Washington DC Tactical Overmatch:Why Modernising US Armoured Vehicles with Enhanced Situation Awareness is Vital

摘要

Combat operations in Iraq have ceased for US forces and the war in Afghanistan will slowly wind down. As this happens, the US military is looking to the future and trying to determine how to reshape the ground force for the next conflict. In spite of the resurgence of precision attack and Air-Sea battle theories, the need to fight land wars will not go away. As preeminent US military theorist, Maj.Gen. Robert H. Scales (Ret.) has observed: "All of our enemies have achieved success on the battlefield by adapting their tactics to minimise the effect of American air and sea power." Rebuilding the US Army's armoured fighting vehicle capability will be a major issue after the last soldier leaves Afghanistan. This armoured fighting vehicle fleet will be a hybrid force of M1 tanks, STRYKERs and a distressingly large number of various types of wheeled MRAPs. The M1 ABRAMS tank, in several variants, will remain the main component of the US Army's armoured punch through 2050. The US Army also plans to keep BRADLEY fighting vehicles for some time to come. The Army's AFV fleet will shrink as "demechanisation" of the US Army continues and armoured formations are inevitably turned over the National Guard, but a small armoured corps will be maintained. Instead of deploying armoured divisions as the US Army did in "Desert Storm" in 1991 and the opening stages of Operation "Iraqi Freedom" in 2003, in the future the US Army will most likely deploy armoured companies and battalions. Since any new armoured fighting vehicle, like the troubled Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV), will not be fielded for at least seven to ten years, the US Army will deploy units composed of a mix of the armoured vehicles already in the system.