Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
June 26, 2008
Pg. 7
Army tries to keep 4,700 of the tough vehicles in service
By Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today
YORK, Pa. — It took Michael Sueck and his welder's torch three days to clean out the wound gouged into the Bradley Fighting Vehicle by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
The last new Bradley rolled off the assembly line in 1995, and the Army plans to use the armored vehicles for decades. That makes the work of Sueck all the more important. Last year, at the BAE Systems plant here, he worked on 50 bomb-blasted Bradleys. In all, Iraqi insurgents have destroyed 148 Bradleys, including nine this year.
"As soon as we can finish this one, it can save some more" soldiers, Sueck says.
The Bradley's trip from battlefield casualty back to fighting form shows the Pentagon's enormous task in rebuilding itself. The bill could top $100 billion, as five years of war in Iraq have worn down everything from rifles to Humvees and fighter jets.
What the military calls resetting is essential for a force that needs "to regain our balance," says Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes, the Army's deputy chief of staff for programs. "We're like a boxer who's thrown a right cross. We're still in the ring and the round isn't over yet. … That means regaining the readiness and ability to throw another punch."
Because no new Bradleys are being built, the Pentagon must rely on an extensive network to keep the Army's 4,700 Bradleys rolling. Sueck and others will have to patch up the wounds caused by roadside bombs, bullets and grenades. They'll have to add new electronics, install new engines and recondition armor.
The Army will repair 1,000 Bradleys this year at a cost of $1.2 million each. An additional 400 will be upgraded with the latest electronics at an average cost of $3.5 million.
Speakes, who oversees the Army's re-equipping effort, says the Bradley's protection and firepower make it ideal for soldiers in a tough fight.
"The Bradley is a remarkable platform," he says. "It can hold a squad of infantrymen and provide direct-fire support. The 25mm gun is a wonderful cannon. It gives you enormous flexibility. It's amazingly agile, very reliable and responsive. This vehicle will flat kick a--."
That's why commanders in Iraq sought it for operations to root out insurgents in Sadr City, a neighborhood where Shiite insurgents attacked U.S. troops this spring. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who commanded troops south of Baghdad, sent two Bradley platoons to the fight. The Bradleys, he says, "performed amazingly well."
Before the Bradley leaves the fight in Iraq — there is none in Afghanistan — logistics experts order parts that can take a year or more to acquire such as its intercom, transmission and fuel pump.
It takes a month to haul the Bradley from Iraq to Kuwait after a year or more of combat. Crews there inspect and clean it and load it aboard a ship for two months at sea. The Bradley is unloaded at the port in Beaumont, Texas, and sent by rail to the Red River Army Depot in Texarkana.
Some arrive at Red River scarred by roadside bombs. Others have crew compartments jammed with guns and broken tracks. All appear worn.
Col. Paul Lepine, program manager, for the Army's heavy brigade combat teams, stands by a Bradley crumpled into a twisted, metal hulk. A roadside bomb destroyed the vehicle and the blaze burned hot enough to melt its aluminum hull. It's doubtful that anything can be salvaged.
"There is no dealership to take these vehicles to," Lepine says. "When we service them we need to take them through this extensive process that costs a lot because of the extensive touch labor and cost of materials. Reset buys back the vehicle life that was used in combat."
Inside a cavernous, World War II-era building, workers swing hammers and twist wrenches to dismantle the Bradley's tracks. They open its hatches and gut its engine and transmission. Inside the pale-green turret, weapons mechanic Matt Richardson dismantles the Bradley's firing systems. "It feels pretty good to know you're helping out soldiers," he says.
Stripped-down Bradleys then travel to BAE Systems plants in Pennsylvania where they are reassembled, painted, tested and shipped out for deployment.
Jim Payne, director of support services at BAE's York plant, says it took a year or more to repair Bradleys at the start of the war. The Bradley Sueck welded, in fact, was damaged by a bomb in June 2006. But most vehicles can be returned to service in five months, Payne says.
The quicker, the better, says Sueck, the welder.
"They're lifesavers."
June 26, 2008
Pg. 7
Army tries to keep 4,700 of the tough vehicles in service
By Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today
YORK, Pa. — It took Michael Sueck and his welder's torch three days to clean out the wound gouged into the Bradley Fighting Vehicle by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
The last new Bradley rolled off the assembly line in 1995, and the Army plans to use the armored vehicles for decades. That makes the work of Sueck all the more important. Last year, at the BAE Systems plant here, he worked on 50 bomb-blasted Bradleys. In all, Iraqi insurgents have destroyed 148 Bradleys, including nine this year.
"As soon as we can finish this one, it can save some more" soldiers, Sueck says.
The Bradley's trip from battlefield casualty back to fighting form shows the Pentagon's enormous task in rebuilding itself. The bill could top $100 billion, as five years of war in Iraq have worn down everything from rifles to Humvees and fighter jets.
What the military calls resetting is essential for a force that needs "to regain our balance," says Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes, the Army's deputy chief of staff for programs. "We're like a boxer who's thrown a right cross. We're still in the ring and the round isn't over yet. … That means regaining the readiness and ability to throw another punch."
Because no new Bradleys are being built, the Pentagon must rely on an extensive network to keep the Army's 4,700 Bradleys rolling. Sueck and others will have to patch up the wounds caused by roadside bombs, bullets and grenades. They'll have to add new electronics, install new engines and recondition armor.
The Army will repair 1,000 Bradleys this year at a cost of $1.2 million each. An additional 400 will be upgraded with the latest electronics at an average cost of $3.5 million.
Speakes, who oversees the Army's re-equipping effort, says the Bradley's protection and firepower make it ideal for soldiers in a tough fight.
"The Bradley is a remarkable platform," he says. "It can hold a squad of infantrymen and provide direct-fire support. The 25mm gun is a wonderful cannon. It gives you enormous flexibility. It's amazingly agile, very reliable and responsive. This vehicle will flat kick a--."
That's why commanders in Iraq sought it for operations to root out insurgents in Sadr City, a neighborhood where Shiite insurgents attacked U.S. troops this spring. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who commanded troops south of Baghdad, sent two Bradley platoons to the fight. The Bradleys, he says, "performed amazingly well."
Before the Bradley leaves the fight in Iraq — there is none in Afghanistan — logistics experts order parts that can take a year or more to acquire such as its intercom, transmission and fuel pump.
It takes a month to haul the Bradley from Iraq to Kuwait after a year or more of combat. Crews there inspect and clean it and load it aboard a ship for two months at sea. The Bradley is unloaded at the port in Beaumont, Texas, and sent by rail to the Red River Army Depot in Texarkana.
Some arrive at Red River scarred by roadside bombs. Others have crew compartments jammed with guns and broken tracks. All appear worn.
Col. Paul Lepine, program manager, for the Army's heavy brigade combat teams, stands by a Bradley crumpled into a twisted, metal hulk. A roadside bomb destroyed the vehicle and the blaze burned hot enough to melt its aluminum hull. It's doubtful that anything can be salvaged.
"There is no dealership to take these vehicles to," Lepine says. "When we service them we need to take them through this extensive process that costs a lot because of the extensive touch labor and cost of materials. Reset buys back the vehicle life that was used in combat."
Inside a cavernous, World War II-era building, workers swing hammers and twist wrenches to dismantle the Bradley's tracks. They open its hatches and gut its engine and transmission. Inside the pale-green turret, weapons mechanic Matt Richardson dismantles the Bradley's firing systems. "It feels pretty good to know you're helping out soldiers," he says.
Stripped-down Bradleys then travel to BAE Systems plants in Pennsylvania where they are reassembled, painted, tested and shipped out for deployment.
Jim Payne, director of support services at BAE's York plant, says it took a year or more to repair Bradleys at the start of the war. The Bradley Sueck welded, in fact, was damaged by a bomb in June 2006. But most vehicles can be returned to service in five months, Payne says.
The quicker, the better, says Sueck, the welder.
"They're lifesavers."