US Marines to pay $100K For Retooled Jeep

First hand experience here, via 4 years as a Marine Motor T Mechanic. . .this is probably better from a Practical Standpoint. I worked on HMMWV for 4 years. They pieces of s*it, honestly.

HMMWVs break down on a whim, and are a pain in the as*. It is also hard to make "field expedient repairs" on them compared with other Marine vehicles like MRAP's, Huskies and Buffalo's.

Maybe 10years ago when we invaded Iraq and they were newer, but if my unit were called to deploy with our stock of HMMWV's, they would strand a lot of people.

a reply to: buntalanlucu

I don't know exact figures, but I believe HMMWV's run around 30k a piece, and Mrap's around 600k, with no extra goodies attached like ECM and Gyrocam, which almost double again the cost of an Mrap. But aalso keep in mind MRAPS are completely different vehicles, like 40k pounds different.

The Major is not amused. Perhaps the Marine Corps should invest in a few good cavalry horses. They fit in a V-22, have more personality than a Jeep, and in a pinch, taste better.

DOD procurement is less disciplined than a valley girl at the mall with daddy's gold card.

Dismissed.

I owned a tool and die company in California, about 30% of our work was for DoD. We manufactured mainly components for the Navy and Air Force, balance for Army. All if it went through DCMA, the Military contracting management system.

As an example, manufacturing itself may take 50 hour, paperwork required when shipping the part another 30-40 hours. I must pay someone to complete the paperwork, and insure its properly formatted or the part would be rejected. We also had to include our own inspection reports, another 15-20 hours. (which was radically different from military inspecting parts themselves until the mid 80's). This is also the reason i think many military components fail, the manufacturer is inspecting their own parts these last few decades. I think in a full scale war the US military will have massive component failure across the board when systems are truly tested in full theater warfare. so far we have been lucky to have only small wars like Iraq.

So a part that cost the Military 3,000.00 in manufacturing costs, has another 2,000 in documentation and another 1,500 in inspection costs. And then there is packaging, which can cost 10-20% of the manufacturing or more, depending on the specifications.
So the cost of a component or system, is far more than than the part itself, it is sometimes exceeded by the documentation and inspection and packaging requirements by Military procurement system.

originally posted by: chuck258
a reply to: buntalanlucu

I don't know exact figures, but I believe HMMWV's run around 30k a piece, and Mrap's around 600k, with no extra goodies attached like ECM and Gyrocam, which almost double again the cost of an Mrap. But aalso keep in mind MRAPS are completely different vehicles, like 40k pounds different.

thanks for the info

i hope the marines dont get scammed into buying another useless land vehicle that will be easily destroyed by enemy small arms / RPG..

100,000,000$... What can you do with 100,000,000 US dollars, as long as you don't spend it on yourself? Does not matter cause you don't have 100k. Gentlemen, this is how the US army spends it's budget and where all the fund for Black Ops projects go. Overpaying for everything. You would think US government could get a discount instead?

they are being bought for Aircraft deployment capabilities... That is why it costs so much..

Welcome to Government contracts, the moment anything resembling aircraft use comes into the picture the price goes up exponentially.

All you people screaming cut the military budget... scream at your congress to actually fix the process of giving and policing contracts.

I would've thought they would use "Fast Attack Vehicles" (aka: Sandrail; Light Strike Vehicle; Desert Patrol Vehicle) originally developed by Chenowth Racing for the U.S.Army and still in service with USSOCOM:
Wikipedia - Desert Patrol Vehicle

They can carry 1500lbs, have a range of 210 miles (increases to over 1000 miles with an extra fuel bladder) and can drive up to 80mph. Curb weight is reportedly 1500lbs and 2110lbs when tooled-up.

I'd love to have one (without the turret). They look like a lot of fun.

DPV starts @ 2m:30s

a reply to: Britguy
Hell they don't care they are not paying for it you and I are.

what a waste of money on a jeep that will just break down