The Army's Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) and Early Infantry Brigade Combat Team (E-IBCT) Programs: Background and Issues for Congress

In April 2009, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that he intended to significantly restructure the Army's Future Combat System (FCS) program. The FCS was a multiyear, multibillion dollar program that had been underway since 2000 and was at the heart of the Army's transformation efforts. It was to be the Army's major research, development, and acquisition program, consisting of 18 manned and unmanned systems tied together by an extensive communications and information network. Secretary Gates also recommended cancelling the manned ground vehicle (MGV) component of the FCS program, which was intended to field eight separate tracked combat vehicle variants built on a common chassis. As part of this restructuring, the Army was directed to develop a Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) that would be relevant across the entire spectrum of Army operations and would incorporate combat lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan. As part of the FCS program the Army had been spinning out selected FCS technologies to brigade combat teams (BCTs) that were deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. Secretary Gates's April 2009 restructuring decision included provisions to continue these efforts, and the Army decided that initially these technologies would be provided to Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (IBCTs); the Army designated this effort as the Early Infantry Brigade Combat Team (E-IBCT) program. Congressional interest in these two programs has been significant, as both the GCV and E-IBCT programs directly impact 64 of the Army's 73 BCTs and could be expanded to other types of units if they prove successful. Given the Army's relatively poor track record of developing and fielding major combat systems over the past three decades, some analysts believe that the GCV program, in particular, could be the Army's last opportunity to prove that it should be in charge of developing and managing its own weapon systems programs.
CRS Report for Congress.