After more than a decade of war, the Army wants to replace combat vehicles worn out from millions of miles in rugged terrain in Iraq and Afghanistan or blown up by roadside bombs.
Its new vehicles must be safe enough for troops yet light and maneuverable enough to be deployed rapidly in support of the Obama administration's shift in strategy away from long-term occupations.
Developing a light truck and a heavy personnel carrier that will do everything the Army wants won't be cheap and could mean "we're pricing ourselves out of land warfare," said Andrew Krepinevich, president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a non-partisan defense think tank.
The future, instead, could mean repairs, not replacements/.../