My feathers take much more pressure to get ruffled! Wanted to make sure all was clear in my piece. Cheers.

Sorry if I ruffled your feathers a bit Colin, yes I realize that this is the start of a process and attempted to respond accordingly. But after eight years of Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice/Bush it’s had to get use to rational decision making in the DoD.

My reference to China and the PLA is based on the assumption that they will be facing the eradication of terrorists both domestically and in bordering countries. I don’t think the United States is ready to form a PAP or to put the resources like China has of the PLAN in coastal or coastline defenses, either would be considered excesses by out traditions.

The PLA is developing, granted a small, but never the less lethal quick reaction arm of the PLA and the PLAAF. By US standards they are still in the 1970’s as far as C4ISR is concerned and with on Il-76’s (there are 34 more Il-76’s and Il-78’s or order from Russia but the order is on hold) in the PLAAF they are not going to be much of a threat out side of the region but the development of their “Light Armor” has some very interesting features, like multiple weapons adapted to the same platform and limited amphibious capabilities, like river crossing.

The US seems to be favoring large dedicated platforms such as Stryker, Bradley and Abrams that have little or no flexibility in weapon systems.

ALLONS,
Byron Skinner

I mean these guys should be barred from abusing english, what modernization?! The Pentagon is partying like it’s 1999. (LITERALLY) After figuring out Tanks are too heavy and our support vehicles are too light the solution is to IGNORE EVERYTHING and build a heavy tank/IFV to fight the Russians!

THE ARMORED TANK IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE ARMORED TANK!

These are the early details of just what the Army thinks it needs, from the Army. The detailed requirements are not out yet and won’t be for a while but this reveals the outlines of what the Army will brief to industry next week. The service clearly wants some feedback from both industry and its own people.

Would love to hear details from you.

But: There are several errors, so maybe that’s the exclusive part.

I think this post is a bit premature and Colin could have waited until something is on the table. Right now it only guessing on our parts as to what the ground forces want/need.

One suggestion would be for the Pentagon to closely look at what the Chinese PLA is doing with it’s Type 03, 05, 07, 09 Combat vehicles. It would appear that the PLA have gone more with maneuverability and speed then armored protection in their vehicles. The PLA also have vastly increased the firepower of each variant.

I think that the Army is be delusional in thinking that they can build a vehicle that would offer reasonable protection against IED’s, EFP’s and RPG’s since the insurgent have shown that these weapons are still in an evolutionary process and they can create and of the three to defeat anything we can build. In Iraq the insurgents have already show an PRG round that can pass through an M1A1 Abrams Tank and EFP’s/IED’s that can lift up and Abrams and flip it 180 degrees, the half to third weight of an Abrams weight vehicle being proposed here will not present much of a challenge to bomb makers.

A better way to keep soldiers safe would be training in speed and maneuver and by using the vehicles firepower to confront the enemy. Over head ISR and real time imaging to the vehicles would also add a layer of protection to the crews and Soldiers and Marines.

In short the laws of physics have caught up with the military.

ALLONS,
BYron Skinner

I was just wondering what the specific techs that fell short were. Some super lightweight alloy or ceramic that couldn’t be manufactured reliably? Was the hope that active protection systems could replace some heavy armor?

The article implies that there were some specific techs at TRL < 6 that would have been nice to include in FCS, but just didn’t mature in time. Presumably there’s some chart somewhere that lists them and, if it’s not classified, I’d like to see it.