via Oshkosh press release.
OSHKOSH, Wis. (May 31, 2013) — The U.S. Marine Corps has selected Oshkosh Defense, a division of Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK), to deliver its new fleet of P-19 Replacement Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) vehicles. The Oshkosh P-19R will be the Marines’ first-response vehicle in aircraft fire emergencies at military bases and expeditionary airfields. This next-generation vehicle will provide more advanced on-road and off-road firefighting capabilities to Marines and replace their current fleet of Oshkosh P-19 ARFF vehicles as the vehicles reach the end of their service lives.Simple questions. What happened to the days of the Marine Corps piggy backing off the Navy or Army buys of equipment that was not Marine Corps unique?
Logistics would be simplified across the DoD.
Training would be simplified across the DoD.
During wartime, spares could be pulled from any service to make up for shortfalls.
The old way would seem to be more efficient but then you would have the possibility of manufacturers go out business further eroding the defense industrial base. Still consider the following....
*All the services sport different combat uniforms (while I love the Marine Corps uniqueness and smarts by designing and selecting the current model, there is something to be said for having the same gear across all service lines).
*The Army and Marine Corps use different 782 gear.
*The Marine Corps uses the SMAW and the Army the Carl Gustav (the Israeli weapon is good but so is the Carl Gustav. Does the SMAW bring enough to the table to warrant an individual purchase?)
I don't have the answers but we can't fix this stuff until we can answer basic questions.
