The Center For Strategic and Budgetary Assessments(CSBA) gave a presentation on Tuesday detailing major trends in ground combat that will impact ground vehicle modernization. Buried in the slides was an interesting info-graphic on the accelerated cost of force protection - meaning the price paid to equip the average combat rifleman in the U.S. Military. These costs have risen dramatically. According to the CSBA the average cost of clothing and equipping:

• A WWII era G.I.

Though the Panzer V "Panther" is often lauded as one of the Second World War's top tanks there is a serious question as to whether the immense resources put into developing and fielding this tank was worth it. Though a new tank design when it first appeared in the Wehrmacht's ranks during the summer of 1943, the Panzer V owed much to the superb T-34 that had spurred the Panther's development. That said, the effort to produce a new medium tank to replace the Panzer III and IV had actually started in 1938. However, the developmental process had been hamstrung by a variety of problems.