Comment by LordKano
10 years ago
It's kind of an interesting story how the military didn't really want the Bradley in the first place but it was forced upon them by congress and they had to find a use for it.
I have a relative who was in the mechanized infantry back in the early 1990s. From what he was able to share with me, the Bradley was an interesting vehicle with a lot of cool stuff but if my life was on the line, I'd prefer to be in an M1 Abrams.
There is a pretty good movie "Pentagon Wars" about the development of the Bradley.[0] It's not entirely accurate, but even as complete fiction would be an enjoyable satire.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pentagon_Wars
The movie is good, but the book is excellent.
If my life were on the line I'd prefer not to be in combat, but if you're infantry, riding around in an Abrams isn't an option. It's like saying you'd prefer to be in a frigate.
Some militaries use infantry transport vehicles developed from tanks. For example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namer
Though, IIRC, the tank that's based off of was already designed to carry some passengers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkava#Specifications_of_mode...
It's a pretty cool vehicle, but with the $3MM price tag I'm not sure how suitable it is for an infantry carrier... But I agree, this type of vehicles are surely going to get more common.
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