A few things I think I want to dig into in the coming days....
Turrets. If you're into armor then you have to be into the different approaches that manufacturers are taking to develop the next generation turrets. Lots of good ideas, quite a few bad ones and I hope to spot light a few of them.
Eurocopter USA. They hit it big with the UH-72A and are poised to sneak in and win the Armed Aerial Scout contest (I say that on a cost basis...I love the Sikorsky offering but its too much too late). With the coming budget insanity that will mean that they're poised to gain parity in a market that they were once locked out of. Trip is being planned as we speak to their Mississipi or Texas offices to see what and how they're doing things.
Future Warrior Projects. Everyone WAS talking about them, but they seem to be off everyones radar now. A quick view on whats being worked, who's closest to actually putting it into service and a glance at how SOCOM is putting a version of it into service one piece at a time. I can tell you now that I contend that its overkill for the mission and probably creates a type of 1000 mile thumb instead of helping the guy on the ground.
Turrets. If you're into armor then you have to be into the different approaches that manufacturers are taking to develop the next generation turrets. Lots of good ideas, quite a few bad ones and I hope to spot light a few of them.
Eurocopter USA. They hit it big with the UH-72A and are poised to sneak in and win the Armed Aerial Scout contest (I say that on a cost basis...I love the Sikorsky offering but its too much too late). With the coming budget insanity that will mean that they're poised to gain parity in a market that they were once locked out of. Trip is being planned as we speak to their Mississipi or Texas offices to see what and how they're doing things.
Future Warrior Projects. Everyone WAS talking about them, but they seem to be off everyones radar now. A quick view on whats being worked, who's closest to actually putting it into service and a glance at how SOCOM is putting a version of it into service one piece at a time. I can tell you now that I contend that its overkill for the mission and probably creates a type of 1000 mile thumb instead of helping the guy on the ground.
About the "future warrior" sets, notice how the french deployed their own FELIN concept to Afghanistan and Africa with fully operational units (infantry regiments) ? I've seen a few RETEX papers in the open press on the topic (in "Défense et Sécurité Internationale" amongst other), and I think the German did also deploy smaller scale units equiped with similar gear. So those things are actually in the field in Europe, it's a bit surprising the US has not yet gone so far with regular Marines or Army units...
ReplyDeletethat's why I THINK...i don't know but i think they're getting pushback from conventional units when this stuff is tested. lets face it. going into combat with full armor and 782 gear and then adding a bunch of batteries and additional electronics isn't going to be popular. i think its working (the US version) with SOCOM because they have so much more leeway when it comes to outfitting for particular missions.
DeleteThe opportunity for micromanagement from afar is scary. I SOCOM also has enough trust in their people to actually put the 'Strategic Corporal' concept into practice AND the operators probably have enough leeway to take initiative and 'interpret' instructions from higher echelons.
ReplyDeletewhats the APC, in the second picture, called?
ReplyDelete