"L'acrobat" wrote in message
...

If you can find the money to go AFVs all round, then the ASLAV is not
the
way to go.

Upgraded M113s are much better value and are likely to get better in
the
next 3 - 5 years as the 'Rubber band' tracks are perfected (For the
M113,
they are in use on some armoured Veh already).

An American exchange officer reports:
"Just returned from Australia. While there, the Australian officers to
include their senior leadership outlined the problems they encountered
with
the LAVs in East Timor. Apparently, the LAVs were never able to
operate off
the roads and when the rains washed out the asphalt road surfaces, the
LAVs
bellied out and the Australians became entirely dependent on the M113s
for
operations in the interior. They have decided that the LAVs are useful
on
roads inside Australia where the requirement to cross the northern
deserts
quickly make them useful. However, for deployments, they are inclined
to
restrict the use of LAVs to urban areas where the roads are good and
rely
otherwise exclusively on the new upgraded M113s that they are
purchasing.
Apparently, the ground pressure exerted by the LAVs is very high
indeed and
this was a problem on East Timor's poor roads as well. Plus the LAVs
provide
little or no protection against mines. Australian Generals like MG
Abigail
and Brigadier Quinn along with a host of Australian Majors and
Lieutenant
Colonels left me with the impression that the LAVs could be useful in
the
context of home defense, but should not be the first consideration for
use
in the deployable formations of the active army."

That's *very* interesting. Thanks...

The CO