US approves new design for heavy weaponry — RT World Information
Some $1.14 billion of taxpayers’ cash will probably be spent on gentle tanks produced by Common Dynamics Land Programs
The US Military has authorised a brand new design for a light-weight tank, and contracted as much as 96 of them to be produced by Common Dynamics Land Programs (GDLS), marking the primary time the Pentagon is buying such automobiles for the reason that Chilly Struggle.
The Michigan-based protection producer was awarded a $1.14 billion contract to supply a batch of armored fireplace help automobiles, the military introduced on Tuesday.
Days earlier, the GDLS Griffin II tank was declared the winner of the Cell Protected Firepower (MPF) program, an try and create a brand new car of a category that the US army launched in 2015. The earlier competitors was canceled in 1996.
“MPF represents a brand new functionality for the Military, permitting our gentle maneuver forces to overmatch adversaries,” mentioned Maj. Gen. Ross Coffman, director of the Subsequent Era Fight Automobiles Cross Practical Crew. The Pentagon praised the MPF as “a benchmark program”.
The GDLS Griffin II design was one among two chosen in December 2018. The agency’s rival, British protection large BAE Programs, was reportedly disqualified after failing to maintain up with the schedule to ship prototypes for testing. A complete of 24 Griffin II prototypes took half within the trials.
The MPF was described by the US army because the religious successor to the Vietnam war-era M551 Sheridan, a car that was retired in 1997, in accordance to automotive information web site The Drive.
The brand new GDLS product is armed with a 105mm XM35 gun, initially designed for the scrapped Nineteen Nineties program, mounted in a turret derived from a variant of the GDLS’ M1 Abrams predominant battle tank. In contrast to the Sheridan, it’s not air-dropped, however might be airlifted, with two automobiles transported by a single C-17A Globemaster III cargo plane.
The brand new gentle tank is ready to obtain its official title throughout the primary annual conference of the Affiliation of the US Military in fall this 12 months.
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