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 ...
The old Stuart Honey.
They got five people in that tank.
I remeber this baby from the 82d Abn Div. Twice our unit went down to th edge of post where the Div Parade field was located, across the road headed to McKellar’s Lodge. We as infantrymen were taught to make movacocktails from readily available products to fight tanks. After we took turns targeting tanks (hold burnt out hulk), the real fun began. They would make us go down in a foxhole while the the M551 did a 360 degree spin over us. Nothing like having a tanks roll over you, and then spin. The point of the close quarters drills were to get up close to the tank so you could engulf it in flames.
Well, go ahead and tell us more.
I would like to read your stories.
Will they take a Hummer as a trade in
Things Harris would say
Yep. Or build it cheap and just have it explode.
Hi.
What happened to the Stryker w/the 105mm mount?
Did the Army end the program?
5.56mm
That’s light?
2035, good thing we aren’t in a hurry or anything like that.
Looks like an easy target. Not a lot of angles.
Well, I’ll consider it, but I am so busy with my ministries right now. I pop into FR from time to time, sometimes comment other times just to get caught up on the news.
If I get a hankering I’ll write some and tag you
(\sarc ;>)
Robotic suicide bomber. Have it quietly lurking off to the side, waiting for an enemy.
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