Congressman Mike Turner, Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, has lead 121 of his colleagues in writing to Army Secretary John McHugh in support of funding for the upgrading of the M1A1 Abrams tanks that our National Guard uses. The President’s budget has once again failed to adequately fund the program, leaving the responsibility of maintaining this critical capability to Congress.
“We are deeply concerned to learn that the Army has once again failed to fund production of the M1A2 SEP (Abrams) tank. This decision neglects the Army’s responsibility to modernize the National Guard units, and undervalues the damaging impact to the highly specialized industrial base that supports the program,” the lawmakers write in their letter.
Upgrading the Army National Guard fleet to the M1A2-SEP variant would accomplish multiple objectives. It would keep the production lines running and would allow our troops to train on the tanks they will take to war, reducing post mobilization training time and insuring better trained, more lethal and survivable crews. Our troops in the Army National Guard can be called upon at anytime to deploy for combat operations as they have done in Iraq. We cannot afford to send our troops to combat with the second best tank available. The National Guard should be afforded the same protections and capabilities as their active duty counterpart.
“The industrial base cannot be turned on and off like a light switch. Failing to fund the program in fiscal year 2014 would likely result in a production break in 2016 that would significantly impact the skilled workforce as well as drive many small companies out of business; leaving our Nation without the necessary industrial capacity to produce tanks when we need them,” write the lawmakers.
The Abrams program is supported by nearly 900 suppliers; Seventy-five percent of these suppliers are small business. Twenty-one percent of the suppliers will have to be re-qualified if there is a production break. This means that if there is production break, most of these small businesses will go away and when the Army needs them the Army may have to go overseas to find replacements.
NOTE: A copy of the letter follows below.
May 21, 2013
The Honorable John McHugh
Secretary of the Army
101 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310 - 0101
Dear Mr. McHugh,
We are deeply concerned to learn that the Army has once again failed to fund production of the M1A2 SEP (Abrams) tank. This decision neglects the Army’s responsibility to modernize the National Guard units, and undervalues the damaging impact to the highly specialized industrial base that supports the program.
The Congressional Defense Committees have repeatedly recognized that funding the Abrams is necessary to maintain a critical core capability. The M1A2 is unquestionably the most lethal battle tank in the world, yet the National Guard still uses the less capable M1A1 Abrams tanks. The National Guard has played a very large part in the contingencies operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. They should be using the same variant of tanks as our active duty forces.
The Army has a responsibility to maintain the critical infrastructure that produces these vehicles. The Joint Systems Manufacturing Center is a government owned contractor operated facility and is the only domestic facility with the capability to manufacture these vehicles. By failing to adequately plan for future years and eliminating funds for tank productions, the Army has defaulted to a plan that will shutter the plant and drive away its highly skilled employees.
It is our understanding that the Army believes that Foreign Military Sales (FMS) alone are enough to keep the facility at minimum levels of production until the next major upgrades to the Abrams tank take place in the 2019 timeframe. Congress has consistently taken the position that FMS alone is an unacceptable level of risk. FMS combined with a minimum level of United States based tanks for the National Guard is the most rational path forward until the next series of upgrades begin.
The industrial base cannot be turned on and off like a light switch. Failing to fund the program in fiscal year 2014 would likely result in a production break in 2016 that would significantly impact the skilled workforce as well as drive many small companies out of business; leaving our Nation without the necessary industrial capacity to produce tanks when we need them. The Army must manage these facilities in a responsible manner that does not require Congress to annually consider whether or not they are being properly funded.
We ask that you work with Congress to sustain this unique and critical capability and look forward to discussing this issue with you at future congressional hearings.
Sincerely,
1. Mike Turner
2. Jim Jordan
3. Tim Ryan
4. Mario Diaz-Balart
5. Rep. Leonard Lance
6. Steve Stivers
7. Trent Franks
8. Richard Nugent
9. Marcy Kaptur
10. Candice Miller
11. Morgan Griffith
12. Mike Simpson
13. Steve Chabot
14. André Carson
15. Bob Gibbs
16. Robert E. Latta
17. Tom Marino
18. Nick Rahall
19. Brad Wenstrup
20. Steve Southerland
21. Pat Tiberi
22. Jim Renacci
23. Peter King
24. Bill Johnson
25. Tim Griffin
26. William Keating
27. David Joyce
28. Corrine Brown
29. Lou Barletta
30. Mike Fitzpatrick
31. Ander Crenshaw
32. Doug LaMalfa
33. Tom Rooney
34. Devin Nunes
35. Bill Shuster
36. Jon Runyan
37. Jim Bridenstine
38. Bill Huizenga
39. Rob Bishop
40. Peter J. Roskam
41. Adam Kinzinger
42. Kerry Bentivolio
43. Tom Rice
44. Marc Veasey
45. Richard Hanna
46. Roger Williams
47. Mike Pompeo
48. Tim Walberg
49. Jim Gerlach
50. John Carter
51. Ed Pastor
52. Mike McIntyre
53. Mike Rogers (MI)
54. Paul Cook
55. Tom Latham
56. Matt Cartwright
57. Rob Wittman
58. Frank Lobiondo
59. Marcia L. Fudge
60. Joe Wilson
61. Pat Meehan
62. James P. McGovern
63. Vicky Hartzler
64. Paul A. Gosar
65. David McKinley
66. Ron Barber
67. Howard Coble
68. Joyce Beatty
69. Sam Johnson
70. Doug Lamborn
71. Bennie G. Thompson
72. Lee Terry
73. Bruce Braley
74. Carolyn McCarthy
75. Hank Johnson
76. Scott Rigell
77. Gerry Connolly
78. Dan Benishek
79. Charles W Dent
80. Patrick McHenry
81. Blaine Luetkemeyer
82. Erik Paulsen
83. George Holding
84. Grace F. Napolitano
85. Rob Andrews
86. Rosa DeLauro
87. William L. Enyart
88. G. K. Butterfield
89. Rick Crawford
90. Mike Doyle
91. Ralph Hall
92. Dave Loebsack
93. Sanford Bishop
94. Dave Camp
95. Matt Salmon
96. Steve Israel
97. Gary C Peters
98. Sander Levin
99. John D. Dingell
100. Dan Kildee
101. David Schweikert
102. Dutch Ruppersberger
103. Kyrsten Sinema
104. Bill Owens
105. Mike Kelly
106. Robert Pittenger
107. Pete Sessions
108. Suzanne Bonamici
109. Collin Peterson
110. Joe Heck
111. Tom Cole
112. Keith Rothfus
113. Doc Hastings
114. Robert Hurt
115. Bob Goodlatte
116. Cheri Bustos
117. Austin Scott
118. Walter Jones
119. Frank Lucas
120. Lois Capps
121. Rodney Davis
122. Niki Tsongas
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