
A Man Who Made War on a Weapon - areoform
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1986/05/08/the-man-who-made-war-on-a-weapon/7b47ff0e-59df-4201-845c-d19b1597b395/
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jmpman
Thanks for posting. My understanding is that the Bradley served well in Iraq,
taking out many Iraqi tanks. Did this article’s criticism hold up?

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areoform
Yes. The firestorm surrounding the Bradley led to a forced redesign. Sadly,
most of this knowledge is inaccessible online, but here's the Wiki

> When testing the Bradley, however, disagreements occurred between Burton and
> the Aberdeen Proving Ground's Ballistic Research Laboratory, which preferred
> smaller, more controlled, "building block" tests. They claimed such limited
> (and according to Col. Burton, completely unrealistic) testing would
> "improve the databases used to model vehicle survivability", as opposed to
> full tests with random shots that would provide a far more accurate picture
> of its performance under real battlefield conditions, but produce less
> useful statistical data.[11] In addition, Burton insisted on a series of
> "overmatch" tests in which weapons would be fired at the Bradley that were
> known to be able to easily penetrate its armor, including Russian ordnance.
> Burton saw attempts to avoid such tests as dishonest, while the BRL saw them
> as wasteful, as they already knew the vehicle would fail. The disagreements
> became so contentious that Congressional inquiry resulted. As a result of
> the tests, additional improvements to vehicle survivability were added.

Burton forced their hand. They retaliated by making him retire in disgrace,
but his bureaucratic heroism saved thousands of lives.

