18 January 2001

In the late 1980s the now United Defense LP developed the Close Combat Vehicle - Light (CCV-L) and the US Army selected a modified version of this to meet its requirement for an Armored Gun System (AGS). A total of six prototypes were built for the US Army under the designation of the XM8 AGS.

This was type classified by the US Army as the M8 AGS in late 1995. In 1996 the US Army cancelled the M8 AGS programme because of budget constraints, despite meeting both time and cost targets.

United Defense LP has continued to offer the M8 AGS on the international market and it has been demonstrated in Turkey. It was also one of the many vehicles tested by the US Army early in 2000 at Fort Knox as part of its Platform Performance Demonstration.

Standard equipment includes a computerised fire-control system, day/night vision equipment, and an NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) protection system. The M8 AGS can be fitted with three different levels of armour protection; the Level III increases its weight to 23,586kg.

Specifications

Crew: 3

Armament: 1x 105mm M35 rifled gun fed by automatic loader (main); 1x 7.62mm machine gun (co-axial); 1x 7.62mm/12.7mm machine gun (air defence)

Combat weight: 16,730kg*

Power-to-weight ratio: 30.5hp/t

Power pack: Detroit Diesel 6V-92TA diesel developing 580hp coupled to General Dynamics Land Systems HMPT-500-3EC automatic transmission

Length: 8.9m

Width: 2.69m

Height: 2.55m

Max speed: 72km/h

Range: 483km

Airportable: C-130 Hercules

Status

Development complete. Ready for production.

Variants

None

Manufacturer

United Defense LP, Ground Systems Division, San José, California, USA

United Defense LP developed the Close Combat Vehicle - Light (CCV-L) and the US Army selected a modified version of this to meet its requirement for an Armored Gun System (AGS) (Source: United Defense)