7.23.22
Early last decade, worries over slackening demand for armored tanks put the fate of the General Dynamics tank plant in Lima, Ohio -- and the jobs of 900 workers -- at risk. More long-lasting good news for Lima and General Dynamics arrived last month when the U.S. Army announced it had awarded General Dynamics $1.14 billion to develop a new light tank under the latter's Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) program. The MPF diesel tank, says General Dynamics, will be a "highly lethal, survivable and mobile direct-fire combat vehicle" featuring a lightweight hull, carrying a large-caliber cannon, and guided by an enhanced thermal viewer. It will be deployed to add punch to Army Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), rather than (as you might expect) the Army's Armored BCTs. As BreakingDefense.com points out, the MPF light tank "will be the Army's first new designed vehicle in over 40 years." The contract will therefore mean years of new business for General Dynamics as it first develops the product, then builds out hundreds of units of the new tank over time.
How many hundreds? The initial low-rate production contract for $1.14 billion hires GD to build 96 MPF light tanks, with the first one due by the end of next year. By 2030, GD is supposed to have built enough tanks to outfit four battalions (168 tanks) -- and even then the contract will only be one-third complete. Ultimately, the Army says it will need 504 MPF light tanks, and it plans to spend $17 billion on the program over its 30-year lifespan. Now, that sounds like a lot of money -- and it is. In fact, dividing 504 tanks into a $17 billion cost seems to imply that each tank will cost taxpayers as much as $33.7 million -- several times more than the purchase cost of a larger M1A2 Abrams main battle tank (also built by GD). That $17 billion figure, however, probably encompasses everything from developing and building to maintaining and servicing the tanks. Actual purchase costs are expected to be a more reasonable $12.7 million per unit for the initial lot of 28 light tanks that will begin arriving next year.