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‘Sokay. They’ll probably be showing up at local ‘cop shops’ and Federal agencies across the country soon...to protect the dog shooters from those bitter clingers.

I remember my Engineering Design teacher used the Bradley as an example of what can happen when the design process gets out of control-Evidently the Bradley started out one way but when everyone got their hands into it it looked like something else. He also talked about a movie called Pentagon Wars about the design process.

FMC and the Bradley Fighting Vehicle was in the news constantly in Silicon Valley in the late 70s and early 80s, first due to all the design and manufacturing fiascos, then later due to corruption. May it RIP.

Bradley Vehicle Parts Flawed, Suit Says

October 05, 1986
KNT News Service
SAN JOSE, CALIF. — The manufacturer of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle used substandard or rejected parts in its assembly and conspired with the government to get rid of pesky inspectors, a previously undisclosed lawsuit shows.
The suit, which was settled out of court in 1984, was filed by a former high-ranking quality control official at FMC Corp. in San Jose, who charged that he was fired because he refused to go along with ''manufacturing improprieties'' on the Bradley.
One deposition of a former government inspector taken in connection with the suit alleges that since the firing of the quality control officer, the government's inspection program at FMC had been ''gutted.''
The suit, settled after two weeks of jury trial, shows that an internal debate swirled around testing and quality control procedures at FMC's San Jose plant as early as 1981-82, when production began on the Bradley.
Filed in 1983 by Robert Copeman, the suit claims that his firing in mid- 1982 was triggered by his ''refusal to assent to . . . certain improprieties which had occurred and were continuing to occur . . . relating to the inspection and use of mechanical parts on completed government Bradley Fighting Vehicles.''
Copeman, who was product assurance manager of FMC Corp's Ordnance Division Engineering section from March 1979 to July 1982, was responsible for control, assurance and maintenance of quality systems in the firm's engineering section. He was fired after a Defense Department audit team submitted a critical report on his department's performance.

Then in 1998:

Government contractor fraud verdict of $387 million
The government contractor who was hired to make Army tanks, called the Bradley Fighting Vehicle actually made and sold the government a substandard leaky death-trap not an amphibious war machine. So said, the findings in a fraud verdict of $387 million, Tuesday. So said, the findings in a fraud verdict of $387 million, Tuesday. The case name is U.S. ex rel. Henry Boisvert v. FMC Corp., 86-20613.
The San Jose, CA federal jury ruled that Chicago-based FMC Corp., '...made 13,000 false billing claims to the government over 10 years.' The False Claims case went to trial on Jan. 20th, after 12 years of delay.

And of course, our next war will be in the urban environment. I hope the Bradleys are put in storage.

The six Brits just KIA in 'Stan were in a Warrior. We and our Allies build what we think is a vehicle impervious to IEDs/mines etc. Our enemies merely implant larger IEDs. The IED used in 'Stan was said to be "massive." Preliminary reports of course.

Just don't know if we can build a vehicle that can survive such...