And that Recce is why I get my back up over the LAV.
It is a well-designed lightly armored-wheeled vehicle. It is NOT in any form a true APC. It has very distinct weaknesses and with a lot of current generation Anti-Armor weapons on the market, the vulnerabilities of the top of the hull are only that much more prevalent.
The LAV program is much like the 113‘s when they came out. All kinds of turreted systems, weapons etc. It has proven its worth as a battlefield taxi and ancillary carrier for the TOW and other such weapons both free standing and turret mounted. But it is not a medium capacity vehicle and large bore weapons and payload projects failed miserably. Mainly out of the pounding the hulls and chassis took.
In the same vein ask any Bird Gunner who has worked on the ADATS what they think of the set up.
So too the LAV, GM and a lot of bean counting mandarins in various militaries see the LAV as the next great capability savior. There are lots of projects in the works to modify, adapt and implement programs that will be cost effective.
Stryker is one that really bothers me, as does the engineer clearance vehicle. Nice conceptual proposal, but in application it will be anything but. The Stryker is extremely limited in its abilities, performance and user operability. The misfire is a big issue, especially in the heat of battle.
Unfortunately there are a large number of individuals who are completely engrossed with the concept of buying a TANK for a mere fraction of what a REAL tank costs. Same for a lot of the assorted fire support and ancillary roles. The money saved up front will ultimately be paid out to maintain a fleet that will be prone to system failures, fatigue and god forbid, short comings in operational employment (I.E. combat ineffective).
The LAV as designed, is a great battlefield taxi, but take any taxi and make it into something different and you will have a product that when issued doesn‘t do what it was expected too nor successfully do what it was designed to do.
And that is why I get my back up, to many project managers see cost as the Holy Grail and push a concept forward. By the time it is discovered that it is a POS, too late.
Sound like any other projects in recent times.