PPT Slide
The Soviet Union with a long history of light tank designs develops light weight, versatile, amphibious, air-mobile light tanks like the PT-76, ASU-57, ASU-85, the BMD and BMP family of vehicles which are successful in Vietnam, Chechloslavakia, Pakistan, Somalia and Afghanistan. In the �60s, �70s and early �80s it looks like the entire world will be over-run by the communists.
The Russians continue to improve their light tanks so that today�s BMD-3s and BMP-3s have powerful 100mm guns with 30mm autocannon and medium machine gun armaments while able to carry an infantry squad under armor. Others have 125mm guns. With waterjets they can swim from ship-to-shore in the ocean. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army fails to add turret weapons to its M113 Gavins, retires its M551 Sheridans and stops training to swim across lakes/rivers to effect rapid 2D maneuvers like it did in Vietnam, obsessed with heavy tank vs. tank combat, the U.S. adopts medium M2 Bradley and M1 Abrams heavy tanks that cannot swim and are difficult to fly into action and ignores 3D warfare needs