WASHINGTON – The US Army is exploring concepts for future vehicles that would be lighter and faster, and still strong and lethal, according to Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who runs the Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) and is chief of "futures" for Training and Doctrine Command.
"Our infantry brigade combat teams can get there fast with low logistics demand, and they can work in severely restricted terrain, but they lack mobility and protected firepower," McMaster said, speaking the the Center for Security and International studies here Tuesday.
The answer is for the Army to develop vehicles for select infantry and airborne forces to conduct effective reconnaissance, offensive security operations and move infantry units with a security force, he said.
The Army in recent months made public three concepts for light vehicles: The ultra-light combat vehicle (ULCV), sling-loadable by rotorcraft and unarmored at 4,500 pounds or less; the light reconnaissance vehicle (LRV), a possible ULCV variant equipped with advanced surveillance systems and UAV links; and mobile protected firepower (MPF), a light tank whose base armor would protect it from 152mm shrapnel.
Rather than making command headquarters more capable, the idea of late has been to give squads, "overmatch," in part with lighter armor, weapons, ammunition, electronics, and by giving them light vehicles.
"What combat vehicles are we developing that will get soldiers fresh and to the fight under advantageous conditions," McMaster said.
Speaking with reporters after his remarks, McMaster said such vehicles would be employed together during forcible-entry operations. The formal requirements of all three are still in development.
The ULCV would provide tactical wheeled mobility to the global response force, he said, but could also be part of other unspecified formations. On a ULCV "base," the LCV would be fielded to cavalry squadrons in infantry brigades, and the MPF would be to support infantry units, to provide them freedom of movement in close contact.
McMaster, in his remarks, touted "expeditionary maneuver" capabilities to counter foes using anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) tactics, the Army would employ. Units with, "the appropriate balance of mobility, protection and firepower," would be able to "achieve surprise, strike enemies from an unexpected directions," to destroy anti-access forces.
More broadly, McMaster outlined the Army's vision of the future in his remarks: The proliferation of state, non-state, hybrid and proxy foes who use dispersion, concealment and deception to keep the US off balance. To respond, the Army must be able breed, "a force where small units can hit harder, be more mobile and maintain mutual support," he said, rejecting the idea that air and naval assets alone win wars.
"Think about the tactics of infiltration and elevate those tactics to the operational and strategic level," he said. "We need training and material solutions for that as well."
The Army's operating concept, released on October, envisions the service as the coordinating force for operations with the other services, agencies and foreign militaries, providing logistics, intelligence and missile defense.
Referencing the 2009 battle at Combat Outpost Keating, in Afghanistan, which left eight Americans dead and 27 wounded, McMaster said dismounted squads need to be, "more lethal." That also means more access to reconnaissance at the squad level and more firepower.
"If you are in a firefight with US Army on your chest, those firefights ought to last about 14 seconds, definitely not 14 hours," he said. "The end result of contact with the US Army infantry formation ought to be smoking boots on the other end."
McMaster made a case for armored vehicles, touting their ability to counter machine gun fire and the ability it provides to destroy an enemy in close combat. The Army is replacing the M113 with the Armored Multipurpose Vehicle and employing upgrades for various other platforms.
Meanwhile, the Army is exploring the Future Fighting Vehicle, a technology development effort that follows the scuttled Ground Combat Vehicle, envisioned as a replacement for armored fighting vehicles in armored and Stryker brigades. The Army is looking at new technologies, such as single-hull casting and lighter armors, as part of that effort, McMaster said.
Rather than tinker with the size of the infantry squad, which stands at nine, and build a vehicle around it, McMaster suggested the squad might be split up between vehicles.
"We know there are benefits to carrying the squad all in in one vehicle, but if that creates too many volume-under-armor problems ... if you have a vehicle that is too wide in dense urban environments," he said. "These are all the things we are considering for a future fighting vehicle restart."
Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.
