Marines to Pay 100K each for "Jeep"

[Rick]

The Marine Corps is paying $100,000 apiece for a revamped military jeep that some critics call a rip-off of taxpayers, according to a news report Thursday.

The Marines budgeted to buy more than 400 vehicles, called Growlers, under a contract that could total $296 million including ammunition, USA Today said, citing Pentagon records.

Built by Ocala, Fla.-based American Growler, the Growler is made partly from salvaged M151 jeep parts and is available in several versions.

Four years ago, the Dominican Republic paid $33,000 for a version of the Growler, the paper said citing U.S. Export-Import Bank records.

A commercial version of the jeep costs just $7,500.

The Marines and the contractor, General Dynamics, said the vehicle has been thoroughly revised with modern automotive parts and adapted to fit on the hybrid airplane-helicopter V-22 Osprey, according to the paper.

"Yes, it did start off with jeep technology, and it does look like a jeep in a lot of ways," John Garner, the Marines project manager, told the paper. But he says it's now "state of the art."

The Marines' version has considerable upgrades from the commercial and Dominican models, the Corps and contractor said, including a turbo-diesel engine, disc brakes and other systems adapted from modern vehicles.

But some critics charge that the unarmored vehicle makes no sense for today's missions, the paper said.

Under current military safety rules, the Growler would be barred from service in Iraq except as a utility vehicle that doesn't leave the security of a base, according to the report.

"In a time of war, we should not be wasting money on a junker which will not protect our troops," Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, a non-profit group that monitors Pentagon contracts, told the paper.

The Growler is expected to be deployed with the V-22 in 2007, the paper said.

 

[chriswells78]

My guess is, at less than 400 units, it won't leave US bases.

67k seems like a lot for a turbo-deisel and disk brakes?

 

[Howard]

Sounds like a typical Gov project to me.

They gota pay the MIB somehow.

 

[410Fortune]

Waj

 

[hiridin]

is that a picture of it? $100,000!? ya right. u could build a much more capable vehicle than that with $100,000

 

[BigDave!!!]

looks like an overgrown golf cart

 

[hiridin]

that thing needs about $90,000 worth of upgrades to come close to the price. but if u did i'm sure u'd have a nice capable little jeep thing then.

 

[etc]

Here's the problem:

The Marines and the contractor, General Dynamics

What's the need for the contractor? aka middle man. Why can't the military deal directly with American Growler?

Bureaucratic pieces of **** getting paid off at any chance possible.

 

[MyExpWork]

The Marines budgeted to buy more than 400 vehicles, called Growlers, under a contract that could total $296 million including ammunition, USA Today said, citing Pentagon records.

Are we using gold plated bullets then because it must be the ammunition that is expensive.

I think our Explorers are more capable.

 

[justin146]

They should just buy some Kawasaki Mules and spend the other $90,000 on guns/rocket launchers/lazer cannons/HIDs for them.

This is my $100k war machine.......

 

[BeauJ]

Looks like a sturdy piece of craftsmanship to me

 

[Rick]

They should just buy some Kawasaki Mules and spend the other $90,000 on guns/rocket launchers/lazer cannons/HIDs for them.

This is my $100k war machine.......

That's damn funny!! You should send that to your congressman

 

[spindlecone]

The marines are paying 100K each? thats what hooks the american public, most just do not have a clue that we are paying for this crap, not the marines.
was reported today that 67 million bux worth of military equipment, from handtools to turbo jet engines cannot be found after being sent back to vendors for repair or replacement because the govornment do's not generate reciepts.
Nobody has a clue as to what was sent to whom.
As sad as it is, ebays runs a better system of tracking items IMO

 

[00XLS]

Thats pathetic, $100K for that thing? I think they found a stockpile of old wileys and re-did them.

 

[dogfriend]

The Marine Corps is paying $100,000 apiece for a revamped military jeep that some critics call a rip-off of taxpayers, according to a news report Thursday.

If you posted that on Ebay with a $10k min bid people would laugh at it.

 

[TheFox88]

If you posted that on Ebay with a $10k min bid people would laugh at it.

I would.

 

[chriswells78]

somebody would post it in "fun humpday ebay auctions" LOL

 

[james t]

It doesnt surprise me, hell they spend $1500 on hammers why not a $100k jeep?

We have an army depot right down the road. They do big stuff, like cut up tanks, rebuild humvee's, etc. etc. Back in the late 80's, they buried alot of brand new parts in a pit. To give you an idea, the pit itself was over an acre big. Several hundred D60 fronts, 14 bolt rears, rockwells, transfer cases, all brand new... covered them up with a dozer. :fire:

 

[F14CRAZY]

They could pick up some old 1st gen 4x4 Explorers around here for like $500 each

 

[rookieshooter]

I posted an earlier post called Growler, should have posted here but didn't see it. At any rate CNNs story said that the Marines needed a truck that would fit inside the V22 Ospry. Which is about 5 feet wide. The V22 is that plane/helicoptor thing that the props turn up. So this is the only thing they could find that would fit. Cnn said there is a lot of things that you can't see on it. Well that's obvious. Also they said that it would not see any front line action. WTF, when did we have any definitive front line action. Just ask the troops hauling supplies in Irag. They said this thing would carry a lot of ammo and such. CNN said also that it has bullet proof tires. Thats just great, how about the marines. They might just as well be wearing a bullseye on them. CNN said it looked like a golf cart on steroids.