hybrid helicopter-airplane Ospreys in order to be moved -- one to transport the unarmored vehicle and mortars and one to carry a second unarmored vehicle and ammunition trailer.
In the Marine Corps' planning, a third Osprey would ferry troops to support the mortar team.
Other problems
The expeditionary fire support system is the latest Marine Corps project to face delays and cost overruns, joining the Osprey and a new sea and land troop carrier.
Operating issues that led to a series of crashes that took the lives of 23 Marines, including 15 from local bases, delayed the Osprey by several years.
The aircraft, which takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like an airplane at a speed of 400 mph, grew in price from $40 million each to more than $70 million.
The first Ospreys to see active duty were sent to Iraq and just recently began flying combat operations, according to Marine Corps officials.
The Marine Corps also has faced numerous problems in development of the expeditionary fighting vehicle, a tanklike behemoth that can speed over water at up to 25 knots and overland at up to 45 mph.
The General Dynamics-built rig, operated by a crew of three and able to carry a fully equipped 17-man rifle squad, is supposed to replace the service's aging, 35-year-old amphibious assault vehicle, providing more protection to the troops and extending its sea range.
Developmental issues have delayed its full-scale production, pushing the due date for the first delivery to Marines in the field from 2007 to 2011. The service also has scaled back its original purchase plan of more than 1,013 vehicles to 573.
'Tremendous pressure'
Phil Coyle, a senior adviser for the Center for Defense Information and former assistant secretary of defense and director of testing and development at the Pentagon from 1994 to 2001, said the Marine Corps may be overmatched by the complex process of acquiring new weapon systems.
"It takes real insight, especially with as many different kinds of systems as the Marines are trying to buy today," Coyle said during a telephone interview Thursday. "I know that the operational testing and evaluation people are under tremendous pressure to do more with less as a result of civilian cutbacks."
The mortar system for the Osprey is an example, Coyle said, of a weapon that probably wouldn't have been needed if that controversial aircraft had been scrapped. Coyle is a longtime critic of the Osprey, one of many inside including Vice President Dick Cheney, who also opposed its development in the 1990s when he was serving in the Defense Department.
"If they hadn't become so involved with the Osprey, they probably never would have needed it," he said. "The problem is the other Marine vehicles wouldn't fit inside the Osprey."
The Marines also appeared to rush development of the mortar system, he said.
"Clearly, they should have, and could have, identified during developmental testing the problems now surfacing."
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie
By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
Investigation slated into cost overruns, production difficulties
A mobile mortar weapon system that was supposed to be ready for deployment with the new V-22 Osprey aircraft is now the subject of a formal investigation into cost overruns and production delays, a Marine Corps spokesman said Thursday.
Known as the "expeditionary fire support system" or EFSS, the 120mm mortar system has been plagued by development issues and escalating costs that have pushed its scheduled production from 2006 until this spring at the earliest.
The system is designed to be carried aloft in the Osprey; in fact, the mobile weapon has been designed specifically to fit inside the controversial tilt-rotor aircraft.
The delay and swelling costs are the latest in a string of such problems for the Marine Corps, which wanted the mortar unit ready to go when the first Ospreys were sent to Iraq late last year.
Cost rises
On Dec. 21, the Government Accountability Office issued a report finding the cost of the mortar system had ballooned by $15.5 million and had run into numerous problems preventing its production.
Had met its original deadline, the system would have been available for Camp Pendleton troops now deploying to Iraq's Anbar province where they will serve for the rest of the year.
The accountability office report, requested by U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, identified safety issues such as potential injury to crew members and general reliability problems with the system.
The Defense Department's inspector general is now investigating the program, said Bill Johnson-Miles, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va.
Johnson-Miles declined to discuss the accountability office report or the program in detail, citing the probe.
"It is inappropriate for Marine Corps Systems Command to respond to queries or grant interviews," Johnson-Miles said Thursday in an e-mail response to the North County Times. "It is also against DOD (Department of Defense) policy to discuss matters under investigation prior to the requesting official or government agency receiving a formal report."
Planned since 1999
The mortar system is intended to be a rapid-deployment system that Marines can move quickly to trouble spots.
It was begun in 1999 when the Marine Corps said it needed a weapon system that could be carried inside the Osprey to support ground assault operations.
Six prototypes were produced in 2005 and some testing took place last summer. Tests in cold weather slated for last February were not conducted, and the accountability office said in its report that those tests could be delayed again because of a problem with the propellant section for the mortar's ammunition.
The system requires two of the hybrid helicopter-airplane Ospreys in order to be moved -- one to transport the unarmored vehicle and mortars and one to carry a second unarmored vehicle and ammunition trailer.
In the Marine Corps' planning, a third Osprey would ferry troops to support the mortar team.
Other problems
The expeditionary fire support system is the latest Marine Corps project to face delays and cost overruns, joining the Osprey and a new sea and land troop carrier.
Operating issues that led to a series of crashes that took the lives of 23 Marines, including 15 from local bases, delayed the Osprey by several years.
The aircraft, which takes off and lands like a helicopter and flies like an airplane at a speed of 400 mph, grew in price from $40 million each to more than $70 million.
The first Ospreys to see active duty were sent to Iraq and just recently began flying combat operations, according to Marine Corps officials.
The Marine Corps also has faced numerous problems in development of the expeditionary fighting vehicle, a tanklike behemoth that can speed over water at up to 25 knots and overland at up to 45 mph.
The General Dynamics-built rig, operated by a crew of three and able to carry a fully equipped 17-man rifle squad, is supposed to replace the service's aging, 35-year-old amphibious assault vehicle, providing more protection to the troops and extending its sea range.
Developmental issues have delayed its full-scale production, pushing the due date for the first delivery to Marines in the field from 2007 to 2011. The service also has scaled back its original purchase plan of more than 1,013 vehicles to 573.
'Tremendous pressure'
Phil Coyle, a senior adviser for the Center for Defense Information and former assistant secretary of defense and director of testing and development at the Pentagon from 1994 to 2001, said the Marine Corps may be overmatched by the complex process of acquiring new weapon systems.
"It takes real insight, especially with as many different kinds of systems as the Marines are trying to buy today," Coyle said during a telephone interview Thursday. "I know that the operational testing and evaluation people are under tremendous pressure to do more with less as a result of civilian cutbacks."
The mortar system for the Osprey is an example, Coyle said, of a weapon that probably wouldn't have been needed if that controversial aircraft had been scrapped. Coyle is a longtime critic of the Osprey, one of many inside including Vice President Dick Cheney, who also opposed its development in the 1990s when he was serving in the Defense Department.
"If they hadn't become so involved with the Osprey, they probably never would have needed it," he said. "The problem is the other Marine vehicles wouldn't fit inside the Osprey."
The Marines also appeared to rush development of the mortar system, he said.
"Clearly, they should have, and could have, identified during developmental testing the problems now surfacing."
Contact staff writer Mark Walker at (760) 740-3529 or mlwalker@nctimes.com.
Ellie