Fort Benning, Home of the MCoE 1 Maneuver Center of Excellence - - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Fort Benning, Home of the MCoE Maneuver Center of Excellence - Team of Soldiers, Families, and Civilians from the Best Army in the World! 1

Fort Benning, Home of the MCoE Maneuver Center of Excellence - Team of Soldiers, Families, and Civilians from the Best Army in the World!

• Dr. David Johnson

Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments

• Our pacing threat—Russia—is

ahead of us in many critical areas

• While we have understandably

been training, organizing and equipping for “the wars we are in”

• Until recently, we have

neglected preparing for the “wars we could be in”

• This is a problem not only

against Russia, but against their clients

• Our materiel modernization

efforts are not closing the gaps

• And will not without more

investment and a threat-based approach to the problem

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• Faulty U.S. concepts for armor drive technology

– Use tanks in long-range thrusts deep into the enemy's rear where they can chew up his supply installations and communications – Tanks will not fight other tanks—that is the role of tank destroyers – Air support not critical to concept

• Logistics concerns also influential:

– Weight limited to 30 tons, 103 inches width until late 1944 to facilitate shipping and use of existing portable bridges – Low velocity gun to reduce demand for replacement barrels

• Army ignored or misinterpreted enemy capabilities

U.S. M-4 Sherman Medium Tank U.S. M-10 Tank Destroyer U.S. M-3 Stuart Light Tank

“We’ve got the finest tanks in the world! We just love to see the German Royal Tiger [Tiger II] come up on the field.” –General George Patton

• American tanks have to fight German panzers—and are inferior
• Western Front a battle of attrition: won by combined arms, particularly the use of

tactical air power and artillery

• General Omar Bradley’s 12th Army Group tank losses (6 June 1944-12 May 1945):

3,256 medium tanks and 838 light tanks

• General Eisenhower not aware of problem until after the Battle of the Bulge—

pushes decision to field M-26 with 90mm gun

• M26 arrives late in January 1945—only 20 see combat service

Sherman 75mm vs. Tiger II 88mm—The tank the Army wanted and the one it had to fight

“Another noteworthy example of German superiority was in the heavy tank. From the summer of 1943 to the spring of 1945 the German Tiger and Panther tanks outmatched

• ur Sherman tanks in direct combat.”
• George C. Marshall

• M26 a crash program to address M4

Sherman failure—an “Urgent Operational Need Statement” by General Eisenhower

• Absent this failure, and in the face of

post-war demobilization and budget cuts

– M4 Sherman would likely have remained the Army’s main battle tank long after World War II

• It did serve in the Korean War, the 1967

Arab-Israeli War, and elsewhere

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If the M4 Sherman had the same modernization and service life extension plan as the M1 Abrams, it would have been in service until 2012 and probably beyond

• We face the real prospect of fighting

competent state adversaries with modern weapons—have not done this since WWII

• Combat vehicles matter—a lot—but

their development is driven by concepts

• We need to improve what we have to

close current gaps . . . but move forward to overmatch

• Three attributes matter in

sustainment and new systems: lethality, survivability, combat mobility

• Everything else—fuel efficiency, air

transportability, human factors, back-up cameras, etc.—is secondary

• All Army combat systems should be

measured by the same ruthless standard: can they overmatch our adversaries in a combined arms fight Russia is modernizing to counter our capabilities and has home field advantage

S-400 SAM BM-30 MLRS Pantsir-S1 ADA 9K333 MANPADS T-14 Armata Tank TOS-1 MRL SS-26 SRBM 2S35 152mm Howitzer SA-15 SAM T-15 Infantry Fighting Vehicle SU-25 CAS Aircraft SU-50 Attack Helicopter

Fort Benning, Home of the MCoE Maneuver Center of Excellence - Team of Soldiers, Families, and Civilians from the Best Army in the World!

MG Eric Wesley Maneuver Center of Excellence

Fort Benning, Home of the MCoE Maneuver Center of Excellence - Team of Soldiers, Families, and Civilians from the Best Army in the World! 9

RNGW Study

Fort Benning, Home of the MCoE Maneuver Center of Excellence - Team of Soldiers, Families, and Civilians from the Best Army in the World!

MG Cedric Wins U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command

Fort Benning, Home of the MCoE Maneuver Center of Excellence - Team of Soldiers, Families, and Civilians from the Best Army in the World!

LTG (R) Bob Lennox General Dynamics Missions Systems

Fort Benning, Home of the MCoE Maneuver Center of Excellence - Team of Soldiers, Families, and Civilians from the Best Army in the World!

• Mr. Kevin Fahey

Cypress International

Fort Benning, Home of the MCoE Maneuver Center of Excellence - Team of Soldiers, Families, and Civilians from the Best Army in the World!

Moderator: BG (R) Peter Palmer Panelists: MG Eric Wesley, MCoE MG Cedric Wins, RDECOM

• Dr. David Johnson, CSBA
• Mr. Kevin Fahey, Cypress International

LTG (R) Bob Lennox, General Dynamics Mission Systems