Some more "Never Beens" for the USA

MarkSheppard · #1 August 27th, 2007, 10:38 PM

Sperry's Proposal for the DIVAD system:

Was based off their earlier T37 VIGILANTE AA Gun, but rechambered in 35mm NATO instead of 37mm.

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General Electric's Proposal for the DIVAD system:

Utilizing their GAU-8A AVENGER cannon system.

RecruitMonty · #2 August 28th, 2007, 02:34 PM

The bottom one looks good. What Chasis is that?

PlasmaKrab · #3 August 28th, 2007, 03:48 PM

These are some kind of Patton chassis, right?
Don't tell me all of the DIVAD contenders used the old M-48 drivetrain that far in time? How on earth were they supposed to keep pace with the new-generation vehicles?
I mean, that was supposedly one of the reasons the Sargent York was never produced. Was it a design requirement to start with?

Both mighty Gatling concepts sound fun though!

Marek_Tucan · #4 August 28th, 2007, 04:14 PM

Just a side thought, whay wasn't the development based on Bradley or M113 (or one of its knockoffs)? After all the turrets were for sure less armored than Patton so the "heavy" chassis armor wasn't the requirement, was it?
Or, wanting to have it on tank chassis, why wasn't the development kept in Abrams family? I mean M1 chassis without composite armour and most likely shortened (smaller turret) might be "relatively" cheap as well, no?

Other than that, the GAU-8/A design looks cute

baggypants · #5 August 28th, 2007, 05:43 PM

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Suhiir · #6 August 28th, 2007, 10:45 PM

From what I recall the biggest problem was they got "creative" with the electronics and software (such as it was in those days) and they could never get the system to perform all the tricks they wanted it to.

baggypants · #7 August 29th, 2007, 01:02 AM

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PlasmaKrab · #8 August 29th, 2007, 02:42 AM

What I gathered from available sources is that the F-16-based radar was just behaving too dumb for AAD missions, e.g. not being able to pick out aircrafts and helos against ground clutter, mistaking the raised gunbarrels for trees or targets, in general not being able to track a crop duster along a field...
By the way, are more details available about the radar/FCS suites of the other contenders depicted above? I guess they didn't make it past the selection for cost issues, so maybe they had some interesting solutions? The Sperry radar suite looks a strong bit like that of the Sergent York's.

Still thinking aloud, how come nothing viable could be produced in all that mess? In the late 70s-early 80s, there were already a number of decent SPAAGs with radar FC available. Weren't some Gepards purchased and "evaluated"? Some captured ZSU-23s shadily imported from Israel? Even some other European systems like the Marksman considered for procurement or adaptation?

MarkSheppard · #9 August 29th, 2007, 05:18 AM

Weren't some Gepards purchased and "evaluated"?

One of the proposals -- I think it was Raytheon's -- was basically to take the Gepard turret and put it onto the M48 chassis -- it would have had about 94% commonality with the European version.

baggypants · #10 August 29th, 2007, 05:07 PM

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