M422 Mighty Mite. A blast from the past.

Go to Vintage Military Vehicles to read more about the Might Mite.

In the late 1940's and early 1950's the Marine Corps was experimenting with using helicopters for aerial assaults and battlefield circulation.

HQMC was pleased with the results of the work being done but identified a weakness in the concept...the lack of tactical truck to be used by these units that were moved great distances by helicopter but leaving the infantry with the back breaking task of moving ammo, heavy weapons and other tools of war around the battlefield.

This task was further complicated by the power of the helicopter in use at the time.  The Sikorsky S-55 served admirably but it was one of the first operational naval helicopters and was underpowered.  In order to bridge the gap the Marine Corps commissioned the building of a mini-jeep to perform all those functions and from this the Mighty Mite was born.

It sounds familiar doesn't it.  And you wonder where the warning "if you don't remember history you're bound to repeat it" comes from!  Anyway the story ends with a short production run because by this time bigger and more powerful helicopters were coming online and the need for an ultra light jeep went away.

And now SOCOM is faced with the same issue that the Marine Corps was faced with during the 1950's and adequately solved but fucked up beyond all recognition today.  The warning is clear.  The Marine Corps mistake should serve as a warning to the guys in Tampa.  The V-22 will probably serve until the late 2020's possibly mid 2030's but a replacement will be found that's bigger, faster and flies higher.  Even now the Marine Corps has the CH-53K waiting in the wings (some claim that the Marine Corps is slowing its production in order to protect the V-22....its performance is offering damn near equal range---decent speed and three times the lift---Congress might start asking questions if they were aware of what's on the drawing boards!) and SOCOM has MH-47's that are down right beasts of aircraft...so why the desire to fit the V-22, a troop transport with an internally transported vehicle when better options are available?

I'll ask the questions if no one else will.

Did we size the ITV to the right platform?  And is SOCOM duplicating the Marine Corps mistake?  Would vehicles sized to fit inside MH-47's and CH-53K's be better suited to the intended role?  Are we ever going to send forces (even Special Ops forces) into an environment where they can't be resupplied or reinforced via heavy lift helicopters or cargo airplanes?  And if they're going to operate where they can be supplied, reinforced or supported by those airplanes then why are we doing this?

Military procurement has suffered because of the wars.  Where once we proposed concepts, tested those concepts and then war gamed those same concepts to see if they worked in our method of operations, we now just propose concepts, get them built and ship them out to the fleet.

We have got to do better....

Read about the M422 here and here and here.

NOTE:
Ok.  Now I can let the Marine Corps role in the selection of its ITV go.  Only updates on future vehicles will be covered.  I just needed to rant!