sferrin said:
TomS said:
Like I said, a massive redesign. Everything else you talked about could be done within the existing "outer mold line" of the M-1 family. Going to 130mm means a whole new turret, at minimum.
True. Just pointing out they'd done something similar in the past (with an autoloader even) so it wouldn't be entirely new territory. Of course then there's round count; how many 130mm vs 120mm. At the least though, an L55 with the latest US DU round would be an improvement to buy time while they hunt for Leprechaun's gold.
That's certainly true. It could be done, though I suspect it would make sense to go back to a clean sheet to take advantage of newer technology.
Sticking with the M-1 chassis, you'd lose the 6 rounds in the hull and have to do with a longer bustle and autoloader. Fortunately, the 130m round is the same diameter as the 120mm, just 30% longer.
Once upon a time, Meggit designed an autoloader that fits the current bustle and still holds 34 rounds, so you could probably fit about the same number of 130mm rounds in a new turret. The claim it won't even cost you a crew station, which would be interesting --
four-person crew with autoloader might free up the "loader" to run a remote weapon station or some such.
The compact autoloader is an all-electric, fully automatic ammunition handling system designed for easy integration into the M1 weapon station. The magazine subsystem stores 34 ready rounds of 120mm ammunition in the envelope of the M1 bustle. The transfer unit resides completely behind the...
www.meggittdefense.com