Even as the United States Army and its allies continue the fight against ISIS and Al Qaeda, the resurgence of an aggressive Russia over the past several years has provided incentive to the U.S. Army and the Department of Defense to reexamine the role of ground combat vehicles as part of our overall defense strategy.  According to the U.S. Army Combat Vehicle Modernization Strategy, “Combat vehicles enable Army commanders to maneuver, gain positions of relative advantage, strike the enemy with fire, protect Soldiers from harm, and impose a tempo of event and multiple simultaneous dilemmas on the enemy to overwhelm enemy effectiveness.  Trends indicate that combat vehicles are growing even more important, as urbanization complicate tactical problems and sophisticated technologies boost the lethality of weapons.  Army formations need combinations of mobility, protection and lethality to seize, retain and exploit the initiative against all potential adversaries.

The AUSA Institute of Land Warfare Hot Topic:  Army Ground Combat Platforms will examine the concept of “mobile protected firepower” and how the Army intends to prepare its forces to deter and, if necessary, defeat near-peer competitors who have continued to modernized their own combat forces.  We will assemble Army officials, think tank experts, industry leaders, and others to discuss the Army’s anticipated requirements for ground combat platforms, including unmanned systems.  We will look at how these systems support the Army Operating Concept and other strategy documents.  And will examine the funding and resourcing needs to support this effort.”