An important component of Army readiness is TACOM’s Combat Vehicle Evaluation (CVE) Program. Under CVE, more than 9,000 combat vehicles are inspected and evaluated each year to determine if they should be sent to depot for overhaul.
Vehicles in National Guard and Reserve units get a Go/No Go inspection every year, while active Army vehicles are inspected every two years. No vehicles are inspected outside of this inspection timeline.
CVE isn’t a vehicle “swap out” program. And just because a vehicle qualifies for depot repair doesn’t necessarily mean that vehicle will be sent to depot. In fact, a vehicle can qualify for depot repair and still be mission capable.
When Is a Vehicle Sent to Depot?
A vehicle qualifies for depot repair if it:
- exceeds the scoring threshold used in the evaluation process.
- isn’t repairable by lower than depot-level maintenance.
- has suffered extensive fire or accident damage.
The evaluation is intended to provide a snapshot of the combat vehicle fleet's overall health. Vehicles either qualify for depot-level maintenance or are re-inspected during the next evaluation cycle. This allows the worst-case vehicles to be sent to depot.
Keep in mind that the CVE program only
evaluates vehicles; it doesn’t control which vehicles are sent to depot. That decision rests with the weapon system manager (WSM) for each vehicle.
However, by providing written justification, commands can nominate vehicles for depot. Then the CVE program manager makes the final decision to evaluate nominated vehicles based on the command’s input.
What are Vehicles Evaluated On?
CVE evaluations are broken down into nine areas for non-turreted vehicles and 12 areas for turreted vehicles. The areas of evaluation are:
- Hull, front
- Hull, final drives
- Hull, upper sides
- Hull, lower sides
- Hull, rear
- Hull, top
- Hull, bottom
- Hull, interior
- Hull, electrical system
- Turret, exterior
- Turret, interior
- Turret, traversing
Which Vehicles are Evaluated?
The vehicles currently evaluated under CVE include the: M109A6, M1068A3, M113A3, M992A2, M113 OSV, M60A1 AVLB, M2/M3/M7BFIST FOV, M113 MBT, M48A5 AVLB, M9 ACE, M1A1 FOV, Stryker FOV, M1064A3, M1A2 FOV, M577A3, M88A1/A2, M104 Wolverine and the M1 AVB. The MLRS is inspected under AMCOM’s CVE program.
For more information on the TACOM CVE program, contact Aaron Williamson, CVE team leader, at (586) 282-7087 / DSN 786-7087 or email: