Black Hawk Down-Part IV

Status
Not open for further replies.
Of cource the V22 is a fat hog of an airframe. But no gunship exists that can escort it. So we need to sling some weapons on it in the mean time just like we did with Hueys until we could come up with the Cobra.

Power Armor. You bet we need power armor. The tech already exists. Two years ago, the Spanish developed an artififcial muscle that flexes in multiple directions when stimulated with an electric current.
A coffee can-sized MHD can provide all the power for the muscles and secondary systems.

Picture something looking like a Medieval knight but with the armor thicker. He is camoflaged to fit the surrounding foliage and totes something like a BAR with a 50mm version of the M203. Targeting, IFF and navagation data are displayed inside his visor. He is lucky in that he doesn't have to mess with MOP gear. It's built in.
His field gear is carried in the normal way; Alpha packs, web gear, what have you.
The MHD can also power the invironmental controls, namely cooling systems. The cooling systen can be dual layered to serve as IR camoflage.
 
Some additional information on the Army's light armored vehicle(LAV) program
.
The Army is currently testing 35 different LAV at Fort Knox. These include five mobile gun systems, 16 infantry vehicles, two anti-tank vehicles, one ambulance, two mortar vehicles ,six reconnaissance vehicles, one combat engineer vehicle and two command and control vehicles.
Current plans call for each brigade to be issued 380 to 527 armored vehicles depending on the types of vehicles selected.
The Army hopes to have the first brigade equipped by March 2001. Additional brigades will be fully equipped at six month intervals. So far the conversion of five existing infantry brigades has been authorized.
 
the combat loadout problem seems to boil down to two choices; either accept that the average grunt must carry 50+ lb on a regular basis, and accept a slow march speed, or offload the poor guys and trade off firepower for mobility. I read that the infantry guys in Panama were dropping their packs and stripping down to their web gear.

I've also read that its common to have 3 loads; a full pack, a rucksack, and just the web gear. the full pack is to be cached behind the front line, the ruck to be carried most of the time, and stripping down to the web gear for rapid retreats and whatnot. this sounds rather odd in this day and age, where we expect a very dynamic battlefield with a broad forward edge of battle. seems like you might never get back to where you cached your camp gear etc.

for some reason, nobody takes my idea for reducing backback loads seriously; attach a 5' diameter helium-filled weather balloon to the pack. :)
 
Shin,
I'm picturing Robo-cop painted green. Is that what you were going for?

Eric


------------------
Does the "X" ring have to be that small?
 
The average grunts pack isn't 50 pounds or slightly over that is normally in the hundred pound range. And that is mostly ammo, water and medical supplies. Prior to leaving the OPR or AP it not unusual for some people to drop their packs( the grunts themselves, the FOs RTO and alike keep their packs on) at a stagging point, but then you run into the issue of having to having security at the packs, and then they become responsibly to move the gear forward. Eventually the weight gets to the point that items that are deemed mission critical are left behind. It will like the pictures of American troops throwing their gas masks in the ditches in Europe in the second world war because they were carring too much weight. With all the new must have technology the same will happen in the future, people will drop all the high tech toys that someone who doesn't have to carry it thinks is the best thing in the world.

------------------
God truly fights on the side with the best artillery
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top