Prototype combat vehicle Griffin II
The first public demonstration of prototypes of tracked combat vehicles with cannon weapons took place in the USA (light tanks), developed under the Mobile Protected Firepower program (MPF). It is reported by the press service of the Pentagon.
23 April 2020 U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy Visits Detroit's General Dynamics Ground System and BAE Systems, where I got acquainted with the prototypes of the presented machines created as part of the Mobile Protected Firepower program (MPF). This program provides for the creation of a tracked combat vehicle weighing no more than 32 tonnes, equipped with cannon weapons caliber 105 or 120 mm and a complex of active protection.
17 December 2018 The United States Ground Forces signed two contracts with BAE Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems. (GDLS) amounting to more 375 million US dollars and 335 million US dollars respectively. As part of the agreement, each company during the subsequent 14 months had to build 12 prototypes for further tests. According to test results by the end 2021 one of the samples will be selected, and 2022 year planned to begin mass production. Total purchase planned 504 serial MPF machines.
A prototype combat vehicle based on the light tank M8
US Department of Defense will choose from two samples: BAE Systems offers a new version of the M8 Armored Gun System, developed by FMC in the late 1980s and 1990s to replace the M551 Sheridan light tank. The M8 tank had a combat mass of 19 to 25 tons, depending on the version of the replaceable protection kit, and was equipped with a 105 mm M35 gun in a remote installation with an automatic loader. Judging by the new prototype of the MPF machine based on the M8, The updated version has enhanced armor reservation and gun installation.
General Dynamics offers the all-new Griffin II light tank. Griffin II is a symbiosis of the modified M1A2SEPv2 Abrams tank turret and ASCOD chassis 2. As a gun, they chose a new 120-mm gun XM360. Griffin II combat weight reaches 38 tonnes.
