Task Force optimistic on tank future

Task Force optimistic on tank future
13 May 2011


A new defense spending bill and bipartisan support from the Legislature has local leaders optimistic about the future of the Lima tank industry.
Members of Task Force L.I.M.A. met Thursday to discuss the latest efforts to preserve work at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center. When the group met last month, members faced a tide of political will that appeared headed toward shuttering the plant's Abrams Tank program for three years and completely doing away with the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, an amphibious craft once considered an important piece of the plant's future.
That tide appears to have changed.
In the past 30 days, a bipartisan congressional response rose up against the Department of Defense's plans to slice the programs in a wider effort to trim the federal budget. A powerful congressman visited the plant and returned to Washington to insert $272 million into the budget for the Abrams. Another $12 million was authorized to allow for final testing on the EFV. And most importantly, leaders appear to be getting the message that closing the plant would cost more than keeping it in action.
“There's actually been pretty good news from the last 30 days,” said Lima Mayor David Berger, chairman of the task force. “I think we made great progress this past month, not just in words, but in actions formalized on the Hill.” (Source: www.limaohio.com)


Source;

http://bit.ly/mt3dCd


Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All Rights Reserved.

Army Plan to Halt US Tank Production Draws Fire in Congress

Army Plan to Halt US Tank Production Draws Fire in Congress
12 May 2011


The Army's M1 Abrams tank has careened across battlefields in U.S. combat operations since 1980.
But now the 75-ton, American-made icon is at the center of the federal budget debate, with the Pentagon calling for production to halt and Congress determined to say no.
The Army says taxpayers could save $1.3 billion in the defense spending bill for fiscal year 2012 if lawmakers agreed to temporarily shutter the nation's only tank production facility in Lima, Ohio, for at least three years, starting in 2013.
The closure would be the first cessation of U.S. tank production since World War II.
"We've got a very fit and complete fleet that we'll have at this time. And that's what has caused us to stop buying something that we no longer need," Lt. Gen. Robert Lennox, the Army's deputy chief of staff, told a Senate committee last month.
But a bipartisan group of lawmakers, under pressure from the tank's producer, General Dynamics Land Systems, says the military has it all wrong.
One hundred thirty-seven House members argued Friday in a letter to Army Secretary John McHugh that the proposal would dangerously harm the country's "industrial base," forcing highly-skilled workers to go elsewhere and adding unnecessary re-training and certification costs to the taxpayers' tab.
"Our industrial base cannot be turned on and off like a light switch," said Rep. Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and co-signed the letter.
General Dynamics has told lawmakers that closing and reopening the plant four years later would cost $300,000 more than continuing limited production over the same period. (Source: ABC News)


Source;

http://bit.ly/kigHVe


Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All Rights Reserved.

HASC saves tanks, keeps F-35Bs

HASC saves tanks, keeps F-35Bs
12 May 2011


The House Armed Services Committee voted on Wednesday to add $425 million to next year’s budget so the Army can keep open its production of M1 Abrams tanks and M2 Bradley fighting vehicles, on the theory that keeping the line going will ultimately be cheaper than idling for three years, as the Army now plans. “These production lines can’t be turned on and off like a light switch,” said Maryland Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, the Republican chairman of the HASC’s air and land forces subcommittee.
The proposed three-year shutdown would force contractor General Dynamics to lay off too many skilled workers, and could force its small suppliers out of business, opponents say, which would raise the price tag on everything when the Army wanted to resume production. The Army’s current plans call for idling its tank factory from 2013 to 2016, then beginning a major recapitalization program for the M1 fleet. Bartlett’s measure would provide funding to keep the line “warm.”
The full committee on Wednesday also rejected an amendment offered by Rep. Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat, that would have cut next year’s planned buy of F-35B Lightning IIs from six to four, and used the savings of about $380 million to fund Navy operations and maintenance and equipment for the National Guard. Cooper presented his measure as a good compromise — the Marines would still get their jets, other worthy recipients would get a shot in the arm, and it “would send a message … that we need to get this program back on track.” (Source: DoDbuzz.com)


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http://bit.ly/jfxE5n


Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All Rights Reserved.

Tacoma car crash

I-5 crash in Tacoma
Monday, May 2, 2011

Crash occured in the South bound lanes of I-5 at the
38th. st. on ramp.

Click on the photo to see a larger image.


Click on the photo to see a larger image.

more...


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Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All Rights Reserved.

Destroyer named for SEAL is christened

Destroyer named for SEAL is christened
10 May 2011


The mother of a Navy SEAL killed in a firefight in Afghanistan christened a warship bearing her son’s name on Saturday, as the leader of the nation’s special forces said those who died that day would be comforted to know that the al-Qaida leader who caused the war in Afghanistan was killed by the U.S. military.
Maureen Murphy, mother of Lt. Michael Murphy, said “Happy birthday, baby” during remarks from the podium minutes before smashing a bottle of Champagne against the bow of the Navy destroyer on what would’ve been her son’s 35th birthday.
The Navy lieutenant and Medal of Honor recipient led a four-member SEAL team against overwhelming odds in a gun battle in eastern Afghanistan.
Killed along with Murphy on June 28, 2005, were two members of his team, as well as 16 rescuers — eight Navy SEALs and eight members of the Army’s elite Night Stalkers — after their helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade.
“If these brave men are watching today, they must be extremely proud of — and somewhat comforted by — the reports that the man who started the war in which they died was himself killed when their brothers — Navy SEALs and Army Night Stalkers — assaulted his compound,” said Adm. Eric Olson, leader of the Special Operations Command and a former SEAL instructor.
Security was beefed up for Saturday’s event, which came less than a week after Osama bin Laden was shot to death in Pakistan.

Outside, about two dozen peace demonstrators held signs and banners, and made speeches, but there were no arrests, Bath police said.
Joining the 3,000 spectators at General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works were more than a dozen SEALs from Murphy’s Hawaii-based unit, as well as family members of four of the fallen SEALs and a contingent of 22 firefighters from New York City. (Source: Navy Times)


Source;

http://bit.ly/lvweke


Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All Rights Reserved.

House Panel: Cap FY-12 Stryker Buy At 100 Unless Army Says Why It Needs More

House Panel: Cap FY-12 Stryker Buy At 100 Unless Army Says Why It Needs More
9 May 2011


A House panel proposed legislation this week that would block the Army from buying more than the 100 Stryker vehicles the service seeks to procure in fiscal year 2012 unless service leaders explain why they might need more.
The House Armed Services tactical aircraft and land forces subcommittee, in its version of the Pentagon's fiscal year 2012 authorization bill, includes a provision that sources say is not designed to punish the Stryker program but to put the Army on a shorter leash as it obligates funds provided by Congress for the General Dynamics-built combat vehicle.
The Army, which has not committed to a long-term procurement strategy for the eight-wheeled, four-by-four armored fighting vehicle, has frequently adjusted its Stryker acquisition plans over the years -- “sometimes based on realistic needs, sometimes based on the fact they have no idea what they're doing,” said a source familiar with the program.
A government source said the structure of the contracts in place for procuring Stryker allows the Army to both acquire new vehicles and to upgrade others using funds from the same account, unlike many other programs for which two separate funding lines are established.
The Army's Stryker set-up -- when paired with regular funding boosts from the appropriations committees -- has given the Army unusual flexibility, and Congress reduced oversight, over the program, these sources say.
Last year, the program was sitting on more than $800 million in unobligated balances, funds that have accumulated because of regular changes in the service's procurement plans, according to a government source.
“This is a message from the Hill that 'You'd better tell us what you're doing,'” said the source familiar with the program.
The proposed legislation says the Pentagon may build more than 100 Stryker vehicles in FY-12 only if the Army secretary provides lawmakers a waiver that includes a certification from the service acquisition executive that “there are validated needs” for more.
In addition, the acquisition executive must certify that “all Stryker combat vehicles required to fully equip the nine Stryker brigades and to meet other validated requirements regarding the vehicle have been procured or placed on contract for procurement.” (Source: Inside Defense)


Source;

http://bit.ly/lNE9zp


Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All Rights Reserved.

House Members Call For Preservation of Abrams Industrial Base

House Members Call For Preservation of Abrams Industrial Base
09 May 2011


More than 130 members of the House wrote to Army Secretary John McHugh May 6 calling for the “prudent” continuation of Abrams tank production to preserve the industrial base.
Members said it would cost more to shut down, and then restart the production line than to move to limited production--which would also preserve the workforce producing the vehicles.
Meanwhile, House Armed Services Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) said the Fiscal Year ‘12 defense-authorization bill adds funding to the Pentagon budget request to prevent a temporary shutdown of the Abrams tank and Bradley Fighting Vehicle production lines (Defense Daily, May 6). “This is a no-brainer,” he said.
Members wrote McHugh: “We believe it prudent to continue limited production of M1A2 SEP tanks at 70 per year in order to bridge the production gap until the next generation of Abrams begins fielding.”
Those who actually work on the Abrams line are another concern, as are those companies that supply the component parts.
“The end of Abrams production would shut down the unique national asset that is the U.S. tank industrial base even with the expectation that later in the decade the same industrial base will be required to produce modernized Abram tanks and/or the Ground Combat Vehicle,” members wrote.
The mix of House Democrats and Republicans expressed specific concern that the Army plans to stop tank production for the first time since 1941 with other production gaps occurring during the fiscal year 2014-2016 on other “important” combat vehicles, such as the Bradley Fighting Vehicle and the Stryker Vehicles. (Source: Defense Daily)


Source;

http://bit.ly/lwb5KD



Copyright 2011 Atkins & Assoc. All Rights Reserved.