Pentagon stumbles: Cancelled programs and costly missteps
The most powerful army in the world might look entirely different today. For years, the Pentagon has abandoned many weapons developed at the cost of billions of dollars, and has concluded ambitious armament programmes. What equipment have the American armed forces given up?
After nearly 30 years, vehicles often called light tanks, which in practice serve as fire support vehicles, are now returning to the US Army. The first M10 Booker units are already undergoing tests in active units, and the aim is to produce more than 500 units of this equipment.
For the past three decades, although the Pentagon has felt the need for this class of equipment, it has struggled to replace the M551 Sheridan light tanks withdrawn in 1996.
A light tank for the Pentagon
Work on their successors began in the 1980s. One of them is the Stingray light tank developed by Textron Marine & Land Systems (formerly Cadillac Gage Textron), armed with a 105-mm cannon.
With a weight of 22 tonnes, it was deemed too heavy by the military, but the design was not wasted. Although the American army was not interested in it, 110 units were purchased by Thailand in the late 1980s.
Another candidate for the American light tank was the 18-tonne M8 AGS Buford armed with a 105-mm cannon with an automatic loader. Despite the decision to implement this equipment and the production of several initial units in 1996, the Pentagon decided it did not want such equipment and abandoned the M8.
Nearly 30 years later, the "light" tank that entered service is the more than 40-tonne M10, nearly twice as heavy as the Stingray, which was considered too heavy.
Problem with modern artillery
One of the weaknesses of the American army is the lack of modern barrel artillery. Although the M109A6 Paladin and its developmental version, the M109A7, are the primary artillery of the American army, this equipment lags behind contemporary European or Asian counterparts in terms of capabilities.
Americans have been trying to solve this problem for over 20 years, and so far without success. In the spring of 2024, the Pentagon abandoned the ERCA programme, which aimed to develop a new generation of barrel artillery. This included the development of the XM1299 ERCA howitzer with a barrel length of 58 calibres, and within this and other programmes, firing ranges exceeding even 100 kilometres were achieved.
More than two decades earlier, another attempt to replace the M109 howitzers was cancelled, which was the Crusader programme. At that time, the American army tested the XM2001 Crusader gun-howitzer, conceptually similar to the Polish Krab, German PzH 2000 or South Korean K9.
The Crusader was a heavy, 43-tonne howitzer with a high degree of automation and a high rate of fire. According to data obtained during trials, a battery of six Crusaders could deliver almost 15 tonnes of shells to a distance of 40 kilometres in just 5 minutes.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the programme was cancelled – the howitzers were deemed too expensive and too heavy.
The end of the FARA programme and the lack of reconnaissance helicopters
Since the early 1980s, the Pentagon has been trying to build a specialised, advanced reconnaissance helicopter. For many years, this role – as a substitute for the target machines – was fulfilled by Bell OH-58 Kiowa helicopters. These small, light, and highly mobile helicopters, intended for reconnaissance operations and cooperation with heavy, attack AH-64 Apache helicopters, were retired in 2020.
The result of the search for the OH-58 successor was the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter, under design since the early 1980s. Two prototypes of this super-modern machine with reduced radar signature were created: its radar echo was 360 times smaller than that of the Apache. Eventually, the construction programme for the Comanche was cancelled in 2004.
Its functional successor was supposed to be a helicopter selected within the FARA programme. Even here, the programme reached the stage of two competing prototypes – the Sikorsky Raider X and Bell Textron 360 Invictus helicopters, whose maiden flights were planned for 2024. Despite the programme's advancement – partly based on experiences from the war in Ukraine – the FARA programme was cancelled in early 2024.
The world's quietest nuclear submarines
An interesting example of replacing older but more modern equipment with newer but less advanced is the Seawolf-class submarines (SSN-21). They were designed in the 1980s as "hunter" units.
The Seawolfs were meant to operate near Russia's Arctic coast, where, under the protective umbrella of their own navy and air force, Russian boomers hid underwater (and still do). These are nuclear-powered submarines with intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads on board.
Due to the extremely hostile environment they had to operate in, Seawolf-class subs were very well silenced, making them very difficult to detect. Of the planned 29 units of this type, only three were built, and then the Seawolf programme was cancelled. Their low-cost successor is the now-produced Virginia-class submarines.
The Zumwalt destroyer – a super-modern misunderstanding
A similar fate – 30 years later – befell the Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyers. These futuristic ships, designed with stealth features, were to become the backbone of the American Navy, replacing Arleigh Burke-class units in service.
The design of the Zumwalt-class ships was focused on making them difficult to detect – the 183-metre unit displacing 31,000 tonnes has a radar signature similar to that of a 15-metre yacht. Plans included arming the ships with innovative weapons like railguns or lasers, as well as cruise missiles for land-attack.
Ultimately, due to delays in the target weapons programmes for the Zumwalts and a radical increase in the price of a single ship (from £2.4 billion to £5.6 billion for the prototype), the planned mass deployment of these units was abandoned. Instead of the planned 30, only three destroyers were built.
