Infantry of Tomorrow

[Kirkhill]

 

[FJAG]

No being judgy, but the APCs I recall seeing sometimes were full of kit and it was hard to shove troops in between the rucks, piles of ammo cans, jars of Cheez Whiz and palettes of bottled water.

I wonder how many you could pack in there if you just had fighting order, first line ammo, CSupps and weapons, and backloaded all the other gear (except the Cheez Whiz of course) to A/B Ech etc..

In the days before explosive resistant seats, we had folding steel benches in the M113s. Gunner tracks were rarely full of people. As a FOO I rarely had more than 4 folks in my team counting myself. And yet the first thing to go were those steel seats to be replaced by vehicle long storage boxes with padded tops as seats in order to hold even more crap. It's amazing how much shit we had on board - definitely all that Cheez Whiz, no water bottles - all ours water came in plastic 5 gal Jerry Cans, and food - so much extra food. I always felt sorry for the grunts we supported who were squeezed in like sardines - especially when in winter gear - and that's without all the ammo used on real ops.

 

[daftandbarmy]

In the days before explosive resistant seats, we had folding steel benches in the M113s. Gunner tracks were rarely full of people. As a FOO I rarely had more than 4 folks in my team counting myself. And yet the first thing to go were those steel seats to be replaced by vehicle long storage boxes with padded tops as seats in order to hold even more crap. It's amazing how much shit we had on board - definitely all that Cheez Whiz, no water bottles - all ours water came in plastic 5 gal Jerry Cans, and food - so much extra food. I always felt sorry for the grunts we supported who were squeezed in like sardines - especially when in winter gear - and that's without all the ammo used on real ops.

Gunners be like...

 

[KevinB]

View attachment 93990

That’s the layout from the Original Bradley that still used the XM-231 firing port weapons (pre A1)

The A2 thru A4 have seat benches and no one stuck to the side of the turret basket

 

[Kirkhill]

35mm (1050 m/sec 550-750 g) .... 300 to 450 kJ
30mm x 173mm (1050 m/sec 360 g) .... 200 kJ
30mm x 113mm (800 m/sec 250 g) .... 80 kJ
12.7mm (800 m/sec 45 g) .... 15 kJ
40mm HV (240 m/sec 240 g) .... 7 kJ

From another thread.

30x113 seems to be the preferred upgrade to the M2/M3 HB as still within the limits of the lower classes of RWS .

On the Strykers the 12.7 and 40 were mounted for local protection of the vehicle. The 30x113 seems to have a broader target set covering both the 12.7 and 40 targets as well as aerial targets.

 

[FJAG]

Gunners be like...

Did I ever tell you how our track was the only one with a dismounted RCR company on a winter exercise and how my crew fed the whole company for a day with fried egg and bologna sandwiches using the extra fresh rations our battery cooks had given us when the battalion couldn't feed them . . . and then towed all of their toboggans behind our track on a five kilometre night withdrawal?

 

[daftandbarmy]

Did I ever tell you how our track was the only one with a dismounted RCR company on a winter exercise and how my crew fed the whole company for a day with fried egg and bologna sandwiches using the extra fresh rations our battery cooks had given us when the battalion couldn't feed them . . . and then towed all of their toboggans behind our track on a five kilometre night withdrawal?

Yes, you will be going to heaven...

 

[FJAG]

Yes, you will be going to heaven...

Probably not.

 

[PrairieFella]

In 2017 the M1296 Dragoon came out with its 30mm unmanned remote turret. Interestingly it is still designated an ICV, ICVD in fact, with a crew of 2 and 9 dismounts. There are some places where it is erroneously referred to as being in the class of an IFV. That said, it did not enter into general service in SBCTs, but was limited to one cavalry regiment.

Which is a stupid idea. It was realized very quickly in the history of armoured warfare that 2 isn't enough for Cav/tank troops. It's impossible to fight the vehicle effectively, command the truck and run comms whilst simultaneously playing gunner.

 

[FJAG]

Ah! Wheeled LAVs in Latvia.

 

[Kirkhill]

Which is a stupid idea. It was realized very quickly in the history of armoured warfare that 2 isn't enough for Cav/tank troops. It's impossible to fight the vehicle effectively, command the truck and run comms whilst simultaneously playing gunner.

But there was no intention to fight the Stryker. It was a bus. With a self-defence system. Exactly equivalent to an M113 with a pintle mount on the CCs hatch.

Now the Dragoon, a different story. Likely came from the same shop that brought us the Booker.