Washington: The Army is working closely with the Marines to salvage the $54 billion Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said today.

The Senate Appropriations Committee recently killed the JLTV, citing out of control requirements and persistent cost growth. The committee cut JLTV “due to excessive cost growth and constantly changing requirements.” The rebuilding of the Humvee fleet should take care of most of the military’s need for tactical mobility, the committee said. The Marines have indicated for more than a year that they were skeptical of JLTV’s benefits and had increasingly distanced themselves from the program.

But Odierno told reporters at the Association of the US Army’s annual conference that “we are in the process of working with the SAC” and had made “some creative progress on JLTV.”

The Army chief of staff said that his deputy, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, is meeting with the assistant Marine Commandant, Gen. John Donforth, to ensure the two services are on the same page. The two men “will go over there and talk with them jointly,” Odierno said.

We’ve heard from a congressional source that a deal between the Army and Marines has been struck. The “Marines are back on board. VCSA and ACMC have a deal. USMC gets its own version, basically.”