Mobile Protected Weapon System (MPWS) / Mobile Protected Gun System (MPGS) Piranha - 75mm XM274 MCAAC on GM Canada Piranha 8x8

Hydroxideblue

Hydroxideblue

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Hey everyone!

I was wondering what sort of information people had on the MPWS/MPGS Piranha. This was an early 1980s submission by General Motors of Canada into the USMC MPWS, and later joint Army-Marine MPGS program. I possess LETE Annual Historical Reports covering its trials at the LETE proving grounds in general, some references via Janes Armour and Artillery, and some of the items that skylancer has posted from Wehrtechnik and IDR. However, I don't know much about what happened to it after 1981 when MPWS and MPG combined to form MPGS. As far as I know, it never received a real gun in its AAI turret, and I lack data on the optics, fire control system, laser rangefinder, etc that it had/would have had.

Would anyone happen to have some decent information on the prototype, or other attempts to mount the 75mm MCAAC onto the LAV?

Thanks,

Hydroxideblue
 
Not sure this is useful but interest in an 8x8 LAV base for the Mobile Protected Weapon System probably sprang from the USMC's borrowing of Canadian Forces AVGPs for a Field Analysis Concept Test held at the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center trials circa 1979.

The 6x6 AVGPs - one Grizzly Infantry Section Carrier and one Cougar tank trainer - "were employed as MPWS surrogates" alongside M113s. At the point of that FACT, the Marines were only just beginning to consider possible LAV candidates, so the 8x8 LAV-25 was then still a few years off.

What became the LAV-AG (Assault Gun) began with an Ares 75mm (and there are photos around of the 8x8 LAV hull fitted with the Ares turret armed with an XM274). Apparently, the hull couldn't handle the recoil force of that hypervelocity gun. Work then shifted on to the LAV-105.
 
Single would seem to better than two but maybe not.
 
Scott Kenny said:
So now fascines are usually bundles of pipes instead of bundles of tree trunks?
Click to expand...

A couple of advantages of using pipes instead of wood:
  1. Durability - Modern fascines are usually made from PVC so they can resist the rigors of being driven over by tracked vehicles and don't have to be concerned with rotting or weakening through environmental conditions while in use or storage.
  2. Weight - They're much lighter for the same given strength as wood fascines and don't get waterlogged.
  3. Ability to Allow Water to Pass Through: In addition to preventing them from being waterlogged, it also allows for water to pass through preventing flooding around the fascine.
1691726069459.jpeg

The British developed PVC fascines along with the Centurion AVRE in the mid 1950s known as "Maxi-pipes".
Comapred to 2.5-3m diameter, 4.9m wide wooden fascines, which weighed 6-8 tons (+1 ton when waterlogged), the PVC fascines only weighed ~2 tons.
1691725881824.jpeg
 
HalfACupOfRice said:
A couple of advantages of using pipes instead of wood:
  1. Durability - Modern fascines are usually made from PVC so they can resist the rigors of being driven over by tracked vehicles and don't have to be concerned with rotting or weakening through environmental conditions while in use or storage.
  2. Weight - They're much lighter for the same given strength as wood fascines and don't get waterlogged.
  3. Ability to Allow Water to Pass Through: In addition to preventing them from being waterlogged, it also allows for water to pass through preventing flooding around the fascine.
Click to expand...
Ah, yes, makes a LOT of sense when you put it that way. (Though I wasn't aware of fascines being a stored item, for whatever reason I thought they were more or less scrounged up as needed.)
 

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