When the truly dreadful M247 Sergeant York DIVision Air Defense [DIVAD] system was, uh, *developed* in the early 1980s, an alternate vehicle was proposed, consisting of an M48A3 tank chassis with a GAU-8 in the turret mount. After $6.97 billion dollars later, A Ford Aerospace initial production run of 50 vehicles, a twin 40mm Bofors gun not terribly different from the WWII/Korean M19 *Twin Forty* and the Vietnam- era M42 *Duster, a live fire range test in which the unit's F16-derived radar locked on a nearby whirring latrine fan and successfully engaged it, and a well-publicised congressional inquiry that included a Tennessee congressman reading a letter from the surviving descendants of MOH recipient Your to please not use their family hero's name on the Army's expensive new latrine killer, the alternative plan was dusted off.
It had no chance. The horrible fowlup that preceded it had killed its future, budget, plans and all.
A few soldier on as gate guards, museum pieces and fish breeding sanctuaries. The last one I saw was earmarked for an Army museum, and they kept it canvas-covered as if they were ashamed of it. *pics here*
One of the earlier contenders had been a 6-barrelled 37mm Gatling AA gun on a stretched M113A3 chassis, testnamed T249 and generally known as Vigilante. But the Army really wanted a tank chassis platform, so it lost out to the M247. The GAU-8 idea may have been an idea to fuse the various programs together to produce an even better defense from flying latrines.
One T249 survives. Hope it lasts longer than the Patton Museum did.
