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March 28, 2024



Conclusion

We have reached the following conclusions, which differ slightly from the original study:

  • The LAVIII weighs more than the M113, is not in production, and costs more than the M113.
  • The LAVIII provides no marked advantage over the M113 in mobility, lethality, or protection.
  • The LAVIII barely - if at all - meets C-130 air transport requirements, while the M113 is well within the C-130's capability.
  • The US Army has many M113s available to equip the IBCT.
  • The M113 is widely used throughout the world, potentially making service support easier.
  • It seems simpler to begin production of the M8 - a vehicle already type classified by the Army - then to develop and produce new vehicles.
  • A brigade composed of M113A3 variants and the M8 Armored Gun System is deployable with fewer aircraft in the same amount of time than a brigade equipped with LAVIII variants.
  • There is a deplorable and nearly criminal shortage of strategic airlift.
  • The IBCT can be sustained by air for up to 14 days, until sea lift and surface transport can arrive.
  • The superior cruise range of the M113/M8 offsets the greater fuel requirement of the tracked IBCT when compared to the LAVIII version.
  • A skillfully conducted operation with either brigade can succeed against an enemy equipped with Main Battle Tanks and BMP-2's, however; the lack of protection and poor choice of weapons puts the wheeled brigade at serious risk of destruction.
  • Because the M2 machine gun and the Mk-19 Automatic Grenade Launcher are not generally capable of penetrating even the BTR-80, a brigade based on these weapons places a disproportionate on the valor of individual soldiers.

Recommendations

  • Field the IBCT with the M113A3 and the M8 Armored Gun System, if for no other reason than to reduce the cost to the US taxpayer.
  • Form one brigade with the M113/M8 and have it compete directly with the LAVIII brigade in terms of deployability, sustainability, and operational effect.
  • Arm the brigade with a 25mm automatic cannon in a low profile, remote controlled turret in place of the M2 or MK19.
  • Equip C-130's with air to air refueling capability to extend its range and to offset the weight requirements for assault operations.
  • Procure an additional 120 C-17 cargo aircraft and/or.
  • Modify and test the Boeing 747-400 freighter to determine if it can be modified to accept 4 to 6 M113s. If so, modify and lease sufficient numbers to move the IBCT in one lift, augmented with C-17/C-5s as necessary.

About the Author

Mike Robel is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, with 16 years of active duty as an Armor Officer. He served in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment as a tank and cavalry platoon leader and a cavalry troop executive officer patrolling the very edge of the Free World along the border between East and West Germany. His other service was in the 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) {The Big Red One} in Fort Riley, Stuttgart, Germany, and the Persian Gulf, where he commanded companies in all three brigades of the division and served as a battalion maintenance officer, battalion supply officer, battalion assistant operations officer, division armor training officer, division assistant operations officer, and as a brigade supply officer.

After leaving active duty, he worked for Logicon Advanced Technology as a database manager for the 87th Exercise Division in Birmingham, AL and managed the 2nd ACR's simulation center in Fort Polk, LA, where he used the Army's Corps Battle Simulation, Battalion-Brigade Battle Simulation, and JANUS. He is now a Knowledge Acquisition and System Test Engineer working on WARSIM 2000, which is the Army's next generation battle simulation. He has been published in a variety of commercial and profession journals including Command, Army Times, Armor, Infantry, Military Review, and Computer Games Magazine.

Endnotes


1 Front/Side/Rear
2 http://www.tacom.army.mil/LAV/ (Foreign Military Sales, LAV-PC)
3 http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m113.htm
4 http://www.tea.army.mil/si/tb55/viewlin.asp?lin=C18234&lin_index=02 (prepared IAW AR220-10 for air lift)
5 Foss, Christopher, Jane's World Fighting Vehicles, 1976.
6 http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m8-ags.htm
7 US Army Europe News Release, dtd 22 August 2000, as found at http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/2116/m113a3setaf.htm.
8 Jane's, Armor Fighting Vehicles, 1998.
9 Cassidy, Joseph H, C-130 transportability of Army Vehicles, 15 March 2001
10 As found at http://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/index.html.
11 http://www.tea.army.mil/si/tb55/ (this web site shows official weights of vehicles in operational, reduced for air lift, for sea lift, and non-reducable configurations and the aircraft they are certified to fly on.)
12 http://www.tacom.army.mil/LAV/fms/fmsfrs.htm This is for a 25mm generation III LAV with a 25mm cannon. Different versions (Assault Gun, Anti-Tank, APC, Mortar, etc) could be expected to vary considerably and some would possibly exceed the ability of the C-130 to carry them.
13 The tanker is not C-130 transportable in an operable condition, therefore it probably cannot be flown with fuel in it.
14 Union of the two pieces of equipment.
15 E-mail, David Pyne, 5/18/01, after viewing the LAVIII MGS.
16 http://www.af.mil/news/factsheets/C_130_Hercules.html.
17 http://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/mav.htm
18 The spreadsheet can be found on-line at http://www.strategypage.com/tt/Deployme.xls The interested user will have to modify it for different vehicles.
19 Jackson, Paul (editor), Jane's All the World's Aircraft, 2000-2001, entry on Boeing 747, pp 620-621.
20 http://www.adtdl.army.mil/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/fm/55-9/Ch3.htm
21 http://www.tea.army.mil/si/tb55/ (the user may type in M35A2, M1078, etc and then conduct the search)
22 http://www.geocities.com/cargo747airlift/
23 "http://www.adtdl.army.mil/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/fm/55-9/Appf.htm#top
24 Consumes based on Dragon rates.
25 Consumes based on 4.2 Mortar rates.
26 A rough approximation, based on totally refilling all vehicles of the brigade, but not their tankers, for three days.
27 However, active duty officers studying the IBCT used TacOps in conjunction with JANUS to evaluate it. My results generally paralleled their work. The initial study can be found at http://www.strategypage.com/articles/ibct_files/.

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