So, will this read across to the ongoing FRES review and, if so, what are the implications for the RAF C-17/A-400M/C-130J mix? (A-400M range with 30-tonne payload: 2,400 nm)
Iraq War Drove Weight of U.S. Army’s FCS Vehicles
The Iraq war helped persuade U.S. Army planners to increase the weight of the Future Combat Systems Man-Ground Vehicle (MGV) from 18 tons to the current planned weight of 27 tons, FCS planners said.....
He and other planners had originally conceived 18-ton vehicles that could be flown aboard a C-130 airlifter, but “the physics were not there to meet our objectives,” Bush said.....
The 27-ton vehicles will be deployed aboard C-17 Globemaster IIIs, three to a plane. If need be, the cannon or mortar can be disassembled from a vehicle and the components flown to a location aboard two C-130s, Bush said.
A C-130 can land more places than a C-17, which needs a hardened landing strip, he noted, but a C-130 could only fly the vehicles about 500 nautical miles — and the vehicles would come off the C-17s ready to go.