A recent story details how President-elect Trump complained about designing a U.S. Navy frigate that, once in the development phase, was modified by other naval stakeholders prior to actual construction. It was the president’s opinion that these design changes were to the ship’s detriment. I’m sure a lot of people are scoffing and asking what Trump could possibly know about designing warships. In response to that, I offer this very true cautionary tale.
I was in the 82d Airborne division in 1984 when I first learned about the incoming HMMWV (High Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicle) soon to be christened “the Hummer.” I was in the Anti-Armor Leaders Course at Fort Bragg and part of our overall strategy was focused on defeating the USSR’s numerical advantage in main battle tanks. As paratroopers, our mission was always to jump in while relatively lightly equipped (though it never felt that way) and hold key positions like airfields or mountain passes. We took these positions to deny their use to the enemy and wait for heavier reinforcements to arrive and finish them off.
One of our mainstays was the TOW-II anti-tank missile. This is a tube launched, optically tracked, wire guided missile that had an incredible success rate. If I recall correctly, it had a 98% hit rate and a 98% kill rate that meant that it was effective 96% of the time even if the enemy tank was on the move. However, that was only if the gunner could keep the crosshairs of his sights on the target. The Russians had developed an incredibly fast tank round that could hit the gunner before the missile hit the tank, so ideally the TOW had to be “dug in” behind some good protection. We also used decoys that fired a large amount of smoke so that the enemy tank had a 1 in 3 chance of picking the right target for his one shot. If the tank round landed close by, the gunner might flinch and send the missile off track.
At that time we were using M-151 jeeps to transport the TOW as it required a crew to transport and operate it. The jeeps were overloaded by all the weight so wear and tear was high, and their battlefield life was limited. Because it was likely to be mobile warfare, you had to dig a position so the jeep could drive into the position and fire from within some level of protection. This was tough for a few guys with entrenching tools (we loved the combat engineers when they showed up with earth movers).
The army called for the HMMWV program to address this problem of wear and tear on the Jeeps. They wanted a platform that could easily transport the TOW, its crew, and ammunition across all sorts of terrain efficiently. It was great in concept.
During the HMMWV’s development, a whole bunch of modifications were added to the design that had nothing to do with the TOW. It had to be an ambulance, troop transport, supply vehicle, and many other things to address the needs of many other situations. In the end, we got what is commonly referred to as the Hummer (first generation).
The instructor in my anti-armor course explained that the Hummer is six feet high by itself, and the TOW launcher adds another four feet to the overall height. He added that the vehicle is six feet wide and fifteen feet long! The first thing we asked was how we were going to dig that monster in, and the answer was that we’d always have engineer support. I remember thinking at the time that what he really meant was four privates with entrenching tools (very small foldable shovels).
In the end, the Hummer may have been a good all-around vehicle, but it did not meet the original expectations of the TOW crews. We had to protect the vehicle, convincingly fool Soviet tankers to shoot at the wrong target and keep those crosshairs on the enemy (while under fire) and while missile made its way to the target.
President-elect Trump may be right or wrong about what other stakeholders are doing to the frigate design he laments, but I for one can see exactly what he’s saying. It reminds me of an acronym: KISS. Keep It Simple, Stupid.
USMC” src=”https://images.americanthinker.com/h4/h4wbm4okybj6lg4dcqxa_640.jpg” width=”450″ />
Image: USMC
This article was originally published at www.americanthinker.com
