Initial Brigade to Receive German, Italian “Loaners”

Two more countries are loaning the U. S. Army some examples of their own army’s wheeled armored vehicles for collective training of the first of the new Initial Brigade Combat Teams at Fort Lewis, Wash. Germany is sending examples of its Fox and Lynx, wheeled infantry carriers and reconnaissance vehicles, and Italy is sending examples of the Centauro, the eight-wheeled armored car carrying the same NATO-standard 105mm cannon that was mounted on the early models of the M1 tank.

According to the Training and Doctrine Command, the vehicles were to have arrived in September and would be used as “surrogates” for the vehicles that will eventually be selected and acquired for the new units. Until these Interim Armored Vehicles (IAVs) are acquired, the foreign vehicles, along with 32 Canadian Light Armored Vehicle III (LAV IIIs), also on loan, will allow soldiers in the new unit to begin collective training.

Army leadership had expected to make its choice by the end of September, but the decision has now been postponed until October.

“The loaners enable IBCT soldiers to start working on doctrine and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) so they can transition smoothly to IAVs,” said CPT Alfred Jackson, a project officer who helped develop the loan agreements. Jackson is also an IAV team staff officer for the Training and Doctrine Command System Manager for IAV and Future Combat System. The “loaner” agreements for the German and Italian vehicles will expire in the spring of 2002, and for the Canadian LAVs in January of that year. An Army source selection process has been underway to find suitable Interim Armored Vehicles, to include infantry carriers, large caliber mobile gun systems, reconnaissance vehicles, and carriers for an antitank guided missile system. The process began last winter when manufacturers sent their candidates to Fort Knox for demonstrations, but the Lynx reconnaissance vehicle and the Centauro were not among the 39 vehicles on demonstration. The Centauro was recently selected for acquisition by the Spanish army. (See related story in this issue. –Ed.) The Centauros will act as surrogates for the mobile gun system (MGS) and the anti-tank vehicles, the Lynx will act as surrogate in the reconnaissance vehicle role, and the LAV IIIs and Foxes will be used as infantry carriers and command and control vehicles. The Lynx and Fox mount 20mm cannons, the LAV IIIs are armed with 25mm Chain Guns.

Before the vehicles arrived at Fort Lewis, they were safety-tested at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., and eight of the Foxes, two Centauros, and 21 LAVs were equipped with a digital communications system called Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below.

The IBCT currently has 16 LAV IIIs and was scheduled to receive another 16 in September to be surrogates for infantry carriers and command and control vehicles.

Some current U. S. Army vehicles will also serve as surrogates, according to Jackson. “The IBCT will be using some of the M113 tracked vehicles they have at Fort Lewis, plus some HMMWVs and trucks, as surrogates,” he said. “The Army’s plan is that, as the first IBCT receives IAVs off the production line, the loaner surrogates will be transferred to the second IBCT so it can begin the transformation process,” Jackson said.

The first IBCT (3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division) is scheduled to be operationally capable by the end of 2001. The second (1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division) will begin reorganization in 2001.

Whatever armored vehicles are finally selected, they will be lighter than armored vehicles in today’s mechanized units. The concept is aimed at making ARMOR — 43 vehicles — and will end in the year 2001 with the remaining 15 vehicles. The Spanish and the Italian governments agreed on 100 percent industrial offsets, so that the Italian consortium, Fiat Iveco-Oto Melara, will generate work for Spanish companies during the next seven years, 45 percent of which will be directly linked to the production of the AFV Centauro and 55 percent related to other activities. Among the latter, Empresa Nacional Santa Barbara (ENSB) will produce about 100 chassis and 50 turrets for the IFV VCC-80 Dardo to be delivered to the Italian Army. INDRA-EWS, the leading Spanish electronics company, linked to Raytheon, will carry on the maintenance of all the optronic equipment integrated in the Centauro, while IVECO/Pegaso of Spain will be responsible for the logistic support of the vehicle during its entire life cycle. The whole technical documentation, publication of interactive manuals, and computer-based training aids are being developed by Spanish companies, following the operational requirements established by the Spanish Army.

INDRA Simulation Systems is also developing a tactical and combat simulator for the Centauro that will be the first in its kind and it is expected to be adopted by the Spanish Army. It may be also chosen by the Italian Army in the future. INDRA has been also chosen as prime contractor for the simulator adopted by the Italian, Spanish and U. S. navies for the Harrier AV-8 Plus and it is already a well known company in Italy, Spain, and in the U. S., where recently it was awarded a contract for the upgrading of the U. S. Navy simulators for the F-14.

COL Antonio J. Candil graduated from the Spanish Military Academy in 1972 and was commissioned in Armor. He has served as a tank platoon commander in the Spanish Western Sahara in 1973-76, and is experienced as an XO and company commander. A graduate of the Armor Officer Advanced Course at Fort Knox, he is also a graduate of the Spanish Army Command and Staff School, and the Italian Army’s War College. He has been assigned to several posts abroad, in Belgium, Italy, the UK, and Germany, and is now director of the Leopard 2 Program with the Spanish Army Logistics Command. served as brigade XO, and on a daily basis learned something new from him. Many of those lessons, and especially those about the role of NCOs in setting and enforcing standards in units, I had learned earlier in my career from other outstanding NCOs, but somehow over time had forgotten their importance. I also had to relearn the lesson of the importance of officers conforming to all those same standards.

On a personal level, I am grateful that CSM Ken Preston reminded me (sometimes a bit abruptly) that it was important for me, as the brigade XO, to set the example in the motor pool, the NTC Dust Bowl, or on the simulated battlefield. In units, discipline is the key to success and survival, whether the task is performing PMCS to standard in the unit motor pool, conducting a night passage of lines at the NTC, or performing checkpoint operations in a PKO environment. It is critical to the survival of our Army for the officer corps to develop and support our NCO corps, which — much more than money or technology — is what separates the U. S. Army from the rest of the world’s militaries.

Defense and Army Attaché U. S. Embassy Sanaa, Yemen Reader Offers Caption Correction On Photo in 4th AD Article

Dear Sir: I was pleased to see MAJ Donald Vander-griff’s interesting article on the 4th Armored Division in the September-October 2000 issue. In spite of the division’s record of accomplishment, it is not often covered in print, and there is still no thorough history of this distinguished unit. On a minor note, the photo on page 23 does not show a column from 4th Armored Division. The tank is a M4A1 (76) from 66th Armored Regiment, 2d Armored Division on 2 September 1944 in Aubencheul-au-Bac. This town is north of Cambrai near the Belgian border where First Army was deployed, not in Lorraine where Patton’s Third Army was deployed. Last year, I went through the Signal Corps photo files at National Archives, the Patton Museum, and the Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks looking for photos of the 4th Armored Division in combat in Lorraine. There aren't very many, but most appear in my book on the Lorraine fighting that was published in September 2000 in the Osprey Campaign series (Lorraine 1944: Patton vs. Manteuffel).

Stamford, Conn.

Mail Mix-Up in Last Issue Delayed Delivery of ARMOR

NOTICE TO READERS: There was a malfunction in the machine that printed subscriber addresses on the back cover of many copies of the September-October issue of ARMOR. As a result, one or more lines of the subscriber’s address were not printed on thousands of copies and these were not delivered by the Post Office. It took some time for this problem to be discovered and rectified with an additional printing and mailing. We are sorry for any delay you may have experienced in receiving your copy. If you did not receive your personal copy of this issue, please contact the U. S. Armor Association at 502-942-8624. If your unit did not receive its official copy, contact Mary Hager at ARMOR (DSN 464-2249 or commercial 502-624-2249).

Reunion

The 11th Armored Cavalry (Active Duty and veterans) will celebrate its 100th Anniversary, February 1-4, 2001 at the Riviera Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas. For more information contact Gene Johnson, 4054 Venita Court, Las Vegas, NV 89120-1442; (702) 456-3218; or gene677@aol.com. LETTERS from Page 4 44 ARMOR — the new brigade combat team more maneuverable and agile while it retains great lethality. The weight reduction, it is hoped, will enable a brigade to be deployed anywhere in the world within 96 hours, then operate and win in a range of missions from small-scale contingencies to a major theater war as part of division operations. The requirement that the vehicles be transportable in a C-130 will ensure that the brigade can be flown in close to the expected area of operations, if there are no suitable airports.

Still over the horizon is the Future Combat System (FCS), now being studied by Army scientists who hope to provide the same crew survivability and lethality of today’s Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicle-equipped units in a smaller, lighter vehicle. The scientists think FCS capabilities will be demonstrated by early 2006, which will keep the Army on schedule to transform to the objective force between 2008 and 2012.

Among the vehicles being used to train the new medium brigades at Fort Lewis are these European systems on loan from their respective armies. The Italian Centauro, top, will act as surrogate for the force’s mobile gun system. The German Fox, center, will stand in as an infantry carrier, and the Lynx, bottom, will serve as a reconnaissance vehicle.