The Humvee, which replaced the Jeep, will no longer be bought by the Army.
While Arnold Schwarzengger certainly helped boost the Hunvee's public profile, it has never achieved the legendary status of the Jeep and its
vulnerability to land mines (aka IEDs) made it something of a anachronism until much heavier armored versions were deployed.
While the service won't buy any more Humvees, the Army is not getting rid of them.
"The Army is not buying more Humvees but other people buy Humvees so the line is not terminated. We envision the Humvee to be an enduring part of the Army fleet for a long time," Army Lt. Gen. Edgar Stanton, the military deputy in the Army comptroller's office, told reporters during a Q and A session after the Army budget briefing today.
While announcing that the Army's "needs for this vehicle have been met" for new Humvees, the Pentagon also made clear that the need for MRAPs of various stripes have certainly not been met.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that Central Command has a requirement for 10,600 more MRAPs. He broke the buy down, saying that the Pentagon plans to buy 6,600 more M-ATVs, the more agile off-road MRAPs made by Oshkosh, and another 4,000 regular MRAPs. Most of those will go to Afghanistan. There is $1.1 billion requested in the 2011 budget for MRAPs, according to the OSD budget overview.
