M1128 Mobile Gun System

M1128 Mobile Gun System
A M1128 Mobile Gun System during a training exercise in 2015
Type	Assault gun Armored fighting vehicle
Place of origin	United States
Service history
Wars	Iraq War[1]
Production history
Manufacturer	General Dynamics Land Systems[2]
Produced	2002–2010
No. built	142[2]
Specifications
Mass	18.77 tonnes (20.69 short tons; 18.47 long tons)
Length	6.95 m (22.92 ft)
Width	2.72 m (8.97 ft)
Height	>2.64 m (>8.72 ft)[3]
Crew	3
Armor	14.5 mm resistant[4]
Main armament	M68A1E4 105 mm cannon
Secondary armament	M2 .50 caliber machine gun; M240C coaxial machine gun; 2, M6 smoke grenade launchers
Engine	turbo diesel 260 kW (350 hp)
Power/weight	18.65 hp/ton
Transmission	Automatic 6 forward, 1 reverse
Suspension	8×8 wheeled
Ground clearance	15 in (38 cm)
Fuel capacity	56 gallons (212 liters)
Operational range	330 miles (528 km)
Maximum speed	60 mph (96 km/h)

The M1128 Mobile Gun System is an eight-wheeled armored car of the Stryker armored fighting vehicle family, mounting a 105 mm tank gun, based on the Canadian LAV III light-armored vehicle manufactured by General Dynamics Land Systems. It is in service with the United States Army^[5] but will be retired by the end of 2022.^[6]

Design[]

Firepower[]

Mobile Gun System firing

The MGS's low profile turret has a small silhouette, is stabilized and mounts a 105mm M68A1E4 rifled cannon with a fume extractor and an autoloader. The vehicle is primarily outfitted to support infantry combat operations; while it could take on some of the roles of a tank, it is not designed to engage in combat with tanks. The MGS can store 18 rounds of main gun ammunition, 8 in the autoloader's carousel and an additional 10 in a replenisher located at the rear of the vehicle.^[7] It has a rate of fire of ten rounds per minute.^[8]

The MGS's 105 mm cannon can fire four types of ammunition: the M900 kinetic energy penetrator to destroy armored vehicles; the M456A2 high explosive anti-tank round to destroy thin-skinned vehicles and provide anti-personnel fragmentation; the M393A3 high explosive plastic round to destroy bunkers, machine gun and sniper positions, and create openings in walls for infantry to access; and M1040 canister shot for use against dismounted infantry in the open.^[9][10]

Crew amenities[]

Because the vehicle was originally designed without air conditioning (A/C), crews were given cooling vests that circulate cooled water from outside the vehicle to the garment. Vehicle computers still overheated regularly. All MGS Stryker platforms have since been upgraded with A/C units.^[11] The large weapon station and relatively smaller hatch can make emergency exits difficult.^[1] Because the main cannon is separated from the crew compartment a gun stoppage during combat can only be cleared by disembarking from the vehicle.^{[citation needed]}

Organization[]

The U.S. Army allocated nine Mobile Gun Systems to a battalion.^[1] There were 27 Mobile Gun Systems per "Stryker brigade" in 2013, but later the Army cut the number per brigade to 10.^[12] The Army bought 142 Mobile Gun Systems in total;^[13] 3 were lost in combat. A three-vehicle MGS platoon operates organic to a Stryker infantry company, with one MGS in support of a Stryker infantry platoon.^[14]

As of May 2017, a Stryker brigade combat team is equipped with three platoons of MGS Strykers and three platoons of ATGM Strykers in its weapons troop.^[15]

History[]

A Mobile Gun System and other Strykers shortly before being flown into Afghanistan in 2008

Development[]

In course of the Armored Combat Vehicle Technology (ACVT) Program, both the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps have let separate fixed price vehicle design study contracts to nine contractors. The nine contractors were: Alvis Ltd, Cadillac Gage, General Motors of Canada, Pacific Car and Foundry, Bell Aerospace, FMC Corporation, Chrysler (jointly with General Dynamics), Teledyne and AAI Corporation. The gun, officially designated as the medium caliber anti-armor automatic cannon (MCAAAC), had been already developed by Ares Inc.^[16] During development the original Ares Inc. made replenisher proved to be problematic and was replaced with one made by Meggitt Defense.^[17]

Procurement[]

Following the end of the Cold War some theorists believed that the existing suite of U.S. armored vehicles, designed largely to fight Soviet mechanized forces in Europe, were not well suited to the lower-intensity missions U.S. armed forces would be tasked with. This led to the development of a new armored fighting vehicle designed for lower-intensity combat, rather than large-scale battle.^{[citation needed]}

Canada had liquidated about half of its fleet of Leopard 1s in the early 2000s, with the intention of replacing them with the Mobile Gun System, but the decision was reversed.^[18]

Full-rate production was indefinitely deferred as of 2012.^[19]

In late 2013, the U.S. Army began seeking to reintroduce an airdroppable mobile airborne protected firepower platform to provide fire support for air assault forces, a capability that had been absent since the retirement of the M551 Sheridan in 1997. General Dynamics initially considered modifying the wheeled Stryker MGS to meet the requirement,^[12][20] but the company instead developed the tracked Griffin light tank technology demonstrator as its offering for the Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) platform, which was unveiled in October 2016.^[21]

Retirement[]

On 12 May 2021, the Army announced they would divest all Stryker Mobile Gun Systems by the end of 2022. The decision was made following an analysis that found its autoloader had become expensive to maintain and that the M1128 hadn't been upgraded with a Double V-Hull, and that it was more efficient to eliminate the platform and focus on firepower improvements such as equipping Strykers with 30 mm cannons and CROWS-J mounts, providing better distributed lethality capabilities that won't be lost from removing the MGS.^[6][22]

See also[]

• AMX-10 RC
• AMOS
• B1 Centauro
• LAV-600
• Rooikat
• ZTL-11
• Type 16 maneuver combat vehicle
• M1134 Anti-Tank Guided Missile Vehicle
• List of U.S. military vehicles by model number

References[]

External links[]

Media related to Stryker Mobile Gun System at Wikimedia Commons