US Army's Bradley replacement effort

[Slater]

There seems to be a lot of experienced, high-tech companies involved. Hope this doesn't turn into yet another expensive dead end.

"The Army, while it hasn’t cemented its requirements, has said it wants a hybrid vehicle featuring a 50mm weapon system and wants to move from a three-person to a two-person crew, with six seats for infantry troops.

The detailed design phase is slated for fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2024; the prototyping phase is anticipated to begin in FY25."


https://www.defensenews.com/land/2022/12/22/industry-readies-for-key-us-army-bradley-replacement-decision/

[Averageman]

There seems to be a lot of experienced, high-tech companies involved. Hope this doesn't turn into yet another expensive dead end.

"The Army, while it hasn’t cemented its requirements, has said it wants a hybrid vehicle featuring a 50mm weapon system and wants to move from a three-person to a two-person crew, with six seats for infantry troops.

The detailed design phase is slated for fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2024; the prototyping phase is anticipated to begin in FY25."


https://www.defensenews.com/land/2022/12/22/industry-readies-for-key-us-army-bradley-replacement-decision/

Two person crew?
Yeah, that's not going to work.

[sgtrock82]

Two person crew?
Yeah, that's not going to work.Sure it will, especially if we move to a more inclusive and diverse fighting force. Assisted by AI they will be a match for anything wandering the modern battlefield and be a force for good against injustices everywhere.

The vehicles pronouns will be they/them and will have built in mail-in voting capability.

Sent from my BE2028 using Tapatalk

[john armond]

Sure it will, especially if we move to a more inclusive and diverse fighting force. Assisted by AI they will be a match for anything wandering the modern battlefield and be a force for good against injustices everywhere.

The vehicles pronouns will be they/them and will have built in mail-in voting capability.

Sent from my BE2028 using Tapatalk

And be hybrid…don’t forget about the hybrid requirement!!!

[Slater]

So...a driver and a commander/gunner/drone launcher? This thing is supposed to be "optionally manned" so in theory you can send it out by itself and control it from the rear area.

Although I'm not sure if "optionally manned" would also mean "no crew but six troops in back". I'm not sure if the dismounts would have much confidence in that arrangement.

[sinister]

A crew of two with seats for six dismounts is stupid.

The Army will get precisely what it asks for.

[Averageman]

A crew of two with seats for six dismounts is stupid.

The Army will get precisely what it asks for.

Oddly enough if we can thank the Russians for anything it might be a certain amount of procurement logic. We were getting what we needed, eventually.
Gama Goat and first gen Bradley's aside, eventually they worked it out.
My Particular hard on with this is;
With a two man crew, Who's on radio watch? Who's pulling security? Who's manning the LP/OP? Who's running the "Hot Loop"?

Now notice that absolutely no one has any maintenance responcabilty for any of this?
Back when I was a Rookie, a M60A1 Rise/Passive Tank required Eight hours of maintenance for one hour of Operation. That folks was forty plus years ago.
Your kids can't rebuild a carbureator, can't change oil and might barely be able to change a tire with help.
So who's doing the maintenance?

[Slater]

Hopefully it'll go better than the Germans with their current Puma debacle. That's a little embarrasing.

[Harpoon]

I have this feeling like China is going to have thousands of little drones that can drop a charge that will kill or disable armored vehicles.