[sd-joe]

Just a thought. How about an Urban combat version that eliminated the heavy gun and its heavy large ammo, saving a lot of space and weight, and replaced it with multiple 50 cal machine guns which could be fought from inside the tank (instead of standing exposed in hatches and fighting).

[Shryke]

The M1's main gun, as I mentioned earlier, is obviously overkill, if not counter-mission. However, a large bore main cannon, short barrel, could serve several purposes - two of which would be clearing obstacles, or knocking down walls. Outside of flechette rounds, however, I don't see much utility from it as an anti-personnel weapon.

I just had a thought. What would work marvelously, I think, would be a multi function weapon platform, turret mounted. Two different caliber mini-guns (one wall/armor piercing, perhaps .50 cal, the other strictly .556) would, on a sufficiently agile turret, provide withering line-of-sight fire. An automatic grenade launcher would provide great trench-busting abilities. For close in threats, such as a bomb carrier, the only thing I can think of are shotgun type rounds, or a nice, high-powered flame-thrower. It would obviously be practical to have 2 or 3 independently swiveling weapons to engage multiple threats. I imagine that would not be too difficult to design into one turret (think three layer turret). This would allieviate the need for hatch-fighting.

As far as an engine goes, I think the current turbine in the M1 would suit perfectly. It's not a large engine.