Rise of the Reds Update: Heavy Hitters Options

[The_Hunter]

United States of America, 2040

"Hi! I'm Steve Dawson and I welcome all of you boys and gals to a very 'personal' episode of Future Warfare. Today's show will be a bit of a family reunion for me: Join me as I take you to Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base, North Carolina, home of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force. About two decades ago, a late teenage never-do-well walked in through this gate for the first time and started a whole new life, becoming one of America's chosen few. That boy was me. The Corps made me into the man I am today and I don't regret a single day of my time with it: From all the blood, sweat and tears in training over our many deployments to the Middle East and Central Asia during the Global War On Terror to that fateful day in '28 when I took an AK bullet to the knee during the evacuation of Ramstein. Now, let me introduce you to the man who's in charge of this magnificent band of devildogs; a man who I regarded as a second father ever since he led our battalion as a Colonel back in the day: General Jeremiah Bradley!"

"Pleasure to see you, Gunny!"
"So, how have you been holding up here, Sir?"
"The 2nd MEF is currently making final preparations for our first overseas deployment in years. We're gonna ship out to Egypt where we will once again join forces with our, ahem, Chinese allies to deter hostile aggressions in the disputed border zone between North and South Sudan. The Russians are propping up the regime in Juba in an attempt to consolidate their illegitimate take-over of the local resource deposits and we simply cannot let that happen or else the entirety of Africa is gonna be destabilised for years to come."

"How do you feel about the possibility of an armed confrontation in the event that the Russian leadership refuses to withdraw from the contested Kurmuk region?"
"Well, son...As a General, I am of course very concerned and I sincerely hope that the diplomats will be able to find an agreeable compromise to defuse this critical situation...But as a Marine, I do want the Russian President to know that my boys and I -will- be ready to drive him back all the darn way to the Indian Ocean! I respect and welcome the White House's decision to finally acknowledge the realities of a world that has been way out of control ever since we backed out of our responsibilities twelve years ago. It's time for America to resume its rightful place at the head of the table and to tell you the truth, Gunny, I -am- itching for that fight! Suvorov has had free reign over eastern Europe for years and if you ask me, it'll only be a matter of time until the country goes bankrupt under the weight of his socialist spending policies, thus forcing him to lash out and conquer others to stay afloat. Our deployment to Africa as part of Operation Double Tap is going to be a statement: We're gonna draw a line and put the Russians back in their place and by God, even all the communists in hell won't be able to stop us!"

"Now, as much as I'd like to continue discussing politics with you, Sir, I am here today because you agreed to give our viewers an exclusive look at some of America's best and latest military hardware. What do you got for them, Sir?"
"Well, first of all, I'll take you to our vehicle assembly area. Hope you still remember the way, do ya?"
"Oorah!"

"This fearsome beast is the brand new Paladin II battle tank. Formally designated as the M10, it has only recently been introduced in the US Marine Corps. The M one-zero is the official successor to the M1 series of tanks, which began its life as the M1A1 Abrams back in the good old 1980s. Designed during a period when NATO expected a massive Soviet ground invasion in West Germany, the tank incorporated a 120mm smoothbore cannon, heavy composite armour and a jet engine. The Abrams proved its worth during Operation Desert Storm and was further upgraded into the M1A2 during the 1990s. After the turn of the millennium, American military planners reacted to the geopolitical changes and ditched the hard-hitting territorial defence doctrine of the Cold War in favour of rapid deployability around the globe. This resulted in the development of the M4A1 Crusader tank, which was designed to be much lighter and more economical while the Abrams itself was upgraded to A3 status, which included the SEP upgrade, improved networking capabilities and a new powerplant. When the War On Terror went Global, a small number of M1s where further modified with an experimental anti-missile point defence laser, an improved high-velocity cannon that was compatible with the new Ramjet Assisted Penetrator round and an AI suite that allowed the tank to be controlled by just a single crewman. This variant was so vastly different and superior to all previous iterations that it was designated as the M1A4 Paladin. After the end of the war, the bulk of the armed forces was restricted to the North American mainland while the entire M4 fleet was sold to allied countries. In an effort to reduce the overburdening upkeep costs, the Marines as well as the most elite elements of the other branches where organised into compact but extremely powerful task forces for global interventions, which would rely on the new M5A1 Crusader II for quick, cost-efficient deployments in our areas of interest while the Abrams/Paladin fleet of roughly 8.000 units was scaled down by a half and fully homogenised to A4 status. By then, it became quite obvious that the old 80s era vehicle offered no room for further improvements. Thus, the M10 Paladin II marries the benefits of all previous models with an entirely new design that'll likely serve as the baseline for all future American tanks for the rest of the century. I should also point out that it is an all-American war machine as opposed to its predecessors which originally incorporated Rheinmetall guns and Chobham armour of European origin."

Composite Armor Variant

"This right here is another new entry in our arsenal: The M8 Acolyte is an airdroppable light tank which weighs in at a mere 22 tons thanks to its lightweight aluminium/titanium build which can be reinforced in the field with bolt-on composite armour packs. Multiple of these can be dropped out of a single C17 Globemaster to provide armoured fire support to forward elements on short notice. While the most recent A2 version of the M5 Crusader II has been up-gunned with a 105mm smoothbore cannon now that we are once again preparing to fight hostile state actors, the Acolyte retains the lighter 90mm weapon to reduce its drop weight and compensates with a greater supply of shells. Personally, I would have preferred a proper 120mil on both of them since first responders like us are more likely to run into some leftover enemy tanks that the flyboys couldn't wipe out but like a wise man used to say, you can't always get what you want. Naturally, we shouldn't expect too much because at the end of the day, tanks are still built with the Army in mind first and not the Corps even though we are the ones that make the best of them. But for the time being, I'm actually quite satisfied with this new triple threat of amphibious Crusaders, parachuting Acolytes and hard-hitting Paladins. Some critics call it excessive overspecialisation, the death of the main battle tank or going back to a WW2-style fractioning of the tank forces. I call it a cost-efficient, differentiable response to America's enemies around the entire world, whether they're local narco-terrorists, foreign insurgents, rogue states or some self-proclaimed superpower in Eurasia. We're ready to deal with 'em all!"

"Oh, I'd absolutely love to take one of these mean machines for a joy ride. But General, you and I both know that every Marine will always be an honest to God infantryman at heart. What's new for our boots on the ground?"

"Well, we all know and love the FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile system. The weapon itself is quite on the heavy side with a carry weight of fifty pounds, but trust me when I say that nobody wants to be on the receiving end of a tandem HEAT missile screaming down from the sky to blast a crater into the roof of some T-whatever piece of junk. Unlike the more lightweight and versatile SRAWs used by the fireteams at the front, the Javelin is a specialised long range support weapon operated by a crew of two. Now, the thing that's truly amazing is the new ASCAT missile, which stands for Airbursting Shaped Charge Anti-Tank. This missile contains a payload of several sensor-fused submunitions which automatically form explosive penetrators that scatter over a moderately sized area. This allows the Javelin operator to either drop a highly destructive and accurate missile on a single vehicle target for massive damage or rain hell on a whole bunch of poor suckers at the same time. Makes for one hell of a fireworks show!"

"Honestly...Seeing all those amazing new weapons makes me want to gear up and get on that trip with you and the other Marines right here and now, General...But I'm sorry, that shattered knee of mine wouldn't do us any favours."
"It's all good, son. You've already done your part for the Corps and earned your peace. The boys and I will handle the rest, until the final victory is America's and there is no enemy anymore. Semper fi, Gunny!"