Congress is looking at the Army’s Future Combat System with an increasingly jaundiced eye. Recently, they threatened to strip $900 million from the program, prompting the Army to send some suits down to the Hill to threaten dread results.

Last year, lawmakers cut funding for FCS as they faced mounting pressure to protect troops in combat. They initially tried to “reallocate” as much as $900 million that was earmarked for the program to help pay for body armor for soldiers, up-armored Humvees, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) trucks, and other war needs.

Army officials balked, sounding what one staffer on Capitol Hill called a “general alarm,” and dispatched several senior Army officers to the Hill to repair the damage. They feared that the cuts were the first of attempts to entirely kill off the program. Their efforts led to much of the funding being restored and ultimately only about $200 million was cut from the program.

Cut it now or cut it later, it really doesn’t matter. At current funding levels, the U.S. Army will field Future Combat Systems right about the time the sun supernovas. The bottom line, is that this program represents the “legacy” of a wide swath of military officials, just as it represents billions of dollars in government contracts.

As for needing the tools to win in the “next-generation of warfare;” I would recommend the history section at the Library of Congress. The tools are all there and have been polished by thousands of years of human history. Certainly, Army officials salivate over Robocop warriors marauding, casualty-less, through the bad guys, and it sure sounds like a good time. Reality, however, has a way of injecting itself into these fantasies.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.