National Defense Magazine quotes Brent Scowcroft Center Nonresident Senior Fellow James Hasik on the Marine Corps $1.2 billion program to build 204 amphibious assault vehicles:
James Hasik, a senior fellow for defense at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security said: “Both winners are working with highly mature foreign designs. The decision “makes a heck of a lot of sense for the Marine Corps. They’re going to get something that works and they’re going to be highly assured that it is going to work.”
He said the win would be a boon for both SAIC and BAE. “BAE could definitely use the work,” he noted.
Executives at SAIC, which is more often considered a services company, “probably were very strategic about figuring out where they wanted to bid to be a system integrator.” They were most likely looking for a program where they would be believable and convincing as a prime contractor, he said. “And they have found it.”
“The folks that probably are most discomfited by the decision would be Lockheed Martin,” he said. “They have had … big aspirations to get into the armored ground vehicle business.” The joint light tactical vehicle seems to have not worked out although the protest is spending, and now this hasn’t panned out for them, he said.