The U.S. Army's refocus on fighting a conventional war against either China or Russia is impacting its decision to produce a new infantry fighting vehicle emphasizing speed and maneuverability over soldier protection.

Army leaders and industry experts met recently to discuss what a "next-generation combat vehicle" (NGCV) replacing the M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle might look like. The army is now considering issuing a charter for the NGCV.

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The consensus reached during these discussions was that speed and maneuverability must trump the need for soldier protection since the next war will be a conventional war where heavy vehicles such as MRAPs (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles designed to counter IEDs will be a liability because of their slowness and huge size.

The army currently has a massive inventory of more than 8,000 different types of MRAPs.

The NGCV being considered to modernize the maneuver force might weigh at least 60 tons and will carry a nine-man infantry squad, the basic Army maneuver element.

"What you are going to see come out of Fort Benning soon is a request for a charter for the Next Generation Combat Vehicle," said Maj. Gen. Eric Wesley, commander of the Army Maneuver Center of Excellence.

"It will be an (integrated capabilities development team)that empowers us to pull together the requirements folks; the resourcing folks; the acquisition community; the labs and even industry in a collaborative effort to get after NGCV," he said.

Gen. Wesley cautioned the Army should avoid using the last 15 years of experience with improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan and Iraq as a reason for making soldier protection more of a priority than speed and maneuverability.

"Not to say that the maneuver center is cavalier toward the protection of our soldiers, but if we want to optimize everything toward protection than we can do that very easily without deploying," said Gen. Wesley.

"In the end, we have to achieve strategic objectives which requires maneuver, which requires killing, which requires agility and speed."

Experts said IEDs aren't going to be a problem in Eastern Europe, and isn't the problem the army needs to design the future force against.

Five years ago, BAE Systems plc and Northrop Grumman proposed developing a version of NGCV featuring a hybrid electric drive propulsion system to enable force protection and mobility at lower weight. This concept was scuttled by spending cuts.

TagsU.S. Army, china, Russia, next-generation combat vehicle, NGCV, Bradley Fighting Vehicle, Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, MRAPs