[Palmetto]

thanks, I'll take my masters degree in it off the wall right now. ... tell me why you can buy an armored mercedes or BMW right now, but our soldiers are riding around in these humvees?

If you have to ask that, then I won't let the degree get in the way of my assessment.

advanced armor can come from R&D in both alloys, and composite materials, as well as some kind of fusion material of liquid gels sandwiched between composites. Instead, our guys don't have it, and we are talking about resurrecting Vietnam era armor...

The General said that the M1 can't protect its occupants from an artillery-shell IEDs. Just how do you propose to mass-produce a cheap Jeep replacement with more effective armor than an M1?

in fact, we are NOT working anywhere near the limits of technology, that is the problem, the fact that we want to bring back vietnam era armored vehicles proves that.

That's hardly proof of anything other than the fact the people are desparate to try something.

IMHO, 24-hr surveillance of heavily-trafficked areas would be more effective. Then send one dummy Humvee into Fallujah by radio control, blow it up, and then detonate a secondary explosion 15 min later (to get all the cowardly body snatchers and dancers).

[oceanview]

but not all the soldiers are being killed by artillery shell IEDs. a level 6 armored car can stop AK47 fire according to some websites I saw. what do those military Humvees cost the Pentagon? the troops could probably be riding around in an armored mercedes for the same $$$s.

my only point is - for whatever reason (clinton era military budget cuts the most likely culprit), we haven't made any investments in this area for R&D, and we could have done better.

[GATOR NAVY]

...and then detonate a secondary explosion 15 min later (to get all the cowardly body snatchers and dancers).

I like that kind of thinking.