Remember when you’d buy a used car because it was a cheap car? Even if it needed a little fixing up? Late Tuesday, the Army announced it is spending $306 million more “to convert Operation Desert Storm (ODS) vehicles into the ODS situational awareness configuration.”
Huh? Didn’t Desert Storm end more than 20 years ago? A BAE press release explains the $306 million will be added to an existing $340 million contract to upgrade 353 Bradley Fighting Vehicles for the Army National Guard. That’s $646 million, or $1.8 million per Bradley.
A quick check of a Desert Storm-era Pentagon Selected Acquisition Report shows the Army planned a total buy of 6,724 Bradleys for $10 billion, or $1.5 million each.
