The single largest equipment expense for the Pentagon is not aircraft, helicopters or missiles but vehicles.
According to a recent article in Aviation Week, for the three procurement categories of tracked combat vehicles, wheeled combat vehicles and trucks the US DoD spent more than $12 billion in 2010, the same as the previous year.
Much of that money went for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and their smaller cousins, the MRAP All Terrain Vehicle or M-ATV.
The cost to acquire more than 25,000 MRAP/M-ATVs has been more than $35 billion so far.
To these figures can be added billions for upgraded and uparmored Humvees, for the highly successful Stryker wheeled combat vehicle and for both medium and heavy trucks.
On top of procurement costs are the many billions that have been spent on repairing vehicles damaged in Iraq and Afghanistan and on something the military calls reset, the refurbishment of vehicles worn down from use.
Vehicle costs are likely to remain very high even as defense budgets decline.
The Army has a vision of recapitalising some portion of its current fleet of 154,000 Humvees, possibly adding major survivability upgrades such as an armoured crew capsule or a blast-venting “chimney.”
There is the upcoming Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program intended to replace some portion of the Humvee fleet with a more capable “truck.”
The Army has started a competition for a new Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV), replacement for the venerable Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle.
The program could cost around $20 billion for 1800 vehicles.
Finally, there is the ongoing effort to enhance the current fleets of M-1 Abrams tanks and Bradleys, both of which will remain in the inventory for decades to come.