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


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On 5/12/2019 at 1:03 PM, 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.  

 

As true as this is, the age is honestly rather cause enough for replacement. The things are slow, maintenance intensive, not particularly stable, and lack some "creature comforts" that have rather proven to be necessary in certain operations (the classic case being no effective AC in desert fighting...). You might be able to get away with a deep overhaul, but likely for the same costs as a newer design.

 

22 hours ago, Ramlaen said:

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.

 

I thought one of the ideas of JLTV was to actually save money in the long run by allowing the vast mishmash of hurriedly-acquired MRAPs to be liquidated in favor of one standard family of machines. Seems a bit like hurting yourself in the future to save money now by keeping all of the different humvee & MRAP configs in use. It's just odd because so many of the other procurement decisions being made seem to focus on this rebuilding-for-the-long-term prioritization and cutting back of interim/stopgap work (such as Bradley/Abrams upgrades getting scaled back in favor of additional NGCV funding, and Chinook F Block II getting axed for a bump in FVL funds)...

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53 minutes ago, Ramlaen said:

The Army has already liquidated much of its MRAP fleet and focused on the MaxxPro.

 

Slowing JLTV procurement aligns with cutting back Bradley and Chinook upgrades to free up funding for the 'big six'.

The Big Six, although a welcome change of paradigm and more focus on R&D and production of new kit over overhauls and life extensions of old kit, it's not exactly striking a good balance, from my POV.

 

It's pretty much what the IDF did, but on a grander scale.

We were so focused on constantly upgrading our AFVs and creating new ones, projects easily worth hundreds of millions on a regular basis, that we've neglected the technological improvements of the infantry, who inherently can make similar leaps in equipment-derived capability via much smaller investments (just let's not enter the whole stupid "for 1 X we could buy 200 Y" argument).

It took a long time but now it seems our procurement agency has struck a better balance. The Big Six seems to me like it is one step behind in that regard and it frustrates me. But I'm not familiar with it enough so I could be wrong. Hopefully.

 

 

My only remaining question for now is - Is the JLTV too big to kill? 

(In favor of a cheaper alternative, or for a redesign to fit the army's revamped strategy)

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On 5/13/2019 at 5:24 PM, TokyoMorose said:

 

As true as this is, the age is honestly rather cause enough for replacement. The things are slow, maintenance intensive, not particularly stable, and lack some "creature comforts" that have rather proven to be necessary in certain operations (the classic case being no effective AC in desert fighting...). You might be able to get away with a deep overhaul, but likely for the same costs as a newer design.

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah I understand replacing the HMMWV due to age. It just seems like the JLTV is overkill for what should just be a simple lightweight utility vehicle IMHO. 

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2 hours ago, Clan_Ghost_Bear said:

 

xVQYPuD.jpg

Some sort of SHORAD(?) variant on the XM1200 FCS chassis. Any more info would be appreciated

The timeframe seems to match the MTHEL (Nautilus) laser system, if it's really the XM1200 from the FCS.

An M230 and Stinger pack seems like a recent addition though.

When was the picture taken?

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  • 3 weeks later...

https://www.janes.com/article/89156/us-army-eyes-equipping-a-robotic-combat-vehicle-medium-with-a-30-mm-turret?socialmedia=twitter

In the near future, the US Army wants to equip units with a Robotic Combat Vehicle-Medium (RCV-M) outfitted with a 30 mm turret to defeat armoured personnel carriers, trucks, and troops.



In a 7 June announcement, the service unveiled tentative plans to acquire a RCV-M platform to augment the “organic” formation with a direct-fire capability, while also leveraging on-board sensors to help form a common operating picture.

“The RCV-M’s aggressive mobility profile enables it to keep pace with its organic formation during off-road maneuver and movement on improved surfaces,” the service wrote. “Its on-board autonomy package reduces the cognitive burden of the operator while maintaining an aggressive cyber defense posture to maintain both assured control and the trust of the operator.”

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