wait wait
where have i ever stated that "5 years is not a long time in weapons developement". Nope. I totally agree that 5 years is a short period, considering the RAH-66 program started 20 years ago and till now, hasn't been fielded. What I said was, the "
envisioned future of the US Army" has changed. That's very different from what you
think I said.
The thing is, during the period between 2000 and now, Dick Cheney came into the picture, and he brought with him BIG changes to the future of the US armed forces. He brought with him the concept of Legacy Forces, Interim Forces and the Objective Force. The M1 and M2s come under the Legacy force, the Stryker Brigades are the Interim Force, and the FCS would be the Objective Force.
And
nowhere have I EVER stated that there will not be anymore upgrades of the Abram. What I said was, there is currently NO PROGRAM for an M1A3 upgrade in place, which you've insisted there is an ongoing one. Frankly, even your article doesn't prove your statement. All it shows is a study for an upgrade to a 140mm gun for the Abram. The US Armed forces conduct a hell lot of such studies. Many never make it to fruitation.
Now, the Bush Admin has come up with the extremely ambitious plan to bring forth the Block 1 capability of the FCS to 2008. Many programs have been sacrificed to fund the FCS program, most notably the Crusader program. Others include the SIIRCM/SIRFCM programs slated for the Apache helis, the ATACMS Blk II etc.
"The US Army is definitely NOT gonna throw and store some 8000 M1 tanks. " Of course not! I never said that. The M1s will serve for quite some time, very probably with at least 1 more substantial upgrade. But so far, there is no M1A3 upgrade plan in place yet. As for how long they'll serve will depend on how fast the FCS gets online.