Most of the Army and Marine Corps’ vehicles are not ready for combat, watchdog finds
The amount of maintenance done on ground vehicles over the last decade has steadily declined, the Government Accountability Office found.
Nicholas Slayton
Published Sep 27, 2025 8:01 AM EDT
A new government watchdog report found that military ground vehicles used by the Army and Marine Corps are often not able to be used in the field by troops. The Government Accountability Office report found that of the 18 different combat and support vehicles examined, 16 are not mission capable or available for operations. The GAO’s investigation found that the decline — looking at data from 2015 to 2024 — often stemmed from a lack of available materiel and parts, as well a decline in the number of available maintainers.
The GAO report, “Weapon System Sustainment: Various Challenges Affect Ground Vehicles’ Availability for Missions,” looked at 18 combat and support vehicles, including Stryker Combat Vehicle, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Joint Light Tactical Vehicles. It found that as maintenance needs piled up, actual repairs and overhauls declined, greatly impacting the availability of almost all of the ground vehicles for combat missions.
It found that five out of the six Army combat vehicles did not meet “mission capable” standards for a single year, while of the six Army support vehicles examined, they were mission capable only 20% of that time period. The Army’s own goal is to have vehicles ready 90% of the time. The Marine Corps didn’t have a comparable set goal, according to the GAO, judging mission capability in a different way. However the study found that five of the seven Marine vehicles saw similar declines in readiness and availability over the 2015 to 2024 fiscal year periods.
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-marines-vehicles-delays-maintenance/
