Read the whole story here but this part stood out...
“The rifle company equipped with the ISVs did not successfully avoid enemy detection, ambushes, and engagements during a majority of their missions,” according to the report. “In order to traverse cross country routes and wooded terrain, the unit was forced to reduce their speed, resulting in slowed movement, or maneuvered on improved routes, negating any element of surprise.”
“During missions, the unit experienced numerous casualties, delaying mission accomplishment and degrading its combat power for follow-on missions,” the report said.
The ISV proved so ineffective at providing rapid mobility capabilities to the squad during testing that the unit “concealed their ISVs and drivers close to the objective and dismounted eight soldiers per vehicle to accomplish missions before recovering their [vehicles],” basically ditching their rides in favor of a dismounted engagement.
“This action reduced their combat force, exposed the ISVs and drivers to opposing force attacks, and increased the risk of additional combat losses,” according to the report.
The military should just give up on the idea of a ISV. Just buy some off the shelf Polaris, paint them green or coyote brown...add equipment and weapons mounts and call it a freaking day.
Gold plated solutions in this role just ain't gonna cut it.
You need (at least for US forces) expendable equipment that you can easily repair and/or replace.
A super Colorado pickup with the doors yanked off and roll cages added ain't getting it done.
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