Army Carbine Program May Waste $1.8 Billion, Report Finds
The Army risks wasting as much as $1.8 billion developing a replacement for the M4 carbine that it may not need, according to the Pentagon’s inspector general.
The carbine replacement program is one the Army and Pentagon “may want to re-evaluate,” as the service is “seeking to acquire more rifles during a time when their total force structure will be reduced,” Lynne Halbrooks, principal deputy inspector general, said in a statement provided today to a House committee. The Pentagon plans to reduce Army ground forces to 490,000 by 2017 from about 560,000 in 2011.
Halbrooks’s office is auditing the program and “we expect to report concerns that” the Army “may not have an established need for this weapon nor developed performance requirements for the $1.8 billion acquisition,” she said. A draft of the audit is due to Army and Pentagon officials in about two months, she said.
Colt Defense LLC, based in West Hartford, Connecticut, is the primary supplier of the U.S. Army’s M4 rifle and would face competition under the replacement program.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-19/army-carbine-program-may-waste-1-8-billion-report-finds.html