M247 Sgt York Division Air Defense (DIVAD) System

The M247 Sergeant York DIVAD (Division Air Defence gun) was born of the Army's need for a replacement for the ageing M163 20mm Vulcan A/A gun and M48 Chaparral missile systems. With the Soviet Mi-24 Hind attack helicopter being fitted with the longer range AT-6 SPIRAL Anti-tank missiles and twin barrelled 23mm cannon, and the Mi-28 Havoc nearing deployment, the M163 and M48 systems would be out-classed in a future conflict. In addition, the Soviet's ZSU-23/4 SHILKA Quad 23mm A/A gun combined a radar with a proven gun fitted to an existing chassis resulting in a highly successful and lethal design.

The new self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system was to be based on the M48A5 tank chassis, using as much off-the-shelf equipment as possible. Two designs were submitted, one from General Dynamics using twin 35mm Oerlikon cannon (as with the West German Leopard) and the other from Ford Aerospace and Communications Corporation which utilised twin 40mm L/70 Bofors Guns. In May 1981 the Ford Aerospace entry was selected and designated M247 Sergeant York, featuring the twin 40mm guns mounted in a new box like armoured turret with both tracking and surveillance radar fitted atop, these could be folded down to reduce overall height. The gunner was provided with roof mounted sight incorporating a laser range-finder. the commander having a panoramic roof mounted periscope and fixed periscopes. The radar was a modified version of the Westinghouse APG-66 system used in the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

With the first production vehicles being delivered in late 1983 many problems remained, the most serious being the radar's inability to track low flying targets due to excessive ground clutter. The radar could not distinguish between a hovering helicopter and a clump of trees. And when tracking high flying targets, the radar return from the gun barrel tips confused the fire control system. Turret traverse was also too slow to track a fast crossing target. The ECM (electronic counter-measures) suite could be defeated by only minor jamming. And the use of the 30 year old M48 chassis design meant the vehicle had trouble keeping pace with the newer M1 Abrams and M2/3 Bradley's, the very vehicles it was designed to protect.

These problems proved insurmountable, and in December 1986 after about 50 vehicles had been produced the entire program was terminated.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• M247
• Sgt
• York
• DIVAD
• guns
• air
• defense

[metalrod23]

This is the weapon that confused a fart fan in a portable toilet for a target-and blew the shit out of it .

[Frankfurter99]

The Sgt. York did a fine job of hitting ground targets! Well as long as you could run the target over, the M48 chassis used on the system was great, the turret that Ford Aerospace build on the other hand was very expensive scrap metal. It also made an excellent paper weight at 62 tons. We never had a paper get away with that sucker parked on it! As an additional benefit, they stunk to high heaven as well.

[StiviGun1]

@gajustempus Maybe you're right. However, the Russians built systems that have missiles and guns only as well. The Tor M1, the 9K33 Osa and others. But for a smaller country that can't afford to build large numbers of such systems, I guess it's better to have guns and missiles installed on separate platforms. A Gepard version also equipped with missiles besides its guns, would be cool though.

[gajustempus]

@StiviGun1 there's alot good stuff from russia - I personally LOVE the freight planes - heavy cargo and able to start and land even on sand and soil. Unmatched advantage

The Tunguska looks a bit like our Gepard. A variant is also fitted with a Dual Stinger missile launcher. Yet I think the more you put onto a single mobile platform, the harder the logistics get, the more the enemy destroys and the more can break down...

[StiviGun1]

@gajustempus Yeah, thank for the vid. Very cool :) The Roland seems like a very good system. And unlike the Tunguska, it also has an automatic reloading system. Very cool. However, if you compare it with the Tunguska M, the Tunguska M seems to be better. I never understood how the Russians could build so good weapon systems and at a low cost.

[StiviGun1]

@gajustempus The Tunguska M is a system that uses both guns and missiles in one platform. And it's a very good weapon system.

[gajustempus]

watch?v=5ZdyZPVwvho

here you go :)

[gajustempus]

@StiviGun1 why? That's what we have our Roland for :)

C-RAM is for close-range defense, Roland for middle to wide range.

If you use specialized weapon platforms, you get experts on every level - whilst if you take an "universal" platform, you receive a vehicle like the "Bradley"....not too bad in every role, but also not good at any either :P

[StiviGun1]

@gajustempus Well, it will be a very good short range air-defense system. But it would be even better if they equipped with with missiles as well.

[gajustempus]

@StiviGun1 Current plans are to put the turrent onto either a smaller variant of the Leo2 chassis or the Puma - the last one is more likely from the reports I heard. K.O.-criteria is the ability to airlift via A400M

[StiviGun1]

@gajustempus I did watch the entire movie. The Gepard's turret doesn't rotate faster than the York's. Watch the video I sent you.

Regarding the C-RAM, what land mobile platforms are they putting it on?

[gajustempus]

@StiviGun1 whilst the gun positions APPEAR to be a flaw, they're quite nicely positioned in practical use. Gepard is proven on several battlefields :)

And looks a bit later in the video - the turret is able of doing a 180° in less than two seconds.

However the entire thing is - though modernized and optimized all the time - around 40 years old. That's why the new guns are introduced. And: Whilst these are fixed, there're mobile variants already - like on frigates built today.