Letters to the Editor
Wonhyo
Published Letters: 47 Editor's Choice: 8
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Vulnerabilities are discovered, exploited by adversaries - Bradley becomes "less impregnable"
[Read the article: Bradleys used to be considered impregnable]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Nobody familiar with the Bradley (or any armored vehicle) would consider it impregnable. On the other hand, few people thoroughly understand its vulnerabilities (and most that do are on our side).
The protracted war gives our adversaries in Iraq plenty of practice shooting at Bradleys. This exposes its strengths and weaknesses. Insurgents in Iraq will use this knowledge to conduct more successful attacks. Adversaries uninvolved in the conflict will learn by observing, and be better prepared if they fight U.S. forces in the future.
By remaining engaged in this prolonged war, we are handing all of our adversaries a valuable advantage in military intelligence. This makes the Bradley "less impregnable".
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Much additional benefit available by increasing no-cost, no-tech carpool lanes
[Read the article: Who's the superpower now?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One of the easiest and most underutilized, no-cost, no-tech solutions to our oil addiction is carpooling. It's good that many superhighways already have carpool lanes (and bad that future federal highway funds will turn these into "Lexus Lanes"). However, we can accomplish a lot more with additional carpool lanes.
Consider the typical eight lane superhighway with four lanes in each direction. Assume all vehicles are single-occupant vehicles. Converting one lane (in each direction) to a two-occupant carpool lane increases passenger throughput by 25%, assuming the number of cars and vehicle speeds remain unchanged.
Consider converting a second lane to a carpool lane, with a stricter three-occupant requirement, resulting in a 3-2-1-1 occupant lane configuration for each direction. This produces a 75% increase over no carpool lanes or a 25% increase over a single two-occupant carpool lane.
In the extreme, consider converting a third lane to a four-occupant carpool lane, resulting in a 4-3-2-1 occupant lane configuration. This produces a 250% increase over no carpool lanes, a 100% increase over the single carpool lane, or a 43% increase over the 3-2-1-1 carpool lanes.
I've presented these numbers in terms of increased commuter throughput, but these increases can be traded for decreased vehicle miles and fuel consumption and increased vehicle speeds. In the most congested highways, there may be no tradeoffs at all, as the reduced congestion can increase vehicle speeds AND commuter throughput.
For the cost of adding signs and lane markers, we can create a significant reduction in gas consumption, vehicle pollution, traffic congestion, and miles driven.
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Bradley better in practice than in procurement
[Read the article: Bradleys used to be considered impregnable]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Many LWs write about the flawed procurement process and poor design decisions with the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. In practice its performance has been pretty impressive.
The Bradley's Wikipedia entry claims only 20 Bradleys were destroyed in the First Gulf War, and 17 of those were killed by friendly fire. With product improvements (including strengthened armor and easier friendly identification) there have been only 55 Bradleys destroyed in the Second Gulf War, as of early 2006. That's an impressive record, considering how much service the Bradleys have seen, and the much longer duration of the Second Gulf War. But these are just numbers.
An article by self-described independent left journalist Robert Lindsay (http://robertlindsay.blogspot.com/2005/01/iraqi-resistance-takes-out-bradley.html) gives an impressive and diverse account of the Bradley's excellent performance against the most common RPG and IED attacks. The article describes how Bradleys routinely survive multiple hits with common RPG rounds. The Bradley deserves some credit for its actual field performance.
Lindsay also describes a few of the successful attacks, involving advanced thermobaric RPG warheads and heavy 155 mm artillery shells (which are larger than even the M1 Abrams main round!). With careful placement, even a common RPG round can disable a Bradley.
These last points bring up the real issues. Thermobaric RPG rounds are fairly advanced military items. Their use in Iraq shows they are spreading (from Syria, according to the article). The prolonged war is also giving our potential adversaries lots of intelligence on the vulnerabilities of the Bradley, making it, in practice, "less impenetrable".