Posted on 06/30/2022 8:51:54 AM PDT by re_tail20
For the first time since the Cold War, the U.S. Army is set to acquire and field a new light tank. The service announced today that General Dynamics Land Systems has won its Mobile Protected Firepower program competition and has been awarded a contract worth up to $1.14 billion.
The initial Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) contract award will cover an initial low-rate production order of 96 vehicles. The Army expects to take delivery of the first examples, from an initial lot of 26 MPFs, in December 2023 and have its first unit fully equipped with them by 2025. The service presently plans to buy a total of 504 new light tanks, with most of them arriving by the end of 2035. It's not immediately clear if this figure includes any of the preproduction examples that General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) already supplied for testing.
The GDLS MPF design, which is set to public receive a formal name this fall at the Association of the U.S. Army's main annual convention in Wasghtion, D.C, is based on the company's Griffin II. Its main armament is a 105mm gun – unlike the 120mm type found on the original Griffin demonstrator – mounted in a turret derived from the one on the M1 Abrams tank. It uses a version of the fire control system used in the M1A2 System Enhanced Package Version 3 (SEPv3) variant, which you can read more about here.
Griffin II was itself derived from the Austrian-Spanish ASCOD armored vehicle series, which also formed the basis of the much-troubled Ajax infantry fighting vehicle for the British Army. GDLS has also put forward another version of the Griffin, known as the Griffin III, as a contender for the Army's Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program, which is focused primarily on finding a...
(Excerpt) Read more at thedrive.com ...
Rainbow camo paint scheme when? /s
I don’t think it will have a problem making its own way.
lol!!
I rolled into a wendys in an lav
they wont let you drive tracks on paved roads
Considering the wokeness that has infected the military, I would have expected the new tank to have been built on the Nissan Leaf chassis.
“The Army Just Selected Its First Light Tank In Decades”
LED, halogen or...heaven forbid... incandescent?
a direct hit in the front could be deflected downward and explode under tank. i suspect there’s no armor on the underside....
I remember how the Army absolutely had to have an armored car.
Aren’t they getting rid of the Stryker?
Here’s another great idea.
The Ukraine War has just shown tanks to be expensive mobile crematoria, easily prey to infantry, aerial drones, and artillery, yet we invest in new tanks. Are these for use against external enemies or treating domestic insurrectile dysfunction?
Your image didn’t come up
While in the service in the early “70”s, I was on a tank. A smaller tank named the Sheridan M551 tank. I was a the top gunner in 1975 when the 197th Infantry Brigade had qualifications that year at Ft Benning Ga. I loved that tank. It was small compared to most tanks, weighing in at a mere 17 tons. Compare that to the M60 that weighed 70 tons, but the Sheridan was made for reconnaissance. As a Scout it was made for me.
At 17 tons, it could be dropped into Nam from a transport plane via parachute. It was also amphibious which was great for scouts to meneuver ther jungles and waterways. They would deploy that baby right into the thick of things at times. It was light and fast. Disengage the governor, and we could get that tank rolling down a paved road pretty fast. It still holds the Guinness world record for the fastest tank ever made at 82.23 km/h (51.10 mph).
The tank came with the first ever guided missile system primarily made for a tank. The MGM-51 Shillelagh missile was a deadly accurate round. It was computerized, so as long as I had the system set correctly, it never missed. Yet go figure many gunners did miss, because many gunners had problems setting the new confusing guidance system.
Back then computers were new and few, if any, uneducated service men could figure them out. I learned then, long before PCs were common, that I had a knack for understanding them. When it came time to qualify, I never missed. I must admit, it was an awesome feeling watching that missile drop out of the gun and soar down the range. Other rounds shot out of the cannon like bullets, but the missile glided under its own power. It would sway from side to side, then as it got close to its target it made a beeline for the old tank carcass that was my target. The next thing I saw was an explosion and then nothing but rubble.
I loved that tank. Eventually they took the concept of the turret and modified it for the a newer M60A2 tank. If only our guys in WWII had such a weapon, the war would have been over in half the time.
The designers are obviously misogynistic, phallocentric, patriarchal, racist, sexist, homophobes.
“It ain’t a light tank.”
Agreed. I was thinking something like a German Mark II or something with the footprint of a Bradley, that was lower but with a bigger gun.
There’s a book out by a guy who served on a Sheridan in the Vietnam War.
Great book.
They were up near the DMZ.
They had hurricane fence that they put in front of the vehicle at night.
They got into a really heavy fight one night.
I forget how many RPGs he counted in the hurricane fence in the morning.
I think they still have Sheridans in use at Fort Irwin.
A local had a Stuart sitting in his side yard for years until maybe 2019. Now that was a light tank!
A retired friend of mine told me the same thing,. Well he said they still use them at some bases. More for training as the enemy in mock battles, or they are down range for target practice by the bigger tanks and heavy artillery.
By the time I got to FT Benning at the end of my tour of duty, they were used for the tanker squad, because funds were low. As a scout I was relegated to a jeep with a 50 caliber attached, like the old Movie Rat Patrol, since I was not a tanker. My MOS was 11D10R8, which is a scout with special training for the missile system they used on the tank.
It was primary a scout vehicle though, thus the designation as reconnaissance assault vehicle, and the need for speed to get out of trouble before your spotted by big guns, because it has no armor.
After 6 Months they found out I knew all about the Sheridan and so I was back put on it. Which was OK, but it meant I had to spend a lot more time in the Motor pool, where as before I was able to drive all over base in my jeep escorting lieutenants and captains.
Yet I was able to play with the tank a a gunner a few more times. I even came in at the top 5 in qualifying as my Platoon Sgt as my TC. To this day IO look back fondly to my time on that baby.
OHH, the stories I could tell.
used to be, the tank was too big to transport by rail in Europe.....the USMC has given away all their tanks in figuring the next Pacific island war would be a bit cramped. any tank made has now been proven to NOT be RPG proof.
the Sherman was made by the baskets full. yes, one good hit, but in large numbers they worked.
we have better engines than a radial engine.
all the whizbangs won’t help if you cannot make holes in a tank.
Will they take a Hummer as a trade in? I want to be first in my neighborhood to own one.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.