M1A3?

dunno about the A3, but yeah, longer tube=higher velocity of the round

Oh when will the Germans and French just let bygones be bygones.

APFSDS @ 5000 meters per second ain't fast enough for the Germans? Now reality has to set in. License built M256 cost the Army how much? DU sabot penetrator still defeats most "bad guy" armor. I don't think our defense budget could stand the retrofit. Smoothbore main guns don't thrill me anyway. Let's go back to the rifled 152mm (long version) on the MBT70 with Shillelagh missiles, that'll really tick of those Germans!

Consider using the potential velocity as a tradeoff with a higher mass round....

The velocity will stay the same as the current APFSDS @ 4850 feet per sec but with a much higher kinetic energy delivery.

Sausage out the other side anyone?

The US Army has at least two 55caliber M256 gun tubes and they are mounted on M1A2 SEPs. Last I heard they were at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in MD undergoing tests but that was a year or two ago. The Germans are planning to field a new APFSDS round that can take advantage of the longer tube to produce higher pressure, thus higher velocity. The US is funding the M829A3 APFSDS-T for the next generation of the SABOT round but I don't think it will need a longer gun tube so I don't think we will be getting the L55 any time soon, but you never know.

Later...
Brian

P.S. One cool thing to look out for soon will be the 120mm XM1028 Canister round for the M256, 1400 tungsten balls of hate. Expected fielding is late '04 early '05.

Cannister rounds for the M1??? I LIKE IT! I mean, a Sabot round means not having to say you're sorry, but cannister will make life rough for troops in the open. Now, if they can come up with a "little brother" version for my M203...

"Gunner, Beehive, Gomer, Direct Front!"

Identified! On the Way! !

Here is a photo,



No fuze like the 105mm Beehive but still damn cool.

QUOTE: Originally posted by swerdna Here is a photo, No fuze like the 105mm Beehive but still damn cool.

I'm surprised we don't have them already. I read through some defense department budget stuff yesterday, and they were supposed to be going to the troops in FY2002.

Apparently they will have a lower charge propelling them so that they can be fired in closer proximity to friendly infantry. The blast from a sabot round must be terrific. I remember reading how screwed up German infantry could get if they were too close to the muzzle of a Tiger or Panther when it fired. The 88mm round was said to have kicked up a dust trail as it hurtled forward on its appointment with the enemy tank. And let's admit it, that's a pop gun compared to the M256.

Thanks also for the feedback on the two M1's with L55 guns. That same report said that money had been spent on studying putting the longer barrel of the new German gun on the American tank as well. The study was supposed to start up in FY2001. The longer gun barrel is the same one as on the Leopard 2A6, and the US gun with the longer barrel will be designated M256E1. Crockett, the report says that the superior penetration capabilities of the longer barrel may be needed for threat tank developments in the pipe now. Hey, what do I know? It's for greater minds than mine.