Thanks Hesham. I suspect that you're right ... especially if
Aero Files was correct about that "180hp Hisso". The power output suggests a Wright-Hisso E-3 (or French-built Hispano-Suiza 8Ab/HS-34) ... an upright V-8 engine.
Going by the sideview drawing, the Lawson
Armored Battler was powered by a V-12 (presumably a Liberty). This aircraft was to be a 2-seat fighter armed with six machine guns. Lawson
Armored Battler sideview:
http://images.wisconsinhistory.org/700003070013/0307000226-l.jpg
According to
The Airliner and Its Inventor, Lawson conceived of two trench fighters of differing concepts in 1917. The first was nick-named the "
Ground Hog". I can find no details for that machine but, indulging in wild speculation, it's just possible that this "
Ground Hog" was Lawson's Hisso-powered pursuit.
Both concepts were rejected by the War Department based upon their belief no "steel armored plane could be built that could rise from the ground." In 1918, after the Sopwith T.F.1 had been flown, the War Department asked for more details on Lawson's second concept - the
Armored Battler. Armour was to protect "the Pilot's or Gunner's Stations, engine beds, gas or water tanks, radiators, control centers, etc."
____________________
The Airliner and Its Inventor: Alfred W. Lawson, Cy Q. Faunce, Rockcastel Publishing Co., Columbus, Ohio, 1921, pp.33-34.