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Jewish World Review
April 4, 2005
/ 24 Adar II, 5765
The wheels are coming off the Future Combat Systems program
By
Jack Kelly
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Four items in the news recently suggest the Army should reconsider it plans
to put its future on wheels.
- Major Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commander of the First Cavalry Division, gave
a talk at the Fort Hood officers club March 14th. He said that one of big
lessons his troops learned during their year in Iraq is that heavy armor
—M1 tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles — are enormously effective in
urban combat.
- USA Today reported Mar. 18th that the number of soldiers killed or
seriously injured in accidents involving up-armored humvees has more than
doubled in the last four months. All but one of the 14 soldiers killed
during the period died in rollovers. The Army suspects soldiers lack the
skill to handle the heavier humvees and are losing control as they speed
through ambush areas.
- A study by the Center for Army Lessons Learned indicated the slat armor
used on the new Stryker armored car stops rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs)
only about half the time, and the weight of the armor degrades the Stryker's
performance and makes it harder to operate the vehicle safely.
- The New York Times reported Mar. 28th that the estimated cost of the
first phase of the Future Combat Systems — a family of wheeled vehicles the
Army hopes will replace tanks and Bradleys — has soared to $145 billion.
"We're dealing with a train wreck," said Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa) a member of
the House Armed Services Committee.
Most of the soldiers who have ridden in them and fought from them like the
Stryker. "It rides very nice," said Lt. Daniel Leard, a platoon commander
in the first Stryker brigade to see combat in Iraq. "We never had any major
maintenance issues."
But others demur. "In emails from troops stationed in Iraq, the criticisms
are numerous," said Eric Miller, a defense investigator for the Project on
Government Oversight. "The Stryker has too many blind spots looking out
from the inside; the 5,000 lb. "birdcage" armor makes it top heavy and prone
to rollovers; it breaks down too often and chews up tires at an uncommon
rate."
The weapons the Stryker carries — the .50 caliber machine gun or the
Mark-19 40 mm grenade launcher — "will not penetrate most walls in Iraq,
which are made of concrete and cinder block," said retired Army Col. Douglas
Macgregor, an expert on mechanized warfare.
"My big beef with the Stryker is the .50 cal," a soldier who was otherwise
complimentary told me. "If you run out of ammo, you have to physically get
out of the vehicle, get on the roof and grab another ammo can. That's
insane."
With the slat "birdcage" armor attached, the Stryker is too bulky to fight
its way through the narrow, winding streets of older Middle Eastern cities,
and too heavy to maneuver effectively off roads, said defense consultant
Victor O'Reilly.
Lt. Leard acknowledged his platoon couldn't take its Strykers into the
center of Mosul. "We patrolled (there) on foot," he said.
The cost of the Stryker is approaching $4 million each, according to the
Government Accountability Office, an arm of Congress. That's an awful lot
to pay for an oversized armored car with thin armor and light weapons, say
Macgregor and O'Reilly. They favor an upgraded version of the venerable
M-113 armored personnel carrier.
The MTVL (Military Tactical Vehicle Light) is an M-113 with a new
hybrid-electric engine; band (rubber) tracks; the same communications suite
the Stryker has; upgraded armor, and (on some models) heavier weapons.
United Defense, the original manufacturer of the M-113, estimates it can
convert the older vehicles into MTVLs for about $400,000 each.
The knock on heavy armor is that large numbers of tanks and Bradleys can't
be moved anywhere fast and they cost a lot to operate and maintain. The
collapse of the Soviet Union and the advent of precision-guided weapons
means armored divisions no longer make much sense. But we could put an
armored cavalry troop in every brigade; an armored cavalry squadron in every
division. This would give lighter forces punch when they need it.
Competition under real world conditions is the best means of determining
which machines and systems of organization are superior. Before dumping a
ton of money into the FCS, the Army should equip several battalions in Iraq
with MTVLs, and compare their performance with that of the Stryker.
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JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a
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Jack Kelly Archives
© 2005, Jack Kelly
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