Bill

To continue the armament thought - why try to put a 120mm on the M-8?  Surely the 105mm is adequate for the sort of things you would use a LAFV for.  This thing is never going to go toe to toe with an MBT - not for very long, anyhow. 
 
Perhaps the biggest problem with light AFV is that nobody really gets down to working out what they are for.  Tanks are easy - close with and destroy the enemy etc.  Light AFV get reconnaissance and security roles - which bring in a lot of ifs, buts and maybes.  No wheels vs tracks arguments for tanks - but light AFV, it goes on forever.  For tanks, the only serious limit on the size of the gun is how many main armament rounds you want to be able to stow (I know it is not quite that simple, but the pressure is on to match or exceed the gun power of the potential enemy).  For Light AFV there are all sorts of arguments - see the Scorpion and Scimitar gun-cannon competition, not to mention guns or missiles (an argument complicated by smart bastards who can get a shell and a 100mm missile out of a gun on a BMP-3).
 
Umm - am I getting too philosophical?
 
B

To continue the armament thought - why try to put a 120mm on the M-8?  Surely the 105mm is adequate for the sort of things you would use a LAFV for.  This thing is never going to go toe to toe with an MBT - not for very long, anyhow. 
 
Perhaps the biggest problem with light AFV is that nobody really gets down to working out what they are for.  Tanks are easy - close with and destroy the enemy etc.  Light AFV get reconnaissance and security roles - which bring in a lot of ifs, buts and maybes.  No wheels vs tracks arguments for tanks - but light AFV, it goes on forever.  For tanks, the only serious limit on the size of the gun is how many main armament rounds you want to be able to stow (I know it is not quite that simple, but the pressure is on to match or exceed the gun power of the potential enemy).  For Light AFV there are all sorts of arguments - see the Scorpion and Scimitar gun-cannon competition, not to mention guns or missiles (an argument complicated by smart bastards who can get a shell and a 100mm missile out of a gun on a BMP-3).
 
Umm - am I getting too philosophical?
 
B

I paid full price, but I do not begrudge Dick his royalties.  His Design and Development was about the only unclassified thing around, that made any sense, when I was a pup - admittedly a long time ago.

Canadian Operation experience in Afghanistan, (Not exactly tank friendly terrain) shows that some times, you just need a fucking tank because that's what works. Sometimes you need to get in your face with a big goddamned gun, heavy armor,  and nice thermal sights and fuck all the ATGM teams at 3 km with 120mm. It works.
Our army staff was arguing  hard for the Stryker MGS as a tank replacement for the Leo 1.   Then oops, we hit some real combat and then all of a sudden some used Leo2s became our General's best friend.

Thanks for the videos, Sturgeon.  The Centurion one really took me back.  Australia kept the 20pr, but added the ranging gun, to give the 5/1 (Aust).  And may I suggest that the fume extractor was one of the truly great innovations from the point of view of the turret crew.  We still had a few Type A barrels in service, as in the video, and "you can really tell the difference".
 
B

Thanks for the videos, Sturgeon.  The Centurion one really took me back.  Australia kept the 20pr, but added the ranging gun, to give the 5/1 (Aust).  And may I suggest that the fume extractor was one of the truly great innovations from the point of view of the turret crew.  We still had a few Type A barrels in service, as in the video, and "you can really tell the difference".
 
B

Thanks for the videos, Sturgeon.  The Centurion one really took me back.  Australia kept the 20pr, but added the ranging gun, to give the 5/1 (Aust).  And may I suggest that the fume extractor was one of the truly great innovations from the point of view of the turret crew.  We still had a few Type A barrels in service, as in the video, and "you can really tell the difference".
 
B