While the elite US 101st Airborne Division was preparing last year to receive its first M10 Walkers, experts realized something alarming: eight of the 11 The bridges at the division's base in Fort Campbell would collapse under the weight of this otherwise "light tank".
The reason is that, despite the initial concept of a relatively light vehicle that could be parachuted from a C-130, the errors in the process of meeting military requirements made the final result incompatible with the original task... and even with the infrastructure of the base where its operation was to begin, writes Defense One in its material.
ΠA breakthrough that no one stopped
The story of Walker began in 2013, when the commanders of the American paratroopers announced the need for a new light tank, similar to "Retirement" in the late 90s M551 Sheridan. This means a light but heavily armed armored vehicle that can be easily transported by air or even used with paratroopers.
Here's one thing to say - Sheridan is actually a pretty unsuccessful model. Even in Vietnam, it is clear that the equipment and electronics are unreliable, and the protection is insufficient. Πduring the 70s, the use of the tank has shrunk significantly, and none of the machines that need to be replaced have been able to be ordered for technical or financial reasons.
To put it simply, flying a highly maneuverable tank for airborne units is extremely demanding.
According to the technological director of the American ground forces, Alex Miller, still in It was clear at the time that no modern aircraft of the size and capabilities of the Sheridan could be parachuted from a C-130.
Nothing more, in 2015. The requirements of the Mobile Protested Firefighter program have been changed and there is no longer any talk of this new light tank traveling in a smaller transport aircraft than the C-17 or being parachuted.
"As we all know, once you exceed the airdrop requirement, you are no longer really helping the infantry. "At this point, there's so much maneuverability, so much maneuverability, so little maneuverability," Miller commented.
So the future Walker, whose development is estimated at about 7.2 billion dollars, is starting to "fill up." At the moment, the tank weighs 47 tons and only one can be loaded into a C-17. By comparison, the Sheridan weighs only 16 tons.
Not only that, but due to the enormous inertia and the unwillingness of anyone along the chain to apply the brakes, the new tank is loaded with requirements from a much older era.
For example, it is required to use the SINGARS radio system, first introduced in 1990. Πin 2022 without a clear explanation, the requirement for autonomous capability is dropped, despite the entire Ministry of Defense approach to unmanned technology.
ΠInvestigate
There are currently three M10s produced by the winner of the General Dynamis competition, but the army is not sure that it will fulfill the production contract with Nice intensity worth $323 million, which ends with the company in 2022. for the production of up to 96 tanks.
Now it seems that the armed forces are ready to say "Stop!".
The Army is currently working on a new variant of the Abrams that will look a lot like what the M10 was probably supposed to be — a light main battle tank with automatic loading, partial autonomy and active protection systems.
The history of the M10 Walker is not only the history of the bureaucratic failure of the most powerful army in the world, but also prime evidence that ambition sometimes clouds sober judgment.