Overview
- Mission-capable rates fell for 16 of 18 Army and Marine vehicles reviewed since 2015, with the Army’s 90% readiness benchmark met only by the Bradley in the past decade.
- All 18 vehicles faced shortages of repair parts and missing or obsolete technical data, with GAO noting long supplier lead times and single-source bottlenecks.
- Depot overhauls collapsed between FY 2015 and FY 2024—Army 1,278 to 12 and Marine Corps 725 to 163—after funding tradeoffs, as the Army also harvested parts from retiring vehicles.
- Sustainment costs increased for most Army fleets, including a $181.3 million rise for Abrams and nearly doubled per-vehicle costs, while Marine Corps costs were lower overall but up per vehicle for several platforms.
- The GAO assessed FY 2024 availability through site visits, data analysis and interviews, and concluded that service mitigation steps have not restored readiness to stated goals.