Could the problems faced in engineering development of Bradl

Could the problems faced in engineering development of Bradley Fighting Vehicle have been avoided? Explain your answer.

note: just simply answer the question, no need for examples

Solution

The tanks had almost no urban combat capability, at least in close combat. They\'re not something we send to jungles of course except in limited numbers. The one known factor was that M-113s could not carry both TOWs and a squad or even a fire team. You can only put so many marbles in a given size can no matter how artistically you pack them in.

The next problem was the emerging mobility gap between the M1 and the M113. The M1 is much more mobile than the M-60,.  The M-113 was contemporary to the M-60 and couldn\'t keep up with M1s. M2-M3 does keep up with M1s. Is the Bradley the best possible infantry carrier for a full squad? Nope. That was the inherent trade-off given available 1970s technology for radically increasing the tank killing power of 9 man infantry units. Was the conception of increasing the tank killing power correct? Absolutely. A somewhat more compact design (but still larger than the M-113) was possible. Designs incorporating a TOW and a 20mm but no big turret were looked at and might have been better.

     That turret is the deceptive part. The Bradley is not a tank, despite having a turret and irrespective of what Barry McCaffrey was saying in the late 1980s. Think of it as a super-gun shield better than the .50 calibers M-113s had in Vietnam. The next consideration that caused the turret to be picked was chemical warfare and the desire for a fully enclosed design to protect the crew. The last consideration is that the TOW launcher has to be pivotable however you achieve that. It\'s inherent to the design of the TOW guidance system. Ground mounted TOWs pivot on a tripod. Jeep and HMMWV TOWs pivot on a pintle. Cobra mounted TOWs pivot around the aircraft rotor axle. The ITV is really an M-113 hull carrying a pop-up turret.

     The real choice was therefore between a tiny turret for the TOW only or a larger turret incorporating the TOW and guns. If one is dead-set against turrets in infantry vehicles but still wants a heavy anti-tank missile then a completely new missile was necessary. The TOW was fully developed and combat proven at An Loc in 1972 and a year later in the Sinai. This vehicle was optimized to fight with the M1 against Soviet armored forces using chemical warfare in central Europe and the Mid-East.  To say that it\'s not ideal for Bosnian peacekeeping or Just Cause in Panama is true and irrelevant. I still think a better and lighter design with better amphibious capability was possible. But we certainly should not spend the money to build that better vehicle now.

yes the problems could have been avoided.