100%, it's the 21Century, time to start using 21Century materials
Posted on 02/16/2014 11:52:44 AM PST by null and void
For the past decade, armor protection has dominated U.S. combat vehicle programs. Now, maneuver officials are breaking with that tradition, abandoning armor for highly transportable, all-terrain vehicles.
The Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, Ga., recently reached out to the defense industry to see if it could build the new Ultra Light Combat Vehicle -- a new effort to equip infantry brigade combat teams with go-anywhere vehicles capable of carrying a nine-man squad.
Lawmakers recently cut most of the funding for the U.S. Army's Ground Combat Vehicle -- a move that has all but killed the high-profile acquisitions effort.
The ULCV instead would be designed to travel 75 percent of the time across country and on rough trails.
Army officials continue to work with the Marine Corps to deliver the Humvee replacement, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. Leaders from both services were forced to pare down expectations for this truck as costs spiraled out of control as officials wanted to increase armor while lightening the overall weight.
Maneuver officials maintain that the ULCV is not competing against the JLTV. The ULCV is designed to fill a capability gap of being large enough to carry a nine-man squad but light enough -- at 4,500 pounds -- to be sling-loaded by a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
The only way to achieve this weight and meet the capability is to trade armor protection for speed and mobility, Parker said.
"A lot of the stuff we have seen is more ATV-looking rather than enclosed with a cab," Parker said. "Then again, if someone brings something with a cab, we are not telling them not to."
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
How true if your not fighting within your own borders. Since 1945 our beaurocrats and lawyers have been steadily whittling away at our merchant marine until now it is almost non-existent. What would be the lead time to build that back from scratch with a couple of shipyards?
Instead of steel armor I would suggest the use of synthetic materials such as fiberglass/Kevlar/aluminum/carbide laminates for light weight but good shrapnel/fragments protection mounted on the new 4 door jeep frames.
Low tech for the most part , proven design (jeeps been around for better than 70 years) light weight . Also look into using small pick-up trucks with fiberglass/Kevlar/aluminum/carbide laminate sheets that are cut to fit like pieces of plywood .
This will allow the most flexibility/lowest cost/lightest weight/highest protection .
You will not get light weight “bullet proof” vehicles even with modern synthetic materials(against rifles/machine guns) however you can go a hell of along way towards protecting folks from bomb blasts & shrapnel fragments without the weight of steel armor.
The British had the idea the speed would provide better protection than armor plate. The Germans had the opposite philosophy. While the British did win the battle their battle cruisers suffered heavy loses.
It takes a MBA to do that too.
“speed kills”
Yup, you are correct...Patton killed by being fast...even faster than his supply lines could keep up. And that was with Tanks!
Now, explain your post, or Go soak your ‘BigHead, Fred’
100%, it's the 21Century, time to start using 21Century materials
Agreed simple relatively cheap . Put a “after-market Kevlar/carbide armor kit on it for shrapnel fragment protection & you got something that will work & work well . But it will never be accepted because not nearly enough palms of politicians will get greased.
Starring Christopher George.
-PJ
The Army's forward thinkers are morons.
The Germans “won” because of their superior artillery skill. (Is “artillery” a naval term, I don’t know?).
Do you think the we would have had the same luck against the Russian stuff had they been real Russian versions with real Russians inside? We defeated a third world army...be glad you were not fighting Russians or Koreans.
They have a few of these at the Fort Eustis museum.
i'd like to see them... Hard Trucks were born out necessity and American ingenuity/can-do attitude i love the King Cobra with the M113 body
I noticed that. They must have cannibalized that out of a junk yard.
yup...
I think its time to start thinking about a BOLO tank, and yes I am referring to the Keith Laumer sci fi series.
batleships were used in the first desert storm. wisconsin and missouri.
my gramps was on a carrier that helped keep the franklin afloat. they had a kamikaze smash into their flight deck too. he saw a jap plane hit the side of his carrier, told me he could see the guy’s face.
they also shot one ton shells about 17 miles.
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