Colin P said:I seen capital money spent on all sorts of things, including salary. Replacing the B fleet is simply a matter of will, the M1078 FMTV 2.5 ton Cargo Truck should be used to replace the medium fleet. Milcots pickups should be purchased on a ongoing basis so no truck is more than 7-10 years old, this is standard practice in most commercial fleets. If you do this your service costs will be less in the long run. Plus it provides jobs for the local economy which makes the politicians happy. Service battalions should have a large wrecker and smaller one based on a pickup. All service battalions should be able to swap out major components in the field, including axles, motors, transmissions and do minor repairs. If Joe's logging can do it out in the bush, so can our Service Battalions.
Many years ago, I was chatting with a friend who happened to be an ex- Regular Force armoured officer. We were debating about the issue of acquiring new vehicles versus maintaining an existing fleet until it is too old to remain viable in any meaningful sense. He tried to tell me that it made more financial sense to endlessly repair the 5/4-ton pickup trucks the military had at the time, rather than buy new.
On an intuitive level, his argument seemed to make sense. What he seemed to neglect is the fact that while endlessly repairing something like a 5/4-ton truck presents a smaller financial hit at least initially, over the long haul it costs more. If you keep that truck 20 years (i.e. well past a reasonable service life given the pounding military vehicles have to take) and keep replacing parts, you will, in the final analysis, have spent almost as much money as it would cost to acquire something new and keep it for a more reasonable period of time, without gaining any greater utility or capability. A newer vehicle may have technological or other engineering enhancements that will make it more effective than retaining an obsolete vehicle for the sake of appearing to save money. In saying so, I am not advocating that the military replace its tanks every year. I personally would like to see a system where the military has reasonably up to date equipment rather than forever having to make do with stuff that is worn out and can only do half the job.
Mind you, I am fully aware that one of the reasons why our military often cannot replace kit when it should be replaced is because of our slow, cumbersome, and horribly messed-up military procurement system.