The concept of mounting smaller caliber main armament with very high rates of fire on tank chassis has been tried before. A ground based SP GAU-8 30mm flakpanzer would not be near as impressive as a Warthog. As a direct fire system, it couldn't hit any targets the 120mm Abrams couldn't hit.
Suddenly surrounded by 600 enemy combatants, an existing M1 crew could fire 1 beehive round, pause, manually reload, swing the turret, fire a 2nd beehive round, pause, manually reload, swing the turret a bit more, fire a 3rd beehive round, etc., until after some great period of time a full circle was completed.
In contrast, a modified M1 with the GAU-8 would swing the turret 360 degrees while firing off 900 or more rounds of 30mm exploding anti-personnel rounds in that same time. No pauses. No manual reloads.
For an infantry support role in such a situation, the GAU-8 is clearly the preferred choice over the 105mm or 120mm beehive round.
We've got about what, some 2,000 mothballed M1's right now in the states?? Why not turn them into a brand new killing machine: an urban assault infantry support weapons platform?!
Heck, move their old 105mm main battle cannons onto Strykers or Bradleys if you want (to free up room to install the GAU-8), but do *something* to get the A-10's GAU-8 gattling cannon on the ground in an infantry support role in Iraq!
5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires