[Panther Al]

While there was a story in "Armour" about, oh, a decade ago, that talked about this.

The guy that wrote it was pushing for MP5K PDW's. Not a bad idea, but I think he was a little off base. Some very good arguments for a P90, after all, it was designed for armour crews to actually keep them *on* them whilst in the tank, so bailing out would leave them with a pretty decent small arm.

Now, I love the P90 - Had a PS90 for a bit and wish I still had it - and can see a lot of plusses for them. But while its better than a pistol calibre weapon, I think in the end, everyone with a pistol and have stowed outside the armour a dismount kit for the Loaders MG, and a trio of bullpups. Bullpups allow the rifles to have a full length barrel and still be small enough figuring out stowage won't be an issue. I would further recommend - as crazy as this might sound - that the bullpup be the same calibre as the dismount MG: This way you won't have problems with finding plenty of ammo. So, say the tank is mobkilled, or that the crew has to perform dismount ops, you have a pretty decent little fire team that can hold its own under ordinary conditions.