Army pulls out of hearing on Future Combat Systems program

Senior Army officials have abruptly backed out of a House Armed Services Air and Land Forces Subcommittee hearing scheduled for Thursday on the service's $160 billion Future Combat Systems program.

Lt. Gen. Ross Thompson, the Army's top acquisition officer, and FCS program manager Maj. Gen. John Bartley had been expected to testify alongside representatives from GAO, which recently released a report critical of the program.

But the scope and focus of the hearing, an Army spokesman said in an e-mailed statement, "are too closely aligned with ongoing predecisional budget and acquisition discussions within the Defense Department."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has required that all Pentagon officials and military brass involved in ongoing negotiations over the fiscal 2010 budget sign a nondisclosure form, barring them from revealing any details of the deliberations.

But Congress already has held several hearings on military programs and budget-related issues in advance of President Obama's release of his fiscal 2010 budget details expected this spring. For instance, senior Air Force and Navy officers testified on Wednesday before the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee during a hearing on combat aircraft acquisition. That same morning, top National Guard and Reserve officials testified before the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

When Pentagon comptroller Robert Hale testified last week before the House Budget Committee, he discussed the topline budget figure and broad budget priorities but deflected any questions on the details. "I think if I were to give you details I could just go straight on home because I wouldn't be very welcome back at the Pentagon," he quipped.

In a March 3 letter inviting Thompson to testify, Air and Land Forces Subcommittee Chairman Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, and ranking member Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., specified that the hearing's focus would be on the status of the FCS program in fiscal 2009 and the GAO report.

"While we understand that any Army witness may not be able to discuss the FY 2010 funding decisions or plans to restructure the FCS program, having an Army witness will greatly enhance the hearing's utility for members of the subcommittee," they wrote. "In our opinion, discussion of the program's current status or the Army's overall goals for the program would in no way reveal predecisional budget information."

In anticipation of the hearing, which initially had been scheduled for last week, the Army submitted written testimony to the panel. An Abercrombie spokesman said the hearing will go on this afternoon without the Army's testimony.

FCS, a system of manned and unmanned air and ground vehicles tied together by an intricate wireless network, is one of several defense programs undergoing intense scrutiny as the Pentagon gears up for expected weapons system cuts.

Several sources closely tracking the program said that Obama administration officials are weighing drastic cuts to the number of FCS manned ground vehicles. The service wants to buy eight types of FCS vehicles, but those numbers could get slashed to as little as two, these sources said.

The case for the program was certainly not helped by the latest in a series of scathing GAO reports, which found that many of the FCS technologies were immature and predicted that the program would face cost increases.

Army officials have challenged portions of the report and argued that the program is on track. They also have emphasized that the program is undergoing rigorous testing.

"In its recent FCS report, the GAO principally recommended that Congress withhold full funding for the FCS program until the Army and Defense Department reviews the program's budget and aligns its acquisition strategy," the Army spokesman said. "As previously discussed, the Army has significant differences with the GAO findings and methodology."