The Army has officially begun the process of unloading its not-so-light light tank, the M-10 Booker, following a May announcement that added a list of programs to the chopping block.
Officials are sitting down with General Dynamics to work out the particulars of canceling the remaining 93 vehicles they ordered in 2022, the first round of what was to be 504 Bookers across the service’s infantry units.
“As we exit these contracts, we go into a negotiation with the company that’s making them, where you work termination fees and things like that, and apparently those discussions are ongoing,” Army spokesman Steve Warren told reporters Tuesday.
The Army Transformation Initiative directs the service to collect those savings and put it directly into new technology. The initial, low-rate production contract was about $1 billion, and yielded the three vehicles the Army has in service now, so discussions will focus on how much to refund the Army, minus a penalty for canceling the contract.
The net savings won’t be known “for some time,” Army spokeswoman Ellen Lovett added.
For now, the existing Bookers that had been delivered to Fort Carson, Colo.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; and Fort Polk, La., are heading to Anniston Army Depot, Ala., the service confirmed on Friday.
In the meantime, there have been suggestions that the Marine Corps might want to take them.
Last month, the commanding and executive officers of the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion made a case for transferring the Bookers to the Corps to fill a gap in protected firepower created by the tanks it unloaded as part of Force Design 2030.
“As light reconnaissance battalion leaders, we see these gaps as urgent and tangible,” wrote Lt. Col. John Dick and Lt. Col. Daniel Phillips. “Speed and stealth alone are not enough. Marines need a direct-fire platform that can survive and dominate in close combat.”
The Marine Corps and the Army haven’t discussed this possibility, the Army said Friday.
While ATI has a list of programs to axe, including Humvees and the AH-64D Apache helicopter, Lovett said Tuesday that the Booker is the only program that’s officially in the cancellation process.
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