M8 AGS now with hybrid drive, 120mm main gun + troop capacity

[Sith]

Originally Posted by Targan

I think that was a good summary. So for the US it's all about mobility, in terms of being able to deploy globally?

Mostly about strategic mobility ("all" is a definitive term), tactical combat power is still quite important.

There was a quote that was attributed to Confederate General Forest that went something like "Get there first with the most." The US armor community through the 70s, 80s, and 90s used this quote as a lynch pin of sorts around which they argued about heavy and light armor. Light armor supporters argued the quote at face value - get there fast with lots troops and equipment. Combat power through numbers and speed. Heavy armor supporters surrendered the first point about getting there first, but defined "most" in terms of armor thickness. They stated that it was not worth getting there first if all your vehicles get destroyed - you have to be able to take a hit.

For some time the heavy force advocates continued to win the argument. Two events forced a change though: Desert Storm and Kosovo. After Desert Storm ended the Army took a look at what it had done. In the early weeks of Desert Shield the only US combat unit on the ground was the 82nd Airborne. The consensus was that had Saddam's troops come across the Saudi border those troops would have been rolled. Hence, the AGS program picked up a little more steam only to stop dead on the eve of production five years later (I'm glossing over a lot in this sentence). In 1999 the idea of adopting medium armor (Strykers) was beginning to take hold again, but it had not lifted off yet. When the Kosovo war ended the US and NATO were all set to waltz in and unilaterally dictate terms. That was until the Russians dropped an armored airborne division into Serbia and the US had no answer (the heavy force could not get there fast enough to impact diplomacy). Hence, the SBCT.

Being able to deploy fast with enough combat power is essential to holding the proverbial beach head for follow-on forces or impacting diplomacy. But you also need light armor with those early entry forces so that you don't risk them being rolled by a local mechanized force.

Clear as mud?