U.S. Army eyes more agile modernization approach

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army is adopting more agile and flexible procurement plans in response to lessons learned from the Pentagon's decision to halt the $160 billion Future Combat Systems (FCS) modernization program.

"One of the things we learned from FCS was, we tried to go too fast and the technology wasn't there," Army Chief of Staff General George Casey told reporters on Monday at an Association of the U.S. Army conference.

"We're going to strike the right balance between leveraging technology that's available so that we're not doing wishful thinking, but at the same time are pressing the system as fast as we can," Casey said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates in April canceled the $87 billion ground vehicle part of the massive FCS program, which was run by Boeing Co and Science Applications International Corp.

Gates told the conference that the Army was continuing its modernization effort by accelerating work to develop a new computer network and get new weapons into the hands of soldiers faster.

Gates said he remained committed to replacing the Army's fleet of aging ground vehicles, but the new plan had to incorporate lessons from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and include nearly $30 billion the Pentagon has already spent on Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) trucks.

In response, Lieutenant General Michael Vane, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, said the Army would revamp its approach to acquisitions to buy fewer weapons systems more often. That would allow better oversight of programs and give the government more control, he said.

Looking at programs every two years instead of waiting for critical milestones every five or 10 years should help keep closer tabs on emerging technology and battlefield needs, Vane said. The goal is to field new technologies with soldiers in units that were deploying, instead of "trying to modernize the whole Army at once."

"We're suggesting a different way to do acquisitions," Vane told Reuters in an interview at the conference.

The new approach, which starts programs with more modest plans rather than scaling back weapons programs after costs rise, has drawn some resistance from congressional aides and lower-level Pentagon bureaucrats, he said.

The replacement vehicle program would focus on protecting troops from roadside bombs, rockets and mortars, Vane said. It would also ensure mobility on and off road, and connect soldiers on foot and in vehicles to the network.

The approach, developed by Vane and his chief of staff, Rickey Smith, is said to ensure new ground vehicles were big enough and had sufficient power to use new technologies as they emerge.

Vane said the plan would build on nearly eight years of work on the FCS ground vehicles, but would move away from "lead system integrators" and return to greater reliance on government officials for integration. Lead system integrators are large contractors hired by the Pentagon to manage complex weapons programs and given a broad range of authority.

Smith told Reuters Boeing, SAIC and the Army were still in talks about how to revamp the companies' Lead System Integrator contract.

Vane said the modernization would show up in the Army's budget in multiple places, rather than as a single budget line as in the past.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Julie Vorman, Leslie Gevirtz)