Army’s (Don’t Call it a) Light Tank Albatross Reappears
The U.S. Army has had problems with not wanting, but still needing, a decent light tank for generations.
World War II showed the lesson of having a decent light track in the form of the 15-ton M3/M5 Stuart, which, armed with a 37mm gun, swathed in 50mm of armor, and capable of hitting 35 mph, still proved effective if used correctly (i.e. not in fights with Tigers) in Europe and excelled in the Pacific.
A Marine M3 Stuart on Guadalcanal, 1942 “MOP UP UNIT– Two alert U.S. Marines stand beside their small tank, which helped blast the Japanese in the battle of the Tenaru River during the early stages of fighting on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Those well-manned, sturdy machines readily mopped up strong points of enemy resistance.”
This was true enough for the Army to order the M24 Chaffee, which was a 20-ton light tank with a 75mm gun and 38mm of armor that could hit 35 mph on the road, in 1944 and then replaced it post-Korea with the M41 Walker Bulldog (23 ton, 76mm gun, 31mm of armor, 45 mph) which was replaced by the M551 Sheridan, an air-droppable 16 ton track with a weird 152mm gun/Shillelagh missile launcher tube, enough armor to stop small arms rounds, and a 40+ mph road speed.
A soldier from Co. A, 3rd Bn., 73rd Airborne Armor Regt., 82nd Airborne Div., lays out equipment for an M-551 Sheridan light tank prior to the 82nd Airborne Division live-fire exercise during Operation Desert Shield.
Sheridan, which entered service in 1969, was an oddball, but at least it gave the 82nd Airborne a battalion of tanks (err, “Armored Reconnaissance Airborne Assault Vehicles”) that could be Fed-Ex-ed overseas in a hurry.
Well, Sheridan grew obsolete and needed replacement, which led to the canceled M8 “Buford” armored gun system (AGS), the Stryker M1128 mobile gun system (MGS) of which 142 were build and quickly withdrawn from service, and now the Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) program which fielded the M10 Booker “combat vehicle.”
PD1 – Delivery of First Production Vehicle M10 Booker Combat Vehicle
Booker is a big boy, at some 37 tons, and mounts a 105mm M35 low-recoil tank gun (designed for and formerly carried by the M1128). Actually, it reminds me of the size and capability of the old M60 tank.
And with that, Booker, too heavy and too expensive, is out. The last of three (so far) vehicles that were going to replace the Sheridan, which itself was a cranky platform that nobody really liked.
But still, at least folks got paid…
Can we just pay Rheinmetall for the data set to make a modernized Wiesel here in America?
