Army leaders are experimenting with ways to combine existing vehicles with conventional weapons already in the service’s arsenal as an option for boosting infantry firepower and mobility.
Last week two senior officers charged with reinvigorating the Army’s acumen for maneuver warfare watched two potential vehicle-weapon combinations fire at derelict tanks during a demonstration at Fort Benning’s Red Cloud range.
Maj. Gen. Eric Wesley, commander of the Fort Benning Maneuver Center of Excellence and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who heads the Army Capabilities Integration Center and is deputy commanding general of Futures at Training and Doctrine Command, were on hand to witness two vehicle prototypes fire integrated belt-fed 30mm cannons manufactured by Orbital ATK [OA].
“What you see is an example of a prototyping effort and learning from equipment that is already made – off-the-shelf capabilities – that will perform what we are going to do,” Wesley said in a taped speech during the demonstration at Fort Benning. “We need to be cooperating and collaborating with industry and that’s what you see here today. This is all about filling the gap in our capability so we’re prepared for the future.”
A ground mobility vehicle (GMV) 1.1 prototype fired a roof-mounted M230LF 30mm cannon – the same weapon mounted on AH-64 Apache gunships. GMV 1.1 is a Special Operations Command acquisition program to find a fast, quick-insertion vehicle for commandos.
The Army in June sidelined a similar program called the light reconnaissance vehicle (LRV) in favor of equipping scout recon units with the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). The Army has its own GMV effort to find a “better boot” for small infantry units to land and maneuver to objectives quickly. A request for proposals for that program is being readied for release, according to the Army’s combat support and combat services support (CS+CSS) program office.
A larger Light Armored Vehicle Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle (LAV-R) prototype fired a MK44 mounted on a Kongsberg turret – nearly the same setup the Army has ordered for some Stryker wheeled vehicles that will deploy to Europe. The MK44 is the same cannon mounted on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
The event was sponsored by the Capabilities Development and Integration Directorate Mounted Requirements Division at the Maneuver Center of Excellence, and General Dynamics [GD].
McMaster, whose job it is to puzzle out what the Army needs for future wars in terms of equipment and training, has advocated for light, mobile vehicles that pack a punch for reconnaissance and infantry units. He has said publicly that Army units in Europe are too light and poorly armed to face up to near-peer adversaries like Russia.
“This is an effort to invigorate and improve the capabilities of our reconnaissance formations – mobility, protection and lethality,” McMaster said. “What we need is a combat vehicle that allows that appropriate combination. Every time you bump into a U.S. Army formation and you’re the enemy, and you make the unwise choice of taking a shot at us, smoke and boots, that is going to be the result on the other end.”
A new-start light recon vehicle or light tank – a requirement mentioned at the highest levels of Army leadership – would have to find room among a crowded vehicle modernization lineup that already is competing for meager funding. The Army plans to buy 49,000 JLTVs to replace a large portion of its Humvee fleet. It also has firm plans to replace thousands of its Vietnam-era M113 Armored Personnel Carriers with a new Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV).
New in its fiscal 2017 budget request are research-and-development efforts to revive the concept of a Ground Combat Vehicle to replace the Bradley and Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF), which remains conceptual but tracks closely to what the Army demonstrated at Benning.
Wesley said uniformed leaders should “drive requirements” maneuver formations toward sustained programs of record for the current inter-war period.
“We are in an inter-war period,” he said. “The inter-war period is critical because it is a time when you must leverage an opportunity to get ready for the next conflict. If you don’t leverage that opportunity, you are frittering away a resource that has strategic implications.”
The original version of this story said the Army canceled its ground mobility vehicle (GMV) program in favor of the joint light tactical vehicle (JLTV). The Army has sidelined its light reconnaissance vehicle (LRV) and plans to use JLTV as an interim solution.