OT: Light Armor for Airborne (was Re: Advanced Guided Missile systems)

In a message dated 7/6/98 10:48:26 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
los@cris.com
writes:

> Chen-Song Qin wrote:
>  
>  > So they did finally scrap those things in the 82nd.  But what's the
>  > Americans using for an air-droppable tank nowadays?
>  
>  I believe they're using LAVs. I haven't beento Bragg in a few years
but
>  last time I was there they were a bunch in the 4/68th's motor pool.
>  
>  Los

The 82nd was playing with LAV-25's a few years ago (along with the
German
Weisel) but was running into problems with airdropping them (they had a
higher
failure rate then the M551 Sheridans).	With the M-8 Buford canceled
(which
also leaves the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (Light) out in the cold now
as a
cav regiment mounted on armored Hummers) there is no armor for the 82nd
and no
plans to rectify this.	The fixes that were given were the following:

1)  Ready reaction armor package from the 3rd Infantry at Ft Carson. 
Four M1
Abrams and four M2 Bradleys.  Of course this requires at least 8 C-5 or
C-17
sorties and you need a secure airhead to bring them in.

2)  The 18th Airborne Corps' AH-64 Apaches and their ability to
self-deploy
overseas. Problem is you need to replace all the ordinance with fuel
tanks and
still need a secure airhead to bring in their stores and support system
not to
mention the fact the aircraft will need serious downtime for crew rest
and
maintenance from such a flight.

3)  The 82nd now having the Javelin missile.  Yeah, cute.  Javelin was
done to
replace Dragon.  M47 Dragon/M551 Sheridan replaced with Javelin/M8, not
Javelin covering for both but that's what they are saying now.

4)  82nd getting the E-FOG missile (Enhanced Fiber-Optic drone missile).
Helpful, but they planned on issuing that to the 82nd anyway.  

A lot of it sounds like so much fast-talk to cover up a glaring gap in
the
82nd's capabilities.  There's something to be said about the
psychological
impact on having armor backing you up as well.	Recent talk has gone
back to
the LAV, but so far only in using existing versions (ie., what the
Marines
have) as opposed to reexamining some concepts for mounting 90mm and
105mm soft
recoil guns.  As one armor officer pointed out, the only LAV version
with
anti-armor ability is the TOW carrier and an M8 with a competent crew
can have
9 or 10 rounds downrange before the LAV's second missile has launched.

Chris Ruhl