Academy 1346 York Anti-Air Tank

The M247 Sergeant York was an American self-propelled anti-aircraft gun from the Cold War period. The first prototypes of the vehicle were created in the early 1970s, and serial production continued in the years 1977-1985, ending with the production of only 50 examples of this vehicle. The car was powered by an engine diesel engine Continental AVDS-1790-2D power of 750 hp. It was armed with two 40mm Bofors L / 70 autocannons.

Vehicle The M247 Sergeant York was created in response to the US Army's need for a completely new mobile artillery anti-aircraft defense system, which was to be created under the DIVAD (Division Air Defense) program. The new vehicle was to replace the M163 Vulcan and M48 Chapparal vehicles. The company Ford Aerospace was responsible for the development of the M247, which used the chassis of the M48 Patton tank to shorten the implementation and analysis work. However, despite many attempts and introducing design improvements, the M247 turned out to be a completely unsuccessful vehicle. First of all, the new fire control system clearly failed, the vehicle exhibited far too low top speed to keep up with the pace of the new (in the 1980s) M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley vehicles, as well as its main armament began to fall short of the battlefield standards. Moreover, despite the unsatisfactory results, the costs of the program far exceeded the planned budget and continued to rise in the mid-1980s! All of this led to the program being canceled and the M247 swiftly placed in reserve. Its only user was some US Army units.