Reading about the M-113 is a bit nostalgic. Up here in Norway we used them in all possible configurations - ambulances, TOW carries,Mortar wagons, plain old configuration, command vehicles, ammo carrier and more - but also ..tadaddaaaa!
THE NM-135
enclosed link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NM135
http://stormesk3.com/index.php?page=setermoen
I served 2 years riding one of these babies. Admittedly it had a few drawbacks. The sights were from the 1960s..no stabilization..mediocre performance in snowy terrain..armour could be penetrated by small arms fire.. but it did get us about, it seldom broke down ( relatively speaking), it packed a punch if you could bring the tube to bear and of course it was filled to the brim with MG-3 machineguntoting, 84 MM Carl Gustav wieldingstormtroopers...
Luckily the operational use was limited. But still - it was mech infantry with an IFV - on a budget.. Now we have the Cv90-30. It is solid and bad ass.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raellus
I don't know about other countries, Antti, but I think the U.S. would have been working on adding extra stand-off armor, much like the Israeli "Toga" steel mesh perforated screens or even lighweight reactive armor packages like those fitted to the Israeli "Classical" variant of the M113, instead of adding turrets and heavier armaments. This would have upped the M113's battlefield survivability, allowing it to survive hits from up to 14.5mm AP rounds and possibly RPGs. Aside from its crap armor, the M113 is a relatively reliable, innexpensive, and easy to operate APC and the U.S. had thousands of them in stock in the late '80s and early '90s. No sense in letting them all sit when there's a world war on.
I think that turrets fitting autocannon would have been added after the war started and the U.S. found that it couldn't produce enough M2s to meet the demands. This is the justification given in the U.S. Army Vehicle Guide for the [IRL hypothetical] M115A1 (see Jame's Langham's thread on that particular variant). Of course, IIRC, the Dutch and possibly the Belgians operated modified M113s fitted with light turrets and 20mm guns. So, it certainly can be done.
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