Stepping backward.. Lower tech.

[rcaf_777]

What you say is true, and I am not going to dispute that.... My point is that the M113 is simpler and easier to get back into production. Take the Sherman as a model, mediocre in every category. Spam the war with 100,000 of them and things go quickly into their favor.

The Continental engine and the Allison transmission of the A2 are the same as those in quite a few pieces of heavy equipment (bulldozer, front loaders, etc). Those are going to be built regardless of the war effort.

Most of the engines / transmissions in U.S. fighting vehicles are found in civil engineering equipment.

The one piece that is most difficult to produce in fact is the cast hull....

I might well be very wrong... but, I don't think the U.S. can even make a cast hull in 2016 with the current environmental laws and other compliance issues.

As stated above the M113 was in production at FMC San Jose facility in California with assistance by Aiken, Steel Products Division until 1998

[rcaf_777]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/060d4ea...some-help.html

Now, to get a six-shooter chambered for these...

Good info I remember someone asking what if there was any ammo left for the Iowa Class Big Guns. Now you know, and Knowing is Half the battle

[swaghauler]

You have the M119 howitzer, a licence produced version of the British L119 Light Gun. At just under 2000kg it could be carried by trucks of 3-ton or more capacity.
To be fair though, there wouldn't be a lot of them, they entered service in 1989 with the 7th Infantry Division.

Yes but only an HEMTT could carry it (in a ready-to-fire condition) because of the gun's 21+ft length. Carrying an M119 on a 5-ton would "weight" the truck's tailgate (because of barrel overhang) and cause the steering to feel
"light" (unresponsive). You couldn't fire it without destabilizing the 5-ton with the recoil either. You'd be better off shooting modified 105mm howitzer rounds out of a recoilless rifle. Before someone screams foul... Yes, 105mm cannon rounds CAN BE modified to fire in a Recoilless Rifle of the same caliber. There was a tail fin and propellant assembly developed to do just this. It was a "bolt on in the field" modification kit made by the same company that competed in the JADAM tail kit trials. I don't know if the Army ever adopted the kit, though.

[ArmySGT.]

Found this.... and I think this stays with the spirit of the thread.

[.45cultist]

What you say is true, and I am not going to dispute that.... My point is that the M113 is simpler and easier to get back into production. Take the Sherman as a model, mediocre in every category. Spam the war with 100,000 of them and things go quickly into their favor.

The Continental engine and the Allison transmission of the A2 are the same as those in quite a few pieces of heavy equipment (bulldozer, front loaders, etc). Those are going to be built regardless of the war effort.

Most of the engines / transmissions in U.S. fighting vehicles are found in civil engineering equipment.

The one piece that is most difficult to produce in fact is the cast hull....

I might well be very wrong... but, I don't think the U.S. can even make a cast hull in 2016 with the current environmental laws and other compliance issues.

Are the older machines still in storage The KCK GM plant still has parts of it's WWII bomber assembly line in storage, but with out men who know the tooling and its age I doubt its value. A better track is making gun trucks and stripping cannon from hulks. Perhaps a plant making partial wood, metal trucks like the German Opel-Blitz of WWII.

[ArmySGT.]

Are the older machines still in storage The KCK GM plant still has parts of it's WWII bomber assembly line in storage, but with out men who know the tooling and its age I doubt its value. A better track is making gun trucks and stripping cannon from hulks. Perhaps a plant making partial wood, metal trucks like the German Opel-Blitz of WWII.

It has been my experience that much of the equipment is sold as scrap. There are dealers that buy up equipment for resale but, often there isn't any support from the original manufacturer........ Sometimes you have to manufacture your own parts.

[.45cultist]

A massive technical college program also seems to need creation. The machinists and welders will need to expand their numbers.

[swaghauler]

Found this.... and I think this stays with the spirit of the thread.

That is actually a really nice system! The two big issues with doing this to the light gun would be:
1.) The Light Gun uses a normal gas recoil system. This new system uses the "reduced recoil system" pioneered on the 105mm Tank Gun and that would be a MAJOR retrofit to the Light Gun (to avoid overwhelming the 5-Ton's suspension). One way to "overcome" this issue would be to "dismount" the 105mm Howitzers from Spectre Gunships. These already have a similar "recoil reduction system" fitted.
2.) Removing the Light Gun's carriage ALSO REMOVES ALL OF THE GUN'S SIGHTING SYSTEMS. The mounts for new sights would have to be engineered and PRECISELY PLACED in relation to the barrel in order to achieve any accuracy at all.

This is why I made the suggestion above.

All of that being said, I really think that the current Army SHOULD look at a system like the one above. You could run a 6 man Section with just TWO 5-Ton trucks (the gun truck and an uparmored ammo carrier). This system would be cheap AND mobile for use in "Insurgent Theaters" where you need enhanced mobility OVER firepower/range. These would have been great to deploy to Afghanistan during the "surge."

[rcaf_777]

All of that being said, I really think that the current Army SHOULD look at a system like the one above.

They are already are looking at a system. In 2004 U.S. Army's Picatinny Arsenal developed the HUMVEE Scorpion

The mortar itself can fire on single shots or on automatic using 4 round clips. Range for direct fire is 1,000m and indirect fire is 4,000m.

The US Army is also working on a 120mm system using Elbit Systems SPEAR - Autonomous Recoil Mortar System (RMS)120mm Mortar System

http://www.hmmwvinscale.com/hmmwvprototypes.htm

http://www.network54.com/Forum/211833/thread/1122823663/US+army+installs+Russian+Vasilek+mortars+on+humvees,+calls+it+the+Scorpion

[rcaf_777]

M113 Production Run form IHS Janes

Here is the production numbers and dates of the M113 which ran form 1964 to 1992, and then restarted again in 1994 and ceased in 1997.

Interesting Points

1. The US Army still has and operates 6,000 M113
2. Over 4,500 were produced in Italy under licence, for their army and export

[ArmySGT.]

They are already are looking at a system. In 2004 U.S. Army's Picatinny Arsenal developed the HUMVEE Scorpion

The Mortar in the back is a Vasilek mortar purchased from a former Warsaw Pact ally. Maybe this can be introduced into a game as a homebrew A marauder unit of mixed NATO/pact troops possibly.

[rcaf_777]

The Mortar in the back is a Vasilek mortar purchased from a former Warsaw Pact ally. Maybe this can be introduced into a game as a homebrew A marauder unit of mixed NATO/pact troops possibly.

That's what I was thinking, could also be captured equipment too. I wonder how hard the project was

[swaghauler]

They are already are looking at a system. In 2004 U.S. Army's Picatinny Arsenal developed the HUMVEE Scorpion

The mortar itself can fire on single shots or on automatic using 4 round clips. Range for direct fire is 1,000m and indirect fire is 4,000m.

The US Army is also working on a 120mm system using Elbit Systems SPEAR - Autonomous Recoil Mortar System (RMS)120mm Mortar System

http://www.hmmwvinscale.com/hmmwvprototypes.htm

http://www.network54.com/Forum/21183...t+the+Scorpion

Looking at the mount in this photo, It would be a relatively easy modification. The Hummer mount uses an easily manufactured central strut that mounts right up to the stock carriage mount on the trunion assembly. The recoil is "counter mitigated" by the gas shocks (Long travel 10-Ton gas shocks) on either side of the mount. Why Because they point almost perpendicular to the trunnion assembly at max elevation and "oppose" the trunion assembly when the weapon is at lower angles of elevation. This allows them to act as a "surrogate carriage" and reduce the recoil stroke to an acceptable level that the central strut (and the Hummer) can withstand. The gas shocks also "support" the weight of the assembly for ease of barrel elevation and traverse. This is an elegantly simple mount made possible by the short recoil trunion of the 82mm Vasilek mortar.

[swaghauler]

The Mortar in the back is a Vasilek mortar purchased from a former Warsaw Pact ally. Maybe this can be introduced into a game as a homebrew A marauder unit of mixed NATO/pact troops possibly.

I'd like to get one of these to shoot woodchucks in the back yard. Then all I'd need to buy is a 20mm Phalanx for the d****d crows.

[Draq]

This is the way of the apocalypse https://youtu.be/v-XS4aueDUg