Army to refurbish Humvees, not buy more - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Army to refurbish Humvees, not buy more

Having concluded that it has more Humvees than it needs, the Army will use Humvee-procurement funds to refurbish existing ones instead, Army Secretary John McHugh told lawmakers March 23.

“We are developing a reprogramming request for the unexpended monies available in the Humvee procurement program that’s working its way towards the [Pentagon] comptroller, [Robert] Hale,” McHugh told members of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense.

Humvee manufacturer AM General may compete for the refurbishing work, which could allow their production line to stay open longer, McHugh told the subcommittee.

“We’ve tried to be as sensitive as we can to the manufacturing base which we’re concerned about, but there’s only so far we can go and limits we have to respect,” he said.

A recent portfolio review of Army vehicles determined the service has exceeded its requirement for Humvees, McHugh said. Following the review, the Army recently terminated its contract, in a process McHugh called “a drawdown” rather than an abrupt end.

There are about 8,000 Humvees “currently on the lot, waiting for the Army to accept,” he said. Moreover, the Army will buy another 2,662 vehicles through an option in the existing contract, he said. The production line will stay open at least until the end of 2013, allowing the Army to fulfill its sales to foreign customers and other services. These account for an additional 8,995 vehicles, McHugh added.

“And after that, we expect the Humvee to still be a part of our vehicle fleet, but it’ll be much adjusted in its activity based on what we’ve experienced in Afghanistan,” said McHugh.

The Army requested $1.3 billion in 2010 to purchase 8,120 Humvees, but did not request any procurement funding for the vehicles in 2011. There is funding in the 2011 budget request for Humvee purchases for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

McHugh said the price tag of a new Humvee is roughly $184,000, while a refurbishment means “taking the old platform, in most cases stripping it right down to the frame, and rebuilding, and that costs between $90,000 and $100,000.”