Vehicle Concerns

By Christopher J. Castelli / May 25, 2011 at 12:59 PM

The Army has sent Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) a May 10 letter acknowledging congressional concerns about the potential impact of the service's combat vehicle modernization plans on the industrial base, but offering no detail on the substance of lawmakers' complaints.

The Army letter comes in response to a May 6 letter from nearly 140 members of Congress urging Army Secretary John McHugh to reconsider the service's plans to cease buying Abrams tanks for three years.

"An inquiry into this matter has been initiated," states the reply from the office of the Army's legislative liaison. But a service official said that is boilerplate language used in countless Army letters to lawmakers acknowledging the receipt of congressional letters on a wide range of subjects.

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