Американский лёгкий танк: история программы AGS

American light tank

In March 1990, Vuono told the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee that the Army was surveying options for acquiring about 70 tanks to replace the Sheridan. The Army formalized the AGS program in April 1990 with the validation of a new ROC. In July 1990, the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) required that the Army procure the AGS off the shelf. In August, SASC directed the Army to halt work on Armored Systems Modernization until it could conduct a competition for an AGS. The AGS program had gained political favor by this point due in part to the back to back successful employment of the Sheridan in two overseas operations. In December 1989, Sheridans of the 3/73 Armor, 82d Airborne Division, were airdropped into Panama as part of Operation Just Cause. This was the first successful employment of light armor in combat. In August 1990, Sheridans were airdropped into Saudi Arabia as the spearhead of the buildup of Operation Desert Shield. In October 1990, HASC deferred the Block III main battle tank and directed the Army to make the AGS its top priority modernization program. After having earlier tried to kill the tank, appropriators grew to appreciate the program's relatively low price tag. The Army believed that replacing the Sheridan with an off the shelf AGS would be less expensive and provide more capabilities than an upgraded Sheridan. It was expected to replace the Sheridan in the 3/73rd Armor and TOW missile armed Humvees in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2nd ACR). In November 1990, Congressional appropriators sought for the Army to utilize the Marine Corps's developmental LAV 105 for the AGS role or "show clear and convincing evidence that the LAV 105 is unable to fulfill the requirement". The Army agreed. In 1991, the Senate and House Armed Services Committees joined in directing the Army to integrate the turret and Watervliet Arsenal EX35 gun of the LAV 105 with an AGS chassis. A joint program was balked at by both services, who believed the two platforms were mismatched. The Army issued a draft request for proposals (RfP) in May 1991. The Army published the RfP in August incorporating changes as a result of feedback from industry and Congress, the latter of which had directed the Army to require the EX35 gun. Army Acquisition Executive Stephen K. Conver became concerned that the AGS program was becoming laden with unnecessary requirements that would increase costs and development time, as well as limit the number of interested contractors. General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) and Teledyne Continental Motors submitted a version of the Teledyne tank included in the AFVTV study. GDLS's design was unconventional with the powerpack mounted in the front, and an externally mounted cannon. The crew was located in the turret basket below the hull line. Cadillac Gage Textron submitted the Commando Stingray with the LAV 105 turret. Three of the vehicles proposed had autoloaders, while Hägglunds did not. Although the Army did not require that proposals be tracked or wheeled, all four proposals were tracked.

FMC began developing the Close Combat Vehicle Light as a private venture in 1983. The vehicle was designed from the outset to meet the Army's as yet unfunded Armored Gun System (AGS) requirement. FMC built two mock ups. The first was a front engine model utilizing a diesel engine. The second was a rear engine model with a diesel engine and featuring more armor. In 1984, FMC validated the feasibility of pairing the 105 mm gun with a light chassis by test firing a 105 mm gun mounted on an M548. The first prototype CCVL was completed in August 1985 and debuted at the meeting of the Association of the United States Army in October. The CCVL was demonstrated at Fort Bragg in 1987. FMC subsequently ended the marketing of the vehicle and disassembled the prototype. The Army required the AGS to be airdroppable from a tactical airlifter. C 130 airdrop was a desired capability, but not a required one. FMC claimed it could achieve C 130 airdroppability and so such a requirement was written into FMC's contract. FMC made several weight saving changes to the design, particularly the pallets, in order to meet the C 130's weight limit. In a December 1993 report, the Defense Department Inspector General (IG) cautioned that the AGS would be too heavy for low velocity airdrop (LVAD). The IG recommended canceling 58 systems meant for the XVIII Airborne Corps if the Army could not demonstrate LVAD from a C 130. The Pentagon concurred that no production could begin until the Army met this requirement. The IG's concerns were put to rest in October 1994, when the service successfully airdropped an AGS from a C 130 at an altitude of 1,300 feet (396 m). Citing cuts in the service's procurement budget, in 1993, the Army reduced its planned AGS order from 300 to 233. By November the Army had successfully overhauled the program. By reclassifying the preproduction prototypes as production models, the Army was able to cut two years off the time until full scale production. The Army had by then settled on an acquisition target of 237 vehicles. Of these, 123 would go to the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, 58 to the 82nd Airborne Division, and 56 to reserves and training bases. The last 169 AGS systems, to be produced from 1998 to 2002, were to be built without the weight saving modifications of those destined for the 82nd, which was the only unit that required an airdroppable AGS system. The AGS's budget was zeroed and the production schedule slipped by one year in Congress's FY1995 budget due to program cost growth. Six prototypes were built under the designation XM8. The first of these was rolled out at the United Defense (created by a merger of FMC and BMY) facility in San Jose, California, in April 1994, and arrived at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in April 1995. The last of these was delivered in May. United Defense provided five XM8 AGS systems to the service's Operational Test Command, which put the vehicle through five months of testing at Fort Pickett, Virginia. Another prototype underwent survivability testing at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

In 1995, the Army explored cutting the 2nd ACR, which would reduce the Army's buy to 80 AGS. These would be destined for the 82nd Airborne. In May 1995, the National Guard expressed interest in procuring the AGS for the 38th Infantry Division, 35th Infantry Division and 34th Infantry Division to help bridge the looming capability gap should the 2nd ACR be eliminated. This proposal was rejected by the service. Army Chief of Staff Gordon R. Sullivan, the AGS's most influential advocate at the Pentagon, retired in June 1995. In October 1995, the Army type classified the XM8 as the M8 Armored Gun System. The AGS was one of several systems that did not fare well in an Army review of anti armor weapons then under development. Responding to budget cuts anticipated in the period FY98–03, in 1996 the Army adopted a new policy: Instead of distributing small cuts throughout many projects, entire programs would be canceled. Army Chief of Staff Dennis Reimer canceled the AGS in January 1996. Many officials felt blindsided by the Army's decision to kill the AGS. The Army's decision to cancel the AGS went without a formal announcement but was soon leaked to the press. This displeased some lawmakers including Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Strom Thurmond, who privately expressed irritation to Defense Secretary William J. Perry about having learned of the cancelation through media reports. However, in February the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) endorsed the Army's decision. The Army considered a variety of plans to "heavy up" the 2nd ACR. The service added heavy armor to the 2nd ACR and requested funding to purchase Apache helicopters. In the 82nd Airborne, the Army also planned to introduce the EFOGM missile and considered more widely fielding the Javelin missile. Funding for EFOGM was deleted in 1998. The Army also considered the MGM 166 LOSAT missile, now mounted on a Humvee rather than the originally planned AGS, as another platform offering similar capabilities for the 82nd Airborne. However, this program was canceled in FY2005. According to Reimer, the lack of a C 130 deliverable tank was made somewhat more acceptable by the introduction of an increasing number of larger C 17's. In place of the Sheridan in the 82nd Airborne, the Army stood up an Immediate Ready Company of Bradley Fighting Vehicles and M1A1 Abrams tanks from the 3rd Infantry Division which were to be attached to the 82nd.

The AGS operational requirements were identified early in the process. In order, they were: deployability, lethality, survivability, and sustainability. The basic hull of the AGS is made of welded 5083 aluminum alloy, with a modular armor system that allows the vehicle to be equipped according to requirements. Subcontractors as of 1996 consisted of Chrysler Corporation (Pentastar), Computing Devices Canada, Detroit Diesel, General Electric Company, General Motors Corporation (Hughes Electronics), Textron Inc.: (Cadillac Gage) and Watervliet Arsenal.

The CCVL hull was all welded aluminum with bolt on steel composite armor. Appliqué armor could also be installed by the user. The Level II armor package consisted of additional plates of titanium, hardened steel and expanded metal. At an all up weight of , Level II armored AGS could still be carried by C 130 but could not be air dropped. NBC protection is provided by filtered air through tubing to M25/M42 masks. The Army omitted a requirement for radiation hardening from the AGS. The CCVL had two 16 barrel Tracor MBA Advanced Smoke Launcher System smoke grenade launchers mounted on either side of the turret. This fired L8 visual or M76 infrared obscurants. The United Defense Mobile Gun System variant included 7.62 mm integral armor protection over most of the vehicle, and 14.5 mm AP protection over the frontal 60 degree arc. BAE equipped the Mobile Protected Firepower variant of the AGS with underbody blast protection from roadside bombs. The MPF variant integrated a BAE's Raven soft kill active protection system. This comprised wide angle view long wave infrared cameras, radar, and a jammer. As of 2019, BAE was working on adding medium wave infrared sensors and a slew to cue system that points the turret in the direction of the incoming missile. The latter would allow the crew to more quickly identify and engage the perpetrators. The M8's tracks are double pin modified T150 with six inches of pitch. The AGS torsion bar suspension is similar to that in the Abrams. this one also developing
Level II and III armor packages can be airdropped separately from the AGS and installed in the field in under three hours. The MPF variant retained airlift capability: one could fit on the C 130 and three on the C 17. In 1994, the Army began seeking an assault bridge for the AGS. The service was seeking 18 medium assault bridge vehicles but hadn't been able to identify either an off the shelf solution or funding to develop one. The M8 can carry approximately up to a squad of nine mounted infantry on top. The MPF variant has a combat weight of was originally designed and developed by Benét Laboratories, Watervliet Arsenal in 1983 for the Marine Corps Mobile Protected Gun Program. The M35 is about lighter than the M68 used on the M60 tank. The AGS has the potential to engage main battle tanks, but these more heavily armored vehicles are less likely to be the AGS's main targets. The planned targets for the AGS ranged from bunkers and other artificial structures to armored personnel carriers and light armored vehicles. On the AGS, a Browning M2 12.7 mm (.50) caliber heavy machine gun is mounted in a fully traversable ring style mount on the commander's hatch. refn|group=nb|name=ninth|Originally a non traversable pintle mount, this was changed to a 360° traversable design in 1992. This necessitated a redesign of the hatch. The MPF variant has four blind spot cameras for situational awareness.

As of 2015, all six XM8s exist in various states of repair. An XM8 used for drop testing is outside the U. S. Army Armor and Cavalry Collection at Fort Moore, Georgia, awaiting restoration as of 2022.

The Close Combat Vehicle Light at the National Museum of Military Vehicles in 2020. BAE XM1302 MPF test vehicle 2 at the U. S. Army Armor and Cavalry Collection.