Introduction: In response to the threat posed to the U.S. military by the development of weapons and equipment in emerging powers, the U.S. Army decided to establish the Army Modernization Command (changed to the Future Command in January 2018) by the summer of 2017 at the annual meeting of the Army Association held in October 2017 to supervise the modernization of the Army and determine six major projects for the Army's priority development: "long-range precision firepower" missiles, next-generation combat vehicles, "future vertical take-off and landing" helicopters, mobile communication command networks, integrated air defense and anti-missile, and individual lethality projects. This article mainly introduces the main situation of the US Army's "next-generation combat vehicle" project.
Bradley, who coexists "strong and weak."
The Bradley (M2) series of combat vehicles is the current main infantry combat vehicle of the U.S. Army, mainly used to transport infantry on the battlefield, provide fire support for foot troops, suppress and destroy enemy combat vehicles, and are mainly used in the Army Armored Brigade Combat Team. The prototype (M2A0) was delivered to the U.S. Army in December 1978 and has a history of 43 years. The vehicle is 6.45 meters long, 3.2 meters wide, 2.56 meters high, the total combat weight is 22.67 tons, the power is 500 horsepower, the maximum road speed is 65 km / h, the maximum road travel is 483 km, and the unit power is 26 horsepower / ton. The crew is 3 (commander, gunner and driver), and the crew is 7. The main armament is a 25 mm machine gun and a side-by-side machine gun, the hull adopts an explosive reactive armor welded structure, which can resist the attack of armor-piercing bullets and shells, and the front of the vehicle is equipped with lower-down additional armor to prevent mine attacks; the side skirt plate on the side has a good protection ability. Since 1981, the U.S. military has upgraded the M2 several times, and a variety of models have appeared, such as M2A1, M2A2, M2A3 and M2A4. The M2A1 type is equipped with the "Tao 2" anti-tank missile and is equipped with new artillery shells; the M2A2 type adopts new armor protection, replaces it with a high-power engine, and improves the fire control system; the M2A3 type adopts a forward-looking infrared sensor, and is equipped with a laser rangefinder and on-board navigation equipment, which improves the detection ability and hit rate of the combat vehicle. Its hull is made of aluminum alloy welded structure, the upper armor and top armor of the front of the car are made of aluminum alloy, and the front of the turret is made of steel armor.
M2A3 Bradley Chariot
Although the Bradley tank has undergone several upgrades, the vehicle has shown increasingly obvious limitations as times have changed and the combat environment has changed. First, the limitations of the operational marshalling space. The U.S. infantry squad consisted of 9 soldiers, but the Bradley tank could only accommodate 7 (later changed to 6) heavily armed infantrymen, and each infantry platoon had to arrange 3 squads on 4 Bradley chariots, making it more difficult to command, control, and use. The second is the limitation of battlefield survivability. As a masterpiece of the "Cold War" period, bradley tanks, despite their powerful firepower, could not effectively withstand the blows of modern improvised explosive devices, mines and anti-tank rockets. According to statistics, about 150 Bradley tanks have been destroyed since the 2003 Iraq war. The third is the limitation of weapon platform upgrades. In order to improve the survivability of the vehicle, the improved model of the vehicle added additional armor and active defense system, but this modification made the weight of the vehicle increase rapidly, the weight of the M2A3 type tank with armor kit was 34.25 tons, and the M2A4 reached 40.8 tons, resulting in frequent problems with the power system and transmission system, slower travel speed, and poor battlefield mobility. In addition, bradley vehicles have reached their technical limits to accommodate new electronics, armor and defense systems. During Operation Iraq Freedom, Bradley vehicles often had to shut down certain electronic systems to get enough power for roadside bomb jammers, reportedly.
Second, the "ill-fated" upgrade road
Considering that the Bradley chariot has been in service for nearly 40 years, coupled with combat limitations and proven combat defects, and the difficulty of upgrading existing systems, the US Army has repeatedly proposed infantry fighting vehicle development plans to try to replace the M2 Bradley chariot, but it was later cancelled for many reasons, which seems to indicate the "fate" of the development of a new generation of infantry fighting vehicles.
(1) Future Combat System Plan. At the end of the 1990s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union ended the Cold War confrontation, and the world pattern changed from bipolar to multipolar. The U.S. military decided to abandon the old "threat-based" strategy and develop a new "capability-based" strategy, and in 1999 proposed the "Future Combat System" plan. In 2003, then Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld asked the U.S. Army to transform the information age and a brand new future strategic response force that can achieve dominance in various environments and various military operations by around 2030, and to create a mechanized and unmanned new Army weapon system with the "U.S. Army Future Combat System" as the core equipment, mainly including the "system system" composed of the "18+1+1" subsystem. Among them, "18" represents 8 kinds of manned vehicles and 10 kinds of unmanned control systems. However, the plan was disrupted by the Iraq War as soon as it entered the system development stage, and the "guerrilla tactical" attacks of various low-tech light weapons, RPG rockets, roadside bombs and suicide bombs made the development ideas pursued by the U.S. Army to use information superiority to make up for weak armor greatly challenged. Later, due to the advanced concept of the "future combat system", the economic crisis in 2008 and the excessive expenditure of the project, in 2009, the then Secretary of Defense Gates cancelled the project.
U.S. Military Future Combat System
(2) Ground combat vehicle plans. After the cancellation of the Future Combat System program, in 2009, based on its combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, and taking into account the new anti-armor threats that may arise from 2017 to 2025, the U.S. Army began to develop a next-generation ground combat vehicle program, seeking to build the Army's next-generation "high survival, lethality, and supportable manned ground combat platform", which mainly includes three parts: brigade combat team capabilities, network capabilities and vehicle strategy. According to the plan, the M113 personnel carrier will be phased out by 2018 and the Bradley vehicle will be gradually retired, but due to unstable performance needs and budgetary pressures, technology development has been repeatedly delayed, and the plan was cancelled by the Secretary of Defense in 2014. In 2015, the U.S. Army proposed the concept of "future combat vehicles", allowing General Dynamics and BAE Systems to participate in the bidding of the ground combat vehicle program to do design and planning, but soon this plan also came to an abrupt end.
Ground Combat Vehicle Program (Infographic)
(iii) The concept of "next-generation chariots". In March 2017, the U.S. Army launched the "Next Generation Of Combat Vehicles" project study, and in March 2019, the Pentagon released project requirements, requiring new infantry fighting vehicles to control cost and weight while taking into account mobility, firepower, protection, and information capabilities. The first is a new configuration of firepower. Weapons and equipment such as 30/50 mm machine guns, spike anti-tank missiles, cruise missiles, and suicide drones are used to improve the strike range and strike effect of infantry fighting vehicles. The second is to improve the level of intelligence of combat vehicles. By installing an enhanced 360-degree situational awareness system, a large wide-angle vehicle-mounted camera, and a large-angle driving field of view enhancement equipment, the personnel in the car can obtain a full range of battlefield situational awareness effects and reduce the blind spot of perception. The third is to enhance the active defense capability of chariots. Equipped with an active defense system, it can effectively intercept strikes such as RPGs, anti-tank missiles and recoil-free shells, improving the survivability of the vehicle.
Next-generation vehicle program
Iii. Progress of the "Next Generation Infantry Fighting Vehicle" project
General Dynamics of the United States, BAE of the United Kingdom and Rheinmetall-Raytheon of Germany participated in the bidding for the "Next Generation Infantry Fighting Vehicle" project and produced prototypes respectively. General Dynamics products are the "Griffin III" infantry fighting vehicle; the British BAE product is the CV90 Mark IV; and the Rheinmetall-Raytheon product is the KF-41 "Bobcat" infantry fighting vehicle. In June 2019, BAE first withdrew from the bidding for "commercial reasons"; in October 2019, the KF-41 Bobcat infantry fighting vehicle was disqualified due to procedural issues; and general dynamics' "Griffin III" infantry fighting vehicle was forced to stop because it could not accommodate the 9-man infantry squad (2+6). On January 16, 2020, the U.S. Army canceled the manned vehicle program and analyzed and revised the project, restarting the program after the program requested. On February 7, 2020, the U.S. Army reopened its bidding, relaxed its project wish list and partial procurement strategy, and planned to provide $327.732 million in research, development, testing, and qualification funding in fiscal year 2021. In October 2021, four military companies, BAE, Rheinmetall, General Motors, and Hanwha Group, exhibited sample vehicles for the U.S. Army's next-generation manned infantry fighting vehicle project at the U.S. Army Annual Meeting.
Judging from the sample vehicles on display, there are many kinds of us future infantry fighting vehicles, and the technical sources and combat uses show diversified characteristics.
BAE CV90 Mark IV prototype
(1) Diversification of sample cars
A total of 4 military enterprises participated in the manufacture of prototype vehicles, among them, the Rheinmetall prototype was based on the KF41 "Bobcat" infantry fighting vehicle research and development, using the "Spear 2.0" remote control turret, using only 2 crew members, the level of automation was greatly improved; the Rheinmetall prototype was equipped with a 50 mm XM913 machine gun, and could also carry a "Javelin" anti-tank missile and a cruise missile; General Dynamics prototype vehicle was developed on the basis of the "Griffin IV" armored vehicle, using a two-person crew, and the turret adopted a Kongsberg RT40 remote control turret. It can be used with the existing Stryker medium-caliber weapon system of the US military; the BAE sample vehicle is based on the active "Bradley" infantry fighting vehicle, using unmanned turrets, focusing on updating the integrated start-up generator, and equipped with two active confrontation systems of soft/hard killing, which can effectively strike at incoming targets; Hanwha Group's prototype vehicle is based on the development of the "Red-backed Spider" infantry fighting vehicle, using a hybrid system and equipped with a suicide drone, which can effectively reduce the noise and vibration of the vehicle and improve the strike range of the vehicle.
Rheinmetall "Bobcat" prototype car
(2) Diversified sources of technology
A number of technologies for the sample car were taken from us allies, including the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom, Norway and South Korea, which avoided the lengthy cycle and unreliability of new technology research and development, made the project risk controllable, and reduced the risk of cost overrun and schedule delay. For example, all four prototypes are equipped with Israeli "booty" active defense systems, all equipped with Israeli "Long Nails" series of anti-tank missiles, all using liquid gas suspension and new power systems; Hanwha Group's prototype vehicles use belt composite rubber track technology to reduce driving vibration; in addition, third-generation thermal imagers, two-way stabilizers, AI-assisted decision-making and other technologies have also been widely used, improving the combat capability of the vehicles.
General Dynamics "Griffin III" infantry fighting vehicle
(3) Diversified operational uses
First, there are many means of communication. According to the requirements of the US military, manned infantry fighting vehicles must carry drones and work closely with other ground vehicles to achieve multiple combat purposes. Manned infantry fighting vehicles are equipped with intelligent terminals to process massive amounts of information, realize information resource sharing and battlefield situation awareness, and maintain communication with robot fighting vehicles to achieve tasks such as data exchange, intelligence sharing, and tracking targets, and improve the survivability of combat vehicles. Second, the network deployment ability is strong. For the first time, the US military has deployed a land combat network in brigade-level combat vehicles, realized full-time domain and all-location access to the network, and improved network combat capabilities. Third, it has a strong ability to fight independently. According to the US military's vision, the manned infantry fighting vehicle has the ability of artificial intelligence auxiliary decision-making, and if necessary, it can be remotely controlled under no man's condition, and autonomous control, artificial intelligence-assisted decision-making and manned-unmanned combination will become a huge highlight of the Army's manned combat vehicle.
Hanwha Group prototype
On July 23, 2021, the Pentagon announced that it was entering the second phase of the project. According to the plan, the second phase will end in mid-2022, and by fiscal year 2028, the U.S. Army will deploy the first next-generation manned infantry fighting vehicle. However, the project still faces many controversies: first, it remains to be seen whether the use of active defense systems to significantly replace the original heavy armor can meet expectations; second, the low cost of the project makes it questionable whether the plan can develop in the long run. At present, the US military only plans to provide $327.732 million in the Army's fiscal year 2021 budget, which is difficult to effectively mobilize the enthusiasm of military enterprises. Third, the continuous adoption of new technologies in the development of US combat vehicles may greatly increase the expected cost.
Generally speaking, after the Cold War, the US military's exploration of modernization has never stopped, as the wind direction rod of the development of military equipment in the world, its lessons and lessons have great reference and enlightenment significance for me, and its related trends deserve great attention.