As I've written, the upgunning to 30mm is a good start and we need to do more. Amazingly, there is resistance to doing what the Russians long ago found necessary.
The article notes the use of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles with the motor rifle units. I've certainly called for adding heavy forces to our Stryker units.
And that article linked above is certainly a welcome contribution to the debate I called for early in this century to learn the uses and limitations of the new medium units (then called interim brigade combat teams: IBCT) we had rather than seeing them as a magical strategically mobile substitute for heavy forces (see article starting on pg. 28):
Experience with IBCTs may well give the Army a better sense of what light armor can do and lead it to accept that it cannot succeed in all threat environments. The IBCT has a limited role as an early entry force and clearly recognizes that it is not the main fighting force. It will eventually be supplanted by heavier divisions if the enemy is heavy and will fight as a maneuver unit of a division.
We are getting that experience with the Stryker unit. It was really useful in Iraq counter-insurgency missions. It is less useful in high intensity warfare. We are starting to adapt to the new mission. But we are needlessly flailing about as if this is a new concept.
The Russians have a lot of experience with that mission using a Stryker-type force. Learn from them now to adapt faster before we have to learn from the Russians in combat.
