Rethinking the Future Combat System

An article over at Strategypage has made me rethink my opposition to the Army's multi-billion dollar FCS program. The plan is to replace current combat vehicles, sensors, UAVs, ect. with a whole network of platforms over the next few years. Deciding it was just another expensive Army boondoggle, yet the writers at Strategypage make sense:

FCS gets a lot of media attention because it promises to incorporate all sorts of neat new technology, and cost over a hundred billion dollars. While that sounds like a lot, it’s not when you consider that the current Cold War era heavy weapons (armored vehicles, artillery) and other equipment (radios, and all sorts of electronics) are wearing out and will have to be replaced, even if the FCS project didn’t exist. Four thousand new tanks, at a cost of $5 million each (current cost of an M1) is $20 billion. But new generations of gear rarely cost the same as the stuff they replace. So you can see how FCS grew into a hundred billion dollar baby.

...So, when you see any coverage of FCS in the future, remember that the really important stuff is networking, software and combat robots. And don't forget that the army is taking advantage of all the fighting it is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan to implement FCS. The fighting causes equipment and weapons to be destroyed or worn out at a high rate. The new gear is often FCS class stuff. The army is also testing a lot of the FCS ideas in combat. This is nothing new, as wartime always creates a call for new ideas and equipment. The army had actually tested many of the basic FCS commo ideas before 911, or the Iraq invasion, so using the stuff in combat (like Blue Force Tracker and all the UAVs) simply allows the troops to perfect the ideas and gear. Thus FCS is more than the hundred billion dollar procurement contracts that Congress concentrates on. FCS is slowly evolving within the army right now.

There's good news: Since the Army is having to do most of the fighting in the post-Cold War world, it only makes since they should have the choice of the defense budget. It was the Air Force and Navy which kept the peace during the last struggle. Since they did their job so well, they get a break and the Army holds the line.