Lt Ryan Jansen 30 November 2022 The Pentagon Wars: Materials Science and Requirements Considerations Past and Present Design Flaws The film implied several connections between the systems-level design of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV) and the significance of materials science. In one of the earlier scenes where rapid design changes are proposed without in-depth consideration of their consequences, aluminum was selected as the primary body material in place of steel. The colonel in charge of the program during its infancy stages suggested the use of steel due to its high resistance to armor penetration. This recommendation was passed over due to the generals’ concerns of speed and mobility, thus entirely neglecting the tank-like design they had dreamed up. The failure to properly understand the BFV’s system requirements can be understood by breaking them down through requirements analysis. Had the functional and performance requirements for the BFV been clearly flushed out from the beginning, much of the material design failures could have been avoided. A functional requirement for the BFV in its early stages of development was that it should support the delivery of troops to combat zones. The corresponding performance requirement was that nine troops, including the driver should be able to fit inside the BFV. As new proposals were made, the functional and performance requirements did not evolve in parallel, thus leading to further confusion over the derived requirements. Given the initial requirement of a troop carrier, the derived body material requirement would have been a light-weight material such as aluminum. As the functional requirements shifted to more closely resemble a tank, new derived requirements conflicted with the latter to create critical design flaws. 1 Post hoc changes to the body material following the scandal featured the addition of more heavy armor that severely bottlenecked the performance of interior systems. According to one source the BFV is “heavier than similar vehicles in other armies due to the armor that’s been added over the years to protect the troops it carries, which in turn has left its engine and electrical systems underpowered” (Roblin, 2020). Additionally, from the same article, the BFV’s “ floor wasn’t designed to protect against improvised explosive devices and mines.” These observations highlight the critical material design flaws that have gone into future-proofing the BFV. In hindsight it can be said that, had more investment into materials science engineering of the BFV been done, balanced materials meeting all performance requirements could have been utilized. The Materials Science of Armor Selection Incorporation of materials science in the system engineering process is crucial in successfully meeting armor requirements for military vehicles. The underlying properties of a material are largely determined by their crystal lattice structures (Raja, 2022). Depending on how the individual atoms are packed and oriented, different materials will exhibit unique properties. As seen in the film, the use of a non-explosive projectile dented the body of the BFV but failed to penetrate. During the final legitimate live-fire demonstration, the explosive ordinance successfully penetrated the armor. This can be explained by examining the material properties of aluminum (the material referenced as a substitute for steel). From Appendices A and B, the tensile strengths for aluminum and MIL-A-12560 steel are 500 Mpa and 1207 Mpa respectively. The type of steel used to upgrade later versions of the BFV was never explicitly stated but it can be assumed that reinforced platings likely incorporated a steel alloy similar to MIL-A-12560 (Kloeckner Metals Corporation, 2022). Takeaways from this observation is that, had material 2 properties been adequately considered in the systems design of the BFV, the obvious flaw of selecting aluminum (a material with relatively low tensile strength) could have been avoided. There were considerations of projectile types that the BFVs could face in combat situations. The development of new projectiles is capable of making existing armors obsolete. Within the last decade, the Navy has developed warhead technology in a relatively short time frame, citing that engineers and scientists were able to “move [the technology] from the laboratory to full scale working prototype in under a year to meet technology development goals” (Riley, 2011). Materials science factored heavily into the development of warhead technology. According to the article, the technology “is designed to replace steel in warhead casings with little or no compromise in strength or design.” Additionally, the warhead exhibited the “strength of aluminum, density of steel, and more than one and a half times the energy of TNT.” These statements heavily emphasize the significance of a streamlined systems engineering process, involving dedicated teams focusing on testing and materials research. Tying the latter discussion back into the armor selection of the BFV (or any armored vehicle currently in use), the threat of new anti-armor technology can spark systematized changes in armor utilization. Existing materials are preferred to untested materials because their ballistic properties have been proven in field environments (Latiff, n.d.). If adversaries were to mimic the warhead technology previously discussed, this would be perceived as a “new threat” (see Appendix C). Once this threat is acknowledged, materials research and development is factored into the selection of new armor technology. In the film, there was no systematic process to select the BFV’s armor. Ultimately, critical failures in program planning led to costly upgrades featuring steel, a material that should have been selected under the scrutiny of materials science. 3 References Board on Army Science and Technology, & Latiff, R. H., Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications (n.d.). Washington, D.C; National Research Council. Kloeckner Metals Corporation. (2022, August 19). Mil-a-12560. Steel Plate MIL-A-12560. Retrieved November 27, 2022, from https://www.kloecknermetals.com/products/plate/grades/mil-a-12560/ Raja , P. M. V., & Barron, A. R. (2022, August 28). 7.1: Crystal structure. Chemistry LibreTexts. Retrieved November 27, 2022, from https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Analytical_Chemistry/Physical_Methods_in_Ch emistry_and_Nano_Science_(Barron)/07%3A_Molecular_and_Solid_State_Structure/7.0 1%3A_Crystal_Structure Riley, E. (2011, December 5). New material's capability to increase weapons' explosive force demonstrated at Navy test range. EurekAlert! Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/614547 Roblin, S. (2020, February 13). The Army decided to replace Bradley Fighting Vehicles 17 years and $22B ago. they still don't have a prototype. NBCNews.com. Retrieved November 27, 2022, from https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/army-decided-replace-bradley-fighting-vehicles -17-years-22b-ago-ncna1136141 Defense Acquisition University Press. (2001). Systems engineering fundamentals: Supplementary text. The pentagon wars. (1998). Youtube. Retrieved November 27, 2022. 4 Appendix A Material Properties of Aluminum 5 Appendix B Material Properties of MIL-A-12560 6 Appendix C Paradigm For Armor Design 7
