conversion and maintenance of gun trucks
For home guard and militia units, I believe that the conversion and maintenance of gun trucks, armored and equipped with MGs, grenade launchers, rocket launchers or ATGMs is going to be far more effective than the repair and maintenance of AFVs, particullarly tracked vehicles. It's just easier to maintain wheeled vehicles, and they are FAR more common, and so are their parts.
Yes, select units might be able to repair and maintain and operate an old M-48 tank taken off display at the local VFW.
I think just about any community of any size could convert and maintain far more gun trucks. Selecting a common base vehicle for conversion would make sense and result in lots of parts being availalbe. For example a county public works fleet with a fleet of heavy trucks used for snow plowing/salting..., or a construction companies fleet of dump trucks would be a good place to start if the company has 20 dump trucks, six might be converted with the others being stripped for parts.
Is a M-48 more effective then one (or 10) gun trucks? For what mission? Patrolling the roads, no, the gun truck(s) is better. Supporting an assualt against a fixed enemy position? The M-48 is better. Mobile offensive operations? I think in general several gun trucks would likely be more effective and certainly 'cost effective' then a single tank. Convoy security? Gun trucks are better. A tank undoubtedly has a prescense that a gun truck does not, and may very well be able to deter threats that the gun trucks can not.
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