Sgt. 1st Class Mark Smalley, Fort Bliss, Texas, demonstrates use of the small unmanned ground vehicle during AUSA’s Winter Symposium and Exposition in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The SUGV is part of Future Combat Systems.

The Army is looking for ways to speed hardware – particularly manned ground vehicles, and software in the Future Combat Systems program to the force – senior officials told Congress and attendees at the Association of the United States Army’s Winter Symposium and Exposition.

Army Secretary Pete Geren said, “It is in our interests to move it as quickly as possible, but there are some technology and manufacturing challenges.”

Geren made these comments following a trip taken by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, to the Army’s Experimentation Force at Fort Bliss, Texas.

Murtha has been telling the Army to eliminate some components of FCS to free more money for the program and to field more quickly technologies that are ready, such as Class I Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Small Unmanned Ground vehicle that have recently been sent to the force.

“Every day, someone comes to me and says, ‘I want this. … I want this faster,” Maj. Gen. Charles Cartwright, program manager, told reporters at a media roundtable at the AUSA symposium.

He was referring to meetings with Gen. George W. Casey Jr., Army chief of staff.

The question he often asks himself is: “How do I speed the development cycle?”

While at the same time, he said the challenge is: “I’ve got to make sure it works” with existing equipment such as Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles and future systems.

The first five prototype Non-Line-of-Sight Cannons are to be delivered June 14, the Army’s birthday. Testing and production models are expected to be delivered in 2010.

The Mounted Combat System is scheduled for testing this spring at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in late February, a number of senators questioned the cost of the Army’s FCS. Defense Secretary Robert Gates at a hearing earlier this year testified the program may not be affordable.

“I think you’ve got a problem if the secretary honestly feels he can’t fund” FCS, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said.

Two days later, before the House Armed Services Committee, Geren and Casey were asked: “Are we trying to do too much too fast? Do we have the right personnel to manage and oversee these complex modernization programs? What is the Army doing to address these acquisition challenges? And finally, are we confident that the global repositioning of forces appropriately addresses our current and future needs?”

Geren said the program never accounts for more than one twelfth of the Army budget.

“We believe the Future Combat Systems is exactly the full-spectrum system we need for the future,” Casey said.

Speaking at the Association of the United States Army’s science and technology forum in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Dean Popps, acting assistant secretary of the Army for logistics, technology and acquisition, said when he testifies on FCS he reminds senators, congressmen and staffers to “look at the level of modernity you are demanding when you buy your family vehicles.”

The Army looks at FCS in the way. “I never want to invest in a car with three on the column,” referring to manual transmissions.

The program’s cost is projected to be $160 billion.