ARMY AL&T
The M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley FOV have provided essential ground combat power to U.S. forces. Here, an M1A1 Abrams tank fires at Besmaya range, Iraq, April 14, 2010, during a partnered firing exercise with the Iraqi army. (U.S. Army photo by PFC Jared Eastman.)
However, lessons learned from the last 8 years of warfare identified common capability gaps in all of our platforms, including the Stryker FOV. The greatest gap was in survivability, especially against lower intensity conflict weapons, such as rocket-propelled grenades, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and under-armor blast from explosives or artillery shells. Our solutions ranged from the slat armor that was so effective for the Stryker, to the Tank Urban Survival Kits and Bradley Urban Survival Kits for protection of the Abrams and Bradley, to the Counter- Radio Controlled IED Electronic Warfare System that can jam detonation signals. These have all been effective, but at the cost of extra weight and power require- ments that have reduced or eliminated the reserve space, weight, and power capability of the vehicles. In addition, the aging of the fleet, along with the inevitable obsolescence issues inherent in 40-year- old platforms, have significantly driven up the Army’s operations and support costs.
The cornerstone of the future ground combat force will be the new Ground
Using the best of today’s mature technologies, the Ground Combat Vehicle will be able to combine unparalleled effectiveness and suitability into an IFV that will be dominant on any future battlefield, urban or rural.
Combat Vehicle. Using the best of today’s mature technologies, the Ground Combat Vehicle will be able to combine unparalleled effectiveness and suitability into an Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) that will be dominant on any future battlefield, urban or rural.
However, it will take considerable time to replace the 30,000-plus tracked vehicles in the Army’s combat fleet. The initial increment of the Ground Combat Vehicle, as a replacement for the IFV variant of the Bradley, is slated to replace approximately 51 percent of the Bradley FOV and only 18 percent of the total current tracked vehicle fleet. When we field new bri- gade combat teams within the Army Force Generation model, the brigade
must act as a single formation, able to maneuver in the same environment, fight against the same threat, inter- operate on the same network, and be sustained under the same logistics footprint as a unified fighting force.
Modernization Using technologies from the Ground Combat Vehicle program as well as other Army modernization programs, PEO GCS will execute a series of afford- able, incremental recapitalization and reset programs for the Abrams, Bradley, and Stryker platforms, as well as execute a Paladin obsolescence program to ensure that the single fleet can address common capability gaps and continue to operate on the modern battlefield.
JULY –SEPTEMBER 2010 9
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