Army Mobile Antitank Weapons • • •

M OBILITY has been a prime consideration in the development of our ground force weapons. Ever since the introduction of the internal combustion engine we have experimented with the vehicular mounting of weapons ranging from the machine gun to the atomic artillery piece. Recoilless weapons have been no exception. There has been much speculation in the postwar period concerning their use. In the attempt to make them mobile we have seen them mounted on jeeps, tank re-

G.

Armor, served with the 756th ond 191st Tank Battalions in North Africa ond Italy during World War II, ond commanded the 89th Tank Battalion in the early months of bitter fighting in Korea. He is now assigned to the Combat Arms Section of Research and Development Division, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G4. trievers, weasels and Bren gun carriers. Several years ago an article in another service journal applied them to alight tracked armored infantry carrier labelled the JARP. By virtue of its size and weight the recoilless riSe is readily adaptable to mounting on a lightly armored highly mobile tracked vehicle such as the Bren gun carrier. Such vehicles could be produced relatively cheaply. Recoilless projectiles are effective against enemy armor. Would a vehicle of this type be the answer to the masses of tanks available to our potential enemies? Are we coming around to a tank destroyer complex once again? Proponents of this type of vehicle have made certain claims based upon theoretical performance. Assuming that a practical light armored vehicle mounting a recoilless riSe could be produced, what would be its employment? How would it fit into our present tactical concepts? There are those who believe that this kind of vehicle is not only the answer to antitank defense, but also that it could perform the missions presently assigned to tanks. They ask what a tank could do that such a vehicle as this could not do. This group visualizes masses of these vehicles being employed on the offense as well as the defense, using hit-and-run tactics. There are others who see them plugging a gap in our present antitank defenses. They feel that these weapons could provide valuable protection for front-line elements in defensive situations. In other words, they would take over one of the missions currently per-The tremendous effectiveness of tanks has produced a great amount of study on the subject of how best to combat them. Their tremendous cost has inspired an 6 ARMOR-November-December, 1952