[Centraal] Defensie 18, nu ook NSF56K dankzij SHERMAN.

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The famed 82nd Airborne Division -- "America's Guard of Honor" -- was protected by the organic armored support of the the 3rd Battalion, 73rd Armored Regiment. The only light tank battalion left in the U.S. Army, the 3/73 cased its colors and retired in 1996, and the 30-year old M551 Sheridan light tanks were also put to rest. The Army would need something to replace the 3/73 and their M551s -- something just as light, air-droppable, highly deployable, and with enough firepower to handle any situation too dangerous or simply impossible for the infantry. Definitely up to the task is the M8 Buford, also known as the AGS (Airborne Gun System). Designed by United Defense with only six prototypes created, the AGS is the Sheridan's younger, more modern sister -- lighter, armored, and heavily armed.


Endangered Species: The M8 Buford in the wild.

The M8 Buford: Killer Features

Name:
M8 Airborne Gun System (AGS)

Type of Equipment:
Light Tank

Killer Features:

* Fully tracked, air-droppable, air-transportable
* Armed with a low-recoil 105mm rifled cannon
* Includes two machine guns on board - 1x7.62mm and 1x.50 Cal
* Mission tailorable armor packages
* State-of-the-art fire control and battlefield management system

More than Meets the Eye

On first glance, the Buford may not seem like a technical wonder, but in fact, the M8 utilizes a Transformer-like modular armor system -- the armor protection can be increased or decreased depending on threat level. The M8's armor is mostly aluminum-based, augmented with steel in critical areas.

The base "Level I" system provides protection from artillery splinters and small arms fire. At this level, the M8 weighs 19.25 tons and can either be transported to a forward airbase by a C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft, or airdropped. The "Level II" package increases the weight of the vehicle to 22.25 tons, but can withstand small arms ammunition as well as HE (High Explosive) rounds up to 20mm. The highest level of protection, "Level III," increases the vehicle weight to 24.75 tons, and provides the greatest protection -- enemy threats up to 30mm as well as hand-held anti-tank rockets such as the RPG-7. At this level, the M8 uses Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA), where metal modules in the M8 explode when sensing an impact of an explosive charge. How's that for a preemptive strike? In addition to modular armor, the M8 is equipped with self-screening ability, relying on smoke grenade mortars located on each side of the turret to conceal itself from the enemy.

Packing Heat

Boasting the low recoil Rheinmetall M35 105mm rifled cannon, the Buford packs immense firepower. With a cannon as huge as the M35, you can imagine the recoil involved -- think of being suddenly thrust back by the force a 1200-pound cow in the 7th month of pregnancy. Luckily, the M35 is equipped with a large recoil compensator that disperses the cannon's recoil energy, and can be stabilized on both a horizontal and vertical axis. This allows the gun to be fired from any position -- including over the side as well as over the back deck -- without destabilizing.

The M35 is capable of firing a vast array of currently fielded 105mm tank rounds -- this includes high velocity kinetic energy penetrators, smoke, WP (White Phosphorus), and APERS (AntiPERSonnel). In addition to the main cannon, the M8 features a coaxial mounted M240 7.62mm machine gun - along with 4,500 rounds of ammunition -- as well as an M2 in the commander's weapon station. Initial design evaluations speculated that the M8 platform would be used to launch the Line Of Sight Anti-Tank (LOSAT) missile, which was still under development at the time. This would have provided improved protection to the LOSAT crew -- who certainly needed it, considering the survivability offered by LOSAT's current Humvee-based system.

Three to Tango

A crew of three -- tank commander, gunner, and driver -- mans the M8. The main gun fires at a sustained rate of 12 rounds per minute and is fed by an autoloader, which selects cannon rounds from a 21-round ammunition bunker. Nine additional rounds are stored in the hull next to the driver. The fire control system is built around the same modern technology seen in the M1A2 Abrams MBT. It also touts both daylight and thermal options, a laser rangefinder, and a crosswind sensor -- a lot to play with for a party of three.

Need for Speed

Although the M8 features the same engine and horsepower as a Lamborghini Diablo or a Jaguar S-Type, the Buford isn't exactly a speed machine. However, powered by a Detroit Diesel 6V-921A 550 hp turbo-charged V-6 diesel engine mated to a General Electric HMPT-500-3EC hydro-mechanical transmission, the Buford is capable of attaining speeds up to 45mph on hard surface roads -- pretty good for something that weighs as much as a 20-year-old elephant. The Buford's cross-country speeds are limited to around 30mph, but it is capable of carrying 150 gallons of fuel, giving it a range of approximately 300 miles, six times the capability of its larger MBT cousins.


The M8 Buford

Currently, four functional Bufords exist. Though type-classified and prepared to enter production, budget constraints have so far nixed the M8 in favor of upgrading other already fielded systems. To make up for the loss of the Buford, the Army has chosen to integrate additional ATGM (Anti-Tank Guided Missile) systems into the 82nd's force structure. While this will give America's Guard of Honor some limited anti-tank capability, it is not a replacement for either the M8 or the long retired M551. If nothing else, the M8 is a good indication of what the future holds for further innovations in armor, speed and deployability of light tanks.

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Reality Check

The 82nd needs the M8. While it is not a tank (even with the Level II upgrade, it is still, at best, a heavily armored truck) it is, nonetheless, an indispensable piece of support equipment. The M8 gives the infantry not only a credible stand off anti-armor capability, but it also provides them with a means to reduce enemy fortifications as well as provide accurate and lethal small arms interdiction in urban areas (it can drive down the middle of the road, spraying machine gun fire into likely ambush areas or look for snipers with relative impunity. It is light enough to be air transportable by any of the military's cargo aircraft, while it's maintenance requirements are small enough (the diesel engine is no more difficult to maintain than that of a commercial tractor trailer) so as to be manageable with a very small logistical "tail." Unfortunately, the M8 is not "pretty." In today's high tech, stealth driven military, tools like the M8 get overshadowed by truly big ticket items such as the RH-66 Comanche, the Crusader, and the Joint Strike Fighter, which means that it is unlikely that the Buford will ever see the light of day, its funding diverted to such future systems as the "objective force" vehicle, expected to be deployed somewhere between 2010 and 2020. This is unfortunate because the 82nd needs something right now.

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Op zaterdag 25 september 2004 14:21 schreef HarigeKerel het volgende:
Het hele VS vs China hebben we wel gehad toch?
Laat BHFH maar lekker de oude topics doorlezen met zijn getroll.

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Op zaterdag 25 september 2004 14:41 schreef SHERMAN het volgende:
Piro...?
Ik ga zometeen foto's posten

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Op zaterdag 25 september 2004 17:14 schreef SHERMAN het volgende:

[..]

* Piro krijgt een leuk idee