Convinced of its technological and military superiority since the end of the Cold War and the Gulf War, the US Army has not launched any major programs, concerning the renewal of its high-intensity equipment fleet, since the famous BIG 5 of 70s.
The fact is, still today, it is the Abrams, Bradley, Black Hawk, Apache and Patriot, which form the spearhead of the American mechanized and airmobile brigades, all equipment having been designed for this super- program.
As tensions in the Pacific increase, and based on feedback from Ukraine, the US Army has undertaken a profound change, both in terms of its expectations to modernize and replace its equipment, and in terms of doctrine. which oversees the management of these programs.
Without it being so named, we can clearly see that a new super BIG 5 program is now taking shape, with the M1E3 tank, the XM30 infantry fighting vehicle of the OMFV program, the V-280 Valor maneuver helicopter of the FLRAA program, the cancellation and replacement of the XM1299 ERCA super-gun, and the deployment of multi-layered air defense with the M-SHORAD and IFPC-2 programs. The question is whether it will be enough to restore to the US armies the technological and military dominance that they intend to regain?
In this section:
The US Army's BIG 5 program at the end of the Vietnam War
At the end of the Vietnam War in the early 70s, the US Army became aware of the gap that separated it from the Soviet armies. Indeed, when it concentrated its resources and investments for this war halfway between high intensity and anti-insurgency, Moscow had profoundly modernized its forces, with the arrival of numerous new equipment deemed more effective than those in force. service in the United States, such as the T-72 battle tank, BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle, SA-6 and S-200 anti-aircraft systems, and Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters.
To respond to this challenge, the US Army undertook to design a new generation of equipment to regain the technological and operational advantage over Russian equipment and forces.
This is how the BIG 5 super-program was born, which gave birth to five of the most emblematic military equipment of American military power from 1980 to today, with the M1 Abrams tank, the M2 infantry fighting vehicle Bradley, the Patriot long-range anti-aircraft system, and the UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache helicopters, which entered service between the late 70s and early 80s.
It was the same, moreover, for the US Air Force, with the design of the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon, and for the US Navy with the Nimitz class nuclear aircraft carriers, the submarines. Los Angeles class nuclear attack sailors, the Ticonderoga cruisers, the Arleigh Burke destroyers and the OH Perry frigates, as well as the F-14 Tomcat then F/A-18 Hornet onboard fighters.
These programs were so effective that they continue, forty years later, to represent the backbone of American military power, on land and in the air, as well as on and under the oceans.
These remarkable performances, but also the American commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan, led to an equipment doctrine favoring, on the one hand, major technological breakthroughs, very rarely successful elsewhere, and on the other hand, iterative developments. existing equipment, to ensure the interim, while waiting for these new programs which did not arrive.
The shock of the war in Ukraine and the anticipation of a conflict in the Pacific shape the new doctrine of the US Army
In fact, at the end of these two conflicts, the American armies, and more particularly the US Army, the most involved, found themselves in a situation which was reminiscent of that which was theirs, at the beginning of the years 70, after the signing of the Paris agreements.
There are 75% of this article left to read, Subscribe to access it!
The Classic subscriptions provide access to
articles in their full version, and without advertising,
from €1,99. Subscriptions Premium also allow access to archives (articles over two years old)
Christmas promotion : 15% discount on Premium and Classic subscriptions annual with the code MetaXmas2024, from 11/12 to 27/12 only.
