Tracked Armor in the US- Semi OT

[Rockwolf66]

Well I have a question that while the reason I am asking it is Off Topic the information is highly applicable to a TW2K game. I write fiction for fun and hopefully someday profit. I have just gotten a request for a story about a character who is a Merc with some armored training. Basically the character has done a big job for someone in the US government and in lieu of payment they get tracked armor. Now the Question is:

What tracked armor is available in the US?

While I am sure the US can get it's hands on and Import quite a bit. the armor in question is something that was just rusting away at the back of a depot. it could be US armor or it could have been something acquired for testing.

Basically I am asking for research help that is applicable to a TW2K game.

[Badbru]

It would help if you were a little more specific. "Armour" covers everything that is not soft skinned vehicles. As such it covers everything from the humble M113 Battle Taxi APC through to more modern Infantry Fighting Vehicles like the Bradley and ofcourse also includes Tanks.

So which is it APCs, IFVs, or Tanks?

As to what's available again, are you asking civilian market or military/government?

Is the recipient getting and end user agreement?

P.S. Prior to the adoption of the LAV25 + Striker vehicles ALL US armour was Tracked as it was their preferred policy, once they started getting involved in alot of peacekeeping and/or COIN type actions, being restricted to tracked vehicles, which tear up bitumen/ashphalt roads was deemed inadvisable. Nowdays the US military has alot more wheeled armour aswell as tracked.

[Rockwolf66]

It would be either an IFV or an actual Tank.

the provider is the US government but it is in a situation where non-standard armored systems have been taken out of "military research" or acquired from private hands.

The New owner is getting official paperwork saying that they were granted ownership via a very high part of the chain of command.

[Raellus]

It depends on whether this armor (Badbru's question still applies) is from a government source or a private one.

In the case of the former, the amor is likely to be something that was, at one time, part of the U.S. military's operational inventory. It could also be an AFV captured for evaluation purposes (quite a bit of Soviet armor was captured in Kuwait/Iraq, gifted or purchased from former Warsaw Pact nations, or given to the U.S. by Israel). That's a wide range of options right there.

If it's from a private collection, it could be almost anything from anywhere.

If you can narrow down the requirements a little bit more, I can give you some specific makes and models to consider.

[Olefin]

keep in mind just how much tracked armor there is in the US in private hands - you could be talking about anything from a Stuart tank to an M60 that are private owned, even some early M1's - let alone old M88 tank retrievers, WWII half tracks, German Hetzers, old British tanks you name it

this is one country where you have an awful lot of choice when it comes to possible tracked armor - and if you include foreign evaluation vehicles at US govt facilities it could be literally any tank in world inventories that the US or its allies could have ever fought against

[Rockwolf66]

The basic requirements are a US Government sourced vehicle with a crew of an average height of six feet tall.

In the story I am writing they are re-taking Sacramento from the Zombie Apocalypse. In the case of my story the ZA was caused by a dark god and his cultists. This means that there are evil humans controlling the zombies and those cultists have overrun Military bases and have trained mercs under their employ. So there will be some tank on tank action.

[Badbru]

Originally Posted by Rockwolf66

It would be either an IFV or an actual Tank.

the provider is the US government but it is in a situation where non-standard armored systems have been taken out of "military research" or acquired from private hands.

The New owner is getting official paperwork saying that they were granted ownership via a very high part of the chain of command.

Given this reply I'd be thinking one of the potential replacements for the LAV75/ MAGS might be a good idea. There was a thread about these upgunned to 90mm and 105mm light gun platforms a few months back.
Raellus actually did a detailed write up of one of them which I thought was excellent. None to my knowledge have actually been adopted but there were quite a few evaluation vehicles.

[schnickelfritz]

The most likely candidates probably would be:
M48A3
M48A5
M60A1
M60A3

-Something experimental (LAV or AGS)

-An Abrams returned for factory rebuild/reconstruction

-Dave

[Raellus]

Thanks for the shout out, Badbru. I've attached the article on the up-gunned LAV-75 that we designed.