"We have an aging fleet, and we have modernization on the horizon, but it’s not coming fast enough," Brig. Gen. Beth Behn told Breaking Defense at the GVSETS conference in Detroit. Her warning frames a supply‑chain and sustainment problem that TACOM believes will persist even as the Army awaits new platforms.
Brig. Gen. Beth Behn outlines a readiness crisis
Brig. Gen. Beth Behn, commanding general of the Army’s Tank‑Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM), described a readiness shortfall driven in part by supply‑chain woes and obsolescence across legacy platforms. She said the service is "going to be maintaining some of these legacy platforms for decades," adding that "obsolescence issues that we have now, we have to live with for 20 or 30 years." The Army is simultaneously awaiting new fleets of M1E3 Abrams and XM30 Infantry Fighting Vehicles, but Behn stressed that modernization "is not coming fast enough."
TIGER hackathon: practical aims, measured success
TACOM has already begun pursuing industry engagements to ease bottlenecks. Last month TACOM hosted the TIGER event, described by Behn as a hackathon‑style exercise focused on supply‑chain fixes for subcomponents of the Abrams’ AGT1500 engine — nicknamed the Tiger — produced by Honeywell Aerospace. Despite the event’s nickname, Behn noted the exercise did not involve hacking.
She said the exercise brought together Honeywell and more than 40 other vendors and achieved three stated goals: finding second sources for the engine’s subcomponents; identifying companies able to apply complex advanced manufacturing; and locating firms that could supply raw materials for those subcomponents. "We’re going to reap the benefits" from the TIGER exercise not only for that engine but "other systems as well," she said, and indicated that more similar exercises are planned.
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End the scrambleReadiness spans wheeled and tracked fleets
Asked to name specific platforms, Behn declined to provide detailed lists but said the readiness problem stretches "across the tactical wheel vehicle fleet and the tracked systems that we sustain." The comment indicates TACOM views supply‑chain fragility and obsolescence as a fleet‑wide problem rather than one limited to a narrow subset of equipment.
TACOM and the Defense Logistics Agency: closer alignment
Behn emphasized a tighter relationship between TACOM and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) as a primary lever to improve readiness. She noted DLA manages roughly 80 percent of the repair parts TACOM’s platforms require. "Just more communication, more ensuring that we’re giving DLA a clear demand signal and sharing our data analytic tools that help us project and predict requirements," she said, "I think is an avenue."
Behn described the need for DLA to have "clear visibility of our requirements" so the agency can know "precisely where it is that we’d like greater investment, greater depth in the supply chain." The emphasis is on data sharing, clearer demand signals, and joint problem‑solving rather than unilateral fixes.
Acquisition reorganization brings sustainment earlier into decisions
Behn pointed to the Army’s reworking of its acquisition offices as another structural approach intended to reduce sustainment shortfalls. Under the new acquisition structure, she said, sustainment considerations are being discussed earlier in the life cycle of programs. Behn said she participates in decisions around development and acquisition for the M1E3 Abrams and the XM30 replacement, a change she described as increasing "accountability and inclusion of all of those supporting entities from the beginning." Still, she cautioned that reforms will take time to demonstrate results.
What this means for Honeywell, OEMs, and the Defense Logistics Agency
- Honeywell Aerospace: The company’s AGT1500 engine was the focal point of the TIGER exercise; success in securing second sources and raw materials for its subcomponents is intended to reduce single‑supplier bottlenecks cited by TACOM.
- Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and new vendors: Behn urged casting "a wider net" beyond traditional OEM networks to find suppliers able to conduct advanced manufacturing and supply raw materials, signaling continued outreach to more than the incumbent industrial base.
- Defense Logistics Agency (DLA): With DLA managing about 80 percent of TACOM’s repair parts, the agency will be a central partner for improved demand signaling and data sharing — changes TACOM believes are essential to deepening supply‑chain resilience.
Behn framed the effort as a mix of immediate, tactical fixes — more hackathon‑style events and wider vendor searches — and longer‑term organizational shifts that place sustainment at the front end of acquisition decisions. "I’m just optimistic. I mean, time will tell whether all of the promises come forth as we hope that it will," she said. For now, TACOM plans further industry engagement and closer coordination with DLA as the principal next steps to address a readiness problem the command expects to live with for decades.
Source: Breaking Defense — TACOM plans further industry engagement amid ‘readiness crisis’
