IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 238 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Secretary 

of the Army should report on the status of future Ground Combat 

Vehicles of the Army. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 30, 2017 

Mr. CARTER of Texas (for himself, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. JONES, Mr. 

WILLIAMS, Mr. BANKS of Indiana, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Ms. JACKSON

LEE, Mr. JORDAN, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. 

CARSON of Indiana, and Mr. MARSHALL) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the Secretary of the Army should report on the status 

of future Ground Combat Vehicles of the Army. 

Whereas the Navy has plans to build three DDG–1000 destroyers and forty Littoral Combat Ships; 

Whereas the Navy is currently procuring its next-generation 

Ford class aircraft carrier; 

Whereas the Navy plans to procure 12 Columbia class submarines; 

Whereas the Marine Corps has plans to procure 11 LX(R) 

Amphibious Warships; 


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•HRES 238 IH 

Whereas the Air Force plans to procure 179 next-generation 

KC–46 refueling tankers; 

Whereas the Air Force plans to procure 100 B–21 Long 

Range Strike Bombers; 

Whereas the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps have plans 

to procure 2,183 F–35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft; 

Whereas all these increases provide the individual services the 

ability to close critical capability gaps, while the Army 

does not have immediate plans for any new Ground Combat Vehicle; 

Whereas future war, outlined by Army Chief of Staff General 

Mark Milley, requires a mobile protected firepower platform that can maneuver in contested domains, and maintain close-combat overmatch; 

Whereas future Army forces cannot be dependent on precision strike air supremacy, and must be able to sufficiently fight in decentralized units; 

Whereas the Army’s current plan is for the M1 Abrams Main 

Battle Tank and M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle— 

which have been in service since the early 1980s—to continue service for another 50 to 70 years; 

Whereas the current modernization strategy for the Abrams 

Main Battle Tank will take 30 years to fully outfit the 

Army while not solving many problems of close-combat 

overmatch; 

Whereas in fiscal years 2023 and 2024 the Army will decide 

whether or not to keep the current 35-year-old Bradley 

Fighting Vehicle in service for the next 50 years; 


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•HRES 238 IH 

Whereas allied and adversarial nations have made vast technological and engineering improvements that cannot be 

applied to our current vehicles; 

Whereas ground combat vehicles are fundamental in the future multi-domain battle landscape where American technological superiority is challenged and support from other 

services is contested, the Army still must maintain the 

capability to overmatch threats in direct fire fights at 

close and long ranges and protect combat vehicles from 

current and emerging threats independent of air and 

naval support; 

Whereas an Armored Brigade Combat Team is the only 

Army formation that provides full spectrum combat 

power to Combatant Commanders; and 

Whereas because the Army believes it is ‘‘gravely underinvested in close-combat overmatch . . . gravely underinvested in combat vehicles in particular’’, this Congress 

sees an immediate need for a more rapid paced modernization strategy and a next generation solution developed by the Army and industry: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that the Secretary of the Army should submit 

3 to Congress— 

4 (1) a report on the modernization strategy for 

5 ground combat systems of the Army, including plans 

6 for such modernization over the next five and ten 

7 years at current and increased funding levels; 


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•HRES 238 IH 

1 (2) a report on the current technological, engi2 neering, and capability needs for a future Ground 

3 Combat Vehicle of the Army; 

4 (3) a classified brief on the capabilities of 

5 ground combat vehicles used by allies and adver6 saries of the United States; 

7 (4) a classified brief on the capabilities of 

8 ground combat vehicles— 

9 (A) that are available from industry; and 

10 (B) that require further development or 

11 that have the potential to become fully devel12 oped over the course of development and pro13 duction; and 

14 (5) a research and development timeline for the 

15 rapid innovation and production of future Ground 

16 Combat Vehicles. 

Æ 


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