Don Nickles: “I commend Senator Stevens for his leadership and work on this important bill. Clearly, America has a continuing need to…”

“I commend Senator Stevens for his leadership and work on this important bill. Clearly, America has a continuing need to maintain a robust, well equipped military that is capable of defending freedom and preserving the peace. This bill advances the Department of Defense and our military services toward this objective. One element of this bill involves the U.S. Army's innovative effort to improve the Operation and Support cost of our M-1 Abrams main battle tank and the new Crusader Mobile Artillery system. For several years, the Army has recognized that the maintenance and support cost of the present M-1 tank was excessively high. Concurrently, the Army was developing the next generation of mobile artillery systems--to be called the Crusader. Late last year, the Army made a bold decision to pursue a consolidation of the engine component of both the M-1 and Crusader program. This consolidated effort is called the Abrams-Crusader Common Engine (ACCE) program. By consolidating the engine procurement for both vehicles, the goal is to reduce the costs to the Army for both vehicles. Mr. President, I noticed that the Senate version of this bill reduced the amount of funds available for the ACCE program by $48 million. I learned the committee had concerns over the Army's interest in developing a new engine for these two vehicles. This conference report, however, restores $20 million to the ACCE program.”