WASHINGTON — The Army is looking to industry to help resolve supply chain bottlenecks affecting production of its M1 Abrams tank engine, which officials in turn said reduces readiness rates.
The bottlenecks are mainly affecting subcomponents of the engine, the AGT1500, made by Honeywell Aerospace. Those parts come from subvendors who report to Honeywell, and supply chain issues can result in delays of months to a year, Brandon Pender, chief technology investment officer for the Army’s DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center, told Breaking Defense in an interview today. As a result, troops have numerous Abrams tanks sitting idle unable to operate.
The Army kickstarted its quest to solve the supply chain woes with an industry day dubbed the “TIGER hackathon,” on July 14. (Despite its name, the event did not involve any hacking, officials told Breaking Defense.) The event brought together over 40 vendors and high level officials, like Lt. Gen Christopher Mohan, head of Army Material Command, to accomplish three goals: find second sources for the AGT1500’s subcomponents; find companies that can utilize complex advanced manufacturing for the parts; and find companies who can provide raw materials for the subcomponents.
