Word: mcchrystal
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...saga of the Army's M2 and M3 Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) systems illustrates how costs can escalate out of control. "It is a horror story of the worst kind," says Major General Herbert McChrystal Jr., retired, who was an Army director of planning. The original plans, drawn up in 1972, envisioned an armored personnel carrier costing $400,000. As soon as development began, the Army review committee, a constantly changing board of top Pentagon staffers, began reconsidering exactly what jobs the vehicle should do. Should troops fight from the vehicle or get out? Should there be gun ports...
...point it was decided to add a guided antitank missile (TOW) to the vehicle, with accompanying computer and an expanded two-man turret. Did that mean the 25-mm "Bushmaster" gun should be taken off? Explains McChrystal: "At one meeting people would say, 'Take the Bushmaster off and put the TOW on,' then at the next they'd say, 'No, we ought to have both.' Then a new officer would be rotated onto the review board and say, 'What's the matter with you guys? That thing can't carry both. Change...
...McChrystal and a number of weapons experts, both in and out of uniform, feel that the U.S. ought to take a tip from the Soviets, who allow only a tightly limited number of design changes as they push ahead with a project. Any idea that subsequently conies along is held for the next model. The Soviets generally need about half the time the U.S. needs to get a new tank into service. "The good old U.S. Army," says McChrystal, "is going to put out that IFV with every bit of innovation they can, and it'll be a monster...