Also...
Currently, there would be no interest in a troop carrying version of the AGS in the US Army [my assessment]. The AGS was originally going to be used in two types of units: the Airborne (as a Sheridan replacement) and in a newly designed light cavalry unit with a mix of AGS and M113A3s. The 2nd ACR was going to be that unit and is why all of its heavy armor was stripped away in the 90s.
With the advent of the Stryker the need for an AGS equipped light cavalry regiment is gone. So, that leaves the Airborne. Putting a troop compartment in the back of an AGS is, of course, a mechanized infantry concept and the 82nd does not operate that way. There would not be much call for 54 or so vehicles that could carry four troops each in a unit where thousands are walking. It's the gun they are interested in.
__________________
Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum
|