Comment by Tloewald
10 years ago
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.
10 years ago
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.
According to Wikipedia[1], the Bradley is more expensive, at $3.16 million
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Bradley
The Isrealis have had mixed results from the Namer and Merkava (though the Merkava is an icon of pride, so this comment might draw some cheerleading). I think the basic idea of having extra passenger room in a MBT for flexibility in evolving situations is pretty sound, but these particular vehicles have proven pretty vulnerable in close in urban combat vs smart patient infantry.