I spent the week with industry at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. Many attended a rather disappointing government briefing on an Arctic Clothing System requirement. It made me think about the myriad other programmatic issues that pop up and I knew the perfect film for Saturday Night at the Movies, HBO’s ‘The Pentagon Wars’.
Starring Kelsey Grammer and Cary Elwes, ‘The Pentagon Wars’ is based on the book of the same name by Col James G. Burton (USAF, Ret) and showcases the development of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
Ironically, we actually watched portions of this movie when I attended Air Force Operational Test Command’s Test Officer Course and yet, similar issues continue to crop up across the acquisition enterprise.
Regardless, remember, it’s a movie, not a documentary, and enjoy.
Tags: The Pentagon Wars
Just watched this a couple of months ago. Now they need to do another about the development of the Stryker. I betcha much of the same shenanigans.
And the F-35.
I hate the M1127!
Sometimes ‘just a movie’ is even better than a documentary though. 😉
Looking forward to “Pentagon Wars II – The Quest for Universal Camouflage”….
There are tons of pseudo innovative industrial projects that end up like this, not quite fulfilling the requirement and still going into production.
I watched this as a kid and thought “it can’t possibly be like that.” That’s naïveté for you.
It isn’t like that.
It’s worse! 🙂
I’m pretty sure it’s reality TV
Why did they have to chump the M16 though?
got any juicy stuff on the presentation? cause i’ve already watched pentagon wars a million times…
In the movie the brass was just inept when you add the corrupt part then things realy go sideways F35 style.
“remember, it’s a movie, not a documentary,” So many forget this and cite it as if it’s fact.
Funny movie that has “informed” many. There were many trade offs to get the Bradley and a few outright mistakes. The biggest one being it can’t carry the whole squad, the first US Army Infantry carrier to make that mistake and one that was rectified with the Stryker.
FWIW, even the book is flawed. The Air Force test officer insisted the Bradley be shot by tanks and then was surprised that it didn’t do well. That’s just a ridiculous approach. It’s like flying a bomber against a fighter and being surprised the fighter wins.
That said, acquisition has many issues but beware the complaints until one has walked a mile in the shoes of those trying to acquire the best with limited resources. It’s not as complicated as some make it sound but it’s nowhere as easy as others propose. Most seem to forget fielding a force of hundreds of thousands (if not a million) is a tad more difficult than tens of thousands (or hundreds) and cost is a totally different league.
I have to say this much: After recently re-reading the original book, I have to agree with “the Air Force test officer” about testing the Bradley as if it were a tank. You stick a turret with a light auto-cannon and a set of AT missiles on top of something vehicular, it is going to get used in roles out in the real world as if it were a tank.
That is an unavoidable fact of life. No matter whether or not it is doctrinally correct, or sensible, that is what inevitably happens. That being the case, the damn things should be as survivable as tanks are.
What, you say? How could they then be made small enough and affordably enough to carry dismounts…?
Simple. They shouldn’t be. I can think of very few, virtually none, really, cases where you would want to unload dismounts and still be able to effectively use the onboard weapons from the best dismount point. What winds up happening is that the commander either keeps a bunch of his dismounts out of the fight while their vehicles conduct the support-by-fire mission with half his firepower ineffective while it drops troops close to the objective, or he has his dismounts exposed while they move from the SBF position to the objective, arriving exhausted and already attritted.
I’m sorry, folks: The IFV concept has never made one bit of fucking sense, and there is a fucking reason the Israelis have never procured such a thing. Why we did is just another example of the US military playing “keep up with the Joneses”, and was never really thought through very well.
The book is better
https://www.amazon.com/Pentagon-Wars-Reformers-Challenge-Guard/dp/1612516009
They are still showing pieces of the film for training AF OT guys. At least one unit screened it in its entirety during a stand down.