S weapons buyer: big Army program may go international

[UpInArms]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BD54B8A3A%2D7672%2D48DC%2DB29E%2DC61253CF25AB%7D

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. Army's $125 billion modernization program may soon go international, the Pentagon's top weapons buyer said Thursday.

Michael Wynne, the Defense Department's under secretary for acquisition, said the Future Combat Systems program could soon expand to include other nations, including the U.K., Australia, Japan and European allies in the NATO alliance.

"It looks to me like it's going to be a multinational development program," Wynne said, in comments at a Center for Strategic and International Studies conference in Washington.

The U.S. Army is in the middle of restructuring the program, a massive effort to upgrade its communications, computer systems and land vehicles. Last summer, the Army announced plans to speed up networks and delay ground vehicles, and more recently the Pentagon said it would change the terms of Boeing Co.'s (BA) $21 billion contract as the program's industry lead.

As a result, the Army may end up paying for design work by itself, Wynne said. However, other nations could sign on once the program stabilizes and nears production, he said.

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lovely circle-jerk activity :sarcasm:

[DoNotRefill]

1. Ummmmm....hasn't this happened before?

I seem to recall something about standardization programs run back when NATO was a big thing....it sucks when your allies use different ammo than you do. Also, US military procurement has been international for quite a while...IIRC, for a while there Fabrique Nationale of Belgium had the contract to manufacture the M-16...