DARPA Ground X-Vehicle Technologies Concept Video

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DARPA's Ground X-Vehicle Technology program has given the greenlight to eight organizations to develop new technologies that, according to the article, would make future fighting vehicles more mobile, effective, safe and affordable. I don't want to make fun of the video below but you guys have to watch it. I think we all played that game back in the 80's. ;)
 
Someone in Darpa has played games like Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander. I love how these things basically disregard gravity, lol.
 
Pretty sure at some point those turn into helicopters when the pilots put on their special M.A.S.K.'s.....
 
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Darpa needs to hire a bunch of bubbas that have been building rock crawling rigs for years and actually LEARN what it takes to make a true go anywhere vehicle.
 
As a special purpose vehicle I can see this development being worth while. As a replacement for the Main Battle Tank, I see more pie in the sky thinking. General Shinseki thought the M1s could be replaced by the Strikers and we still have M1's because they are still needed. He was wrong. These DARPA guys are wrong as well. I know their thinking and it's very similar to the thinking that emerged after several previous weapons developments, that there are too many low cost weapons that are capable of killing a tank and that makes the tank an obsolete combat vehicle.

This happened during WW2 with the development of the Bazooka, PIAT, and the PanzerSchreck and Panzer Faust.
It happened again when the AT-3 Sagger was responsible for killing over 800 Israeli tanks in the Yon Kipper War.
And yet again when improvised explosive devices started having an effect on tanks and their freedom of mobility taking away their speed, denying them the mobility that complimented their firepower and armor.
And again when the English Cruiser HMS Sheffield was sank by attack aircraft using air-ship missiles. (I know this isn't tanks, but the principle is the same, when faced with this the US reactivated and modernized WW2 Battleships because all it really came down to was improving defenses).

But in all these instances reality rears it's ugly head and demonstrates that a better, faster, more heavily armored tank can be made to defeat these new systems and that in the end, nothing is better at killing tanks than tanks.
Battle of 73 Easting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The problem becomes simple, like a math problem. Relying in lighter faster, stealthier vehicles means all the enemy needs, is to be able to see them, and hit them. Make the vehicles light enough and a soldier can kill them with hand held weapons. Did anyone notice in that video that there was something missing? Like destroying the enemy? All the vehicles did was avoid them and they made a point of highlighting that in the video, but who is going to remove the threat of that enemy cause tanks would have done that, but these vehicles didn't. They didn't even report the enemy so someone else could do the job.

Anyway, until they show us a video on how these little vehicles are going to defeat enemy armored formations I will fail to be impressed, this video should have been titled "New Stealth Taxi avoids battlefield conflicts".
 
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