Humvees have been a staple of the Army for decades, but officials recently began their latest program to modernize the fleet. The initiative aims to make improvements ranging from crew protection to vehicle survivability, according to Military Times.
The push for a more modern fleet comes after a nearly two-year effort. Officials called for improvements of 60,000 Humvees back in 2011, but there were questions over whether there was enough funding for both the modernization and the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle competition. However, the military received $48 million in the 2013 budget for the initiative.
"We wanted to make sure that we could at least get good test results on all of the survivability improvements that industry had developed in anticipation of the original Modernized Expanded Capacity Vehicle-Survivability program," Col. David Basset said recently, according to the news source. "So we set aside a portion of the fiscal year '12 funding to evaluate, model and test those survivability solutions so at least we understand what is out there."
Improving survivability of military vehicles is not the only improvement program officials are hoping to implement in the coming years. Most notably, the Navy is focusing on using biofuels – a three-year $510 million set of goals, according to The New York Times.