Another presenter here at the armor conference was a woman who runs a business consulting company called Vector Strategy Inc. She gave a lightening fast briefing on trends in the armor business, including vehicle armor orders, body armor procurement, vehicle upgrades, new vehicle orders, etc. through like 2015.
It was a fascinating presentation if not delivered at too blistering a pace to really keep up with it, but here are some numbers she came up with:
- The DoD will spend $5.8 billion on armor of all types in 2008
- Fiscal 2007 armor spending was $3.8 billion
- Fiscal 2009 spending is estimated to be around $4.5 billion
- The supplemental accounts for 86% of this year's spending
- Fiscal 2010 will be a "transition year" with as little as $3 billion spent on armoring or as much as $7 billion depending on how the Army decided to configure its new Brigade Combat Teams (infantry or mechanized)
- Fiscal 2011-2013 could see between $2.4 and $2.7 billion spent on armor
- About 1/3 of armor procurement will come from the Pentagon's base budget
- In 2008 15% of the armor funds goes to medium and heavy armored vehicles such as LMTVs and Abrams tanks; 27% goes to MRAPs and 25% goes to combat vehicles such as Strykers and M113 APCs
- In 2008 there will be 43,744 new armored vehicle purchases (including uparmored Humvees) and 12,098 vehicles recapitalized
- Next year will see 29,029 new vehicles with 1,920 recaps
Up next: Key issues facing the future of armor procurement...
-- Christian
