Iraq-bound troops might forgo improved Abrams tanks

A last-minute decision to punt $3 billion for heavy armor upgrades from the Pentagon's fiscal 2006 supplemental spending request might deprive Army units deploying to Iraq next year of new technologies designed to better protect troops in urban combat, defense sources said Wednesday.

Without money by spring, production lines for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and Abrams tank modernization programs might grind to a halt just months before the 3rd Infantry Division and other units return to Iraq.

Army officials, however, insist they will recoup the money in an fiscal 2007 bridge fund that should be available Oct. 1, resulting in only a 90-day delay on the armor programs.

"That's not a hell of a lot when you think about it," Lt. Gen. Jerry Sinn, the Army's budget chief, said Thursday. Pentagon leaders have assured the Army, "We've got you covered," he added.

Sources opposed to the cuts argued that a delay of several months could force General Dynamics and BAE Systems, the makers of the Abrams and Bradley, respectively, to shut down production lines and potentially lay off thousands of workers -- with the added costs of restarting those lines.

At least two internal Army documents obtained by CongressDaily indicate the service is privately skeptical the equipment can be ready by the end of the year if it does not receive fiscal 2006 funds.

A Feb. 28 document states the Army will have a five-month production break for the Abrams and a seven-month delay on the Bradleys, even if the Pentagon requests the $3 billion in next year's bridge fund. And an undated document concludes that the Army must award a $155.6 million contract to General Dynamics on "tank urban survivability kits" by June in time to field them to units heading to Iraq.

The 3rd Infantry Division, which was among the first units in Iraq three years ago, expected many of the upgrades this year, allowing them to train on the vehicles before returning to Iraq next January. Now, if they get them at all, it would butt up against their departure for Iraq.

"This isn't like a video game," the former Army official said. "The guys have to train with the equipment they go to combat with."

The Abrams tank upgrades originally scheduled for the 3rd Infantry Division and deploying National Guard units include urban survivability kits -- essentially add-on armor that better protects against rocket-propelled grenades, a shield for the gunner and a new thermal sight system.

In addition, delays in completing major overhauls would result in "increased stress and reduced combat power in theater," the Feb. 28 document said.

Meanwhile, delays to the Bradley modernization program, including technology that gives crews a 360-degree view of their surroundings, do not appear to affect the next round of deployments.

All of this, defense sources said, amounts to better protection and awareness for troops maneuvering through volatile Iraqi streets.

"That's the equivalent to the armor force of up-armored Humvees," said one defense industry official, recalling the protracted battle between Congress and the Pentagon over what lawmakers considered a slow response to Humvee armor requests from troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But a senior military official said the consequences of not immediately deploying the equipment are not "earth-shattering." "We'd like to be able to do this, but it didn't get supported," the official added.

The need to protect troops likely will resonate in Congress, where lawmakers already are maneuvering to restore the funding this fiscal year. Options might include adding a $3 billion amendment to the $72.4 billion wartime supplemental bill or cutting from other areas.

In particular, Senate Appropriations Committee members Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., oppose the cuts. The two appropriators represent states that would be among those hardest hit by any halt in the Abrams production line.

The Army, too, is "going to do everything we can" to avoid a production break, including potentially reprogramming fiscal 2006 funds to pay for the upgrades, said Claude Bolton, the Army's acquisition chief.