United States Military Vehicle General: Guns, G*vins, and Gas Turbines

[LoooSeR]

31 minutes ago, Sovngard said:

When the thermal sight of your Bradley is taller than the train station roof :

 

 

 

Place and date unknown.

Poland, few years ago IIRC.

[2805662]

On 4/29/2019 at 12:57 AM, LoooSeR said:

Poland, few years ago IIRC.

And led to a change in turret orientation for rail movement for A3s: gun now at 2 o’clock, over the engine exhaust, at -5 degrees depression. 

[Ramlaen]

The Army has decided to outfit 3 out of 6 of its brigades equipped with Double V-Hull A1 Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles with 30mm guns following an evaluation of the vehicle equipped with the cannons in Europe, according to an Army official.

 

 

Edited May 2, 2019 by Ramlaen

[Ramlaen]

https://www.army.mil/article/221171/1abct_3id_soldiers_provide_feedback_for_jltv_improvements

 

Upgraded JLTV with larger rear windows and a muffler on the top.

 

Drivers camera.

 

Troop seat kit.

[Krieger22]

 

[2805662]

12 hours ago, Krieger22 said:

 

I’m fortunate to be attending Chong Ju tomorrow. Should be a good day, with a Mech Inf combat team, cav troop, combat engineers, artillery battery, attack aviation, & CAS all live firing. 

[Collimatrix]

9 hours ago, 2805662 said:

I’m fortunate to be attending Chong Ju tomorrow. Should be a good day, with a Mech Inf combat team, cav troop, combat engineers, artillery battery, attack aviation, & CAS all live firing. 

 

Any chance you'll be able to grab pictures?

[2805662]

5 hours ago, Collimatrix said:

 

Any chance you'll be able to grab pictures?

Absolutely. Due to the use of lasers etc. only cell phone cameras are permitted, but I’ll get some pics at the static display area & post them. 

[2805662]

Don’t know how helpful these will be..

 

 

 

[Krieger22]

 

[skylancer-3441]

(from GettyImages) mid-90s photos of Bradley M2A2 w/ ERA kit covered with some camouflaged canvas

 

[David Moyes]

https://defence-blog.com/army/jltv-deemed-not-operationally-suitable-in-a-gao-report.html

 

Quote

“The Army and Marine Corps recently concluded operational testing for JLTV and found the vehicles to be survivable for the crew and effective for small combat and transport missions,” the GAO said in its 17th annual survey of defense acquisitions and pointing that: “but not operationally suitable because of their high maintenance needs, low reliability, training and manual deficiencies, and safety shortcomings.”

 

[AssaultPlazma]

So how much taxpayer money have we used on this thing so far?

[Ramlaen]

38 minutes ago, AssaultPlazma said:

So how much taxpayer money have we used on this thing so far?

 

GAO rating something not operationally suitable isn't something to take at face value. Much of their criticisms have already been addressed.

[Mighty_Zuk]

All these issues with basically every major procurement program so far give me some doubts.

1. Is this abundance of reports of deficiencies/issues, a result of unparalleled transparency within the procurement system? Or is the procurement not nearly streamlined enough to cope with major projects anymore?
2. Is the Futures Command supposed to help streamline these processes? And if so, then by what degree?

[Ramlaen]

26 minutes ago, Mighty_Zuk said:

Is this abundance of reports of deficiencies/issues, a result of unparalleled transparency within the procurement system?

 

I think that the US system is at times too transparent, especially when modern programs are being compared to cold war era programs.

[AssaultPlazma]

2 hours ago, Ramlaen said:

 

GAO rating something not operationally suitable isn't something to take at face value. Much of their criticisms have already been addressed.

 

 

Yeah, I not saying this is the worst thing ever and it's a complete failure. I am genuinely curious though how much development/R&D cost have gone into this thing regardless. Issues are bound to come up when procuring any new piece of equipment. Plus I'm sure everyone here already knows about the mess that generally is U.S. Military procurement so no need to beat that dead horse. 

 

Armchair general pants on: I don't really understand the point of this vehicle......

[TokyoMorose]

The goal of groups like GAO is specifically to be as critical as humanly possible. A hypothetical issue like a poor service life on a tire, while not impeding the function of a vehicle, can have it stated to be "not operationally suitable".

 

The only pieces of equipment that are "fully operationally suitable" have either been through decades of use & refinement... or only exist on powerpoint presentations. Poor training & manuals, even if legit criticisms, are hardly reasons to prevent acquisition of a vehicle. I heavily doubt the GAO would have found the M3 Medium Tank's Training and Manuals operationally suitable as the US was desperately trying to build up an armored force in early WW2.

[Mighty_Zuk]

3 hours ago, Ramlaen said:

 

I think that the US system is at times too transparent, especially when modern programs are being compared to cold war era programs.

Sometimes I'm almost inclined to say they need less transparency.

 

If Apple starts being transparent with how many times their engineers had "oh fuck!" moments, I think people would not even consider buying their products, even though by release all these issues are eliminated.

[AssaultPlazma]

You guys should see how much Active Duty soldiers freak out and revert to "if it ain't broke don't fix it" every time something new from a vehicle to a internet website gets introduced lol. 

[Ramlaen]

2 hours ago, AssaultPlazma said:

Armchair general pants on: I don't really understand the point of this vehicle......

 

A Humvee that is protected from underbelly blasts and more mobile, but the shift to a major power conflict and the glut of Humvees has resulted in the Army slowing the JLTV purchase.

[AssaultPlazma]

1 minute ago, Ramlaen said:

 

A Humvee that is protected from underbelly blasts and more mobile, but the shift to a major power conflict and the glut of Humvees has resulted in the Army slowing the JLTV purchase.

 

I'll elaborate a little, I guess the premise just seemed odd to me because the HMMWV was never designed to eat IED's and take the fight to folks in heavy urban street fighting. As a basic utility vehicle there's nothing wrong with it besides being old at this point.  

[Mighty_Zuk]

3 hours ago, Ramlaen said:

A Humvee that is protected from underbelly blasts and more mobile, but the shift to a major power conflict and the glut of Humvees has resulted in the Army slowing the JLTV purchase.

So to somewhat add to what AP said, what's exactly wrong with the JLTV in the aspect of a major power conflict?

Is the desired route a larger battle bus like the VBMR Griffon?

 

[Ramlaen]

3 hours ago, AssaultPlazma said:

 

I'll elaborate a little, I guess the premise just seemed odd to me because the HMMWV was never designed to eat IED's and take the fight to folks in heavy urban street fighting. As a basic utility vehicle there's nothing wrong with it besides being old at this point.  

 

I think the point is that the Humvee isn't just used as a basic utility vehicle, JLTV was meant to replace it in situations where Humvee's had to eat IED's and partake in heavy urban combat.

 

43 minutes ago, Mighty_Zuk said:

So to somewhat add to what AP said, what's exactly wrong with the JLTV in the aspect of a major power conflict?

Is the desired route a larger battle bus like the VBMR Griffon?

 

Upgrading a Humvee fleet (that you have many thousands of) to JLTV is a lower priority than upgrading MBT, IFV, artillery etc. The US Army doesn't have infinite money and has to make choices.

 

If a situation requires the use of 'battle buses' then the US Army has more MRAPS than it knows what to do with.

[Belesarius]

4 hours ago, AssaultPlazma said:

 

I'll elaborate a little, I guess the premise just seemed odd to me because the HMMWV was never designed to eat IED's and take the fight to folks in heavy urban street fighting. As a basic utility vehicle there's nothing wrong with it besides being old at this point.  

I remember when the Humvee first came into service.  oO