XBradTC

So, Oshkosh in coordination with the Army is planning on mounting an M230LF 30mm autocannon on at least some portion of the future fleet of Joint Tactical Light Vehicles (JLTV). The JLTV is the replacement for the Humvee, at least in some missions, such as for light mounted Scout Platoons.

Oshkosh Corp. will feature its Joint Light Tactical Vehicle outfitted with an Orbital ATK’s M230 LF 30 mm lightweight automatic chain gun at the National Guard Association of the United States Conference Sept. 10-12 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Maryland.

JLTV is the next generation light tactical vehicle that was selected by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps to replace a portion of the outdated, armored Humvee fleet.

Army maneuver leaders, such as Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, have been campaigning for the service to adopt a 30mm cannon for the JLTV to give units such as scout platoons a more potent weapon than the .50 caliber machine gun.

Oshkosh officials said the JLTV at the NGUAS conference will feature the 30mm cannon teamed up with an EOS R-400S-MK2 remote weapon system to demonstrate the vehicle’s ability to support increased lethality including a medium caliber weapon system.

The M230LF is a slightly modified version of the 30mm chain gun used on the AH-64 Apache. As you’ve probably seen on YouTube, the 30mm is a very handy little weapon. It should be noted that the M230 is a relatively low velocity gun. That keeps recoil down to a level where a light truck like the JLTV can gainfully employ it.

The current fleet of Humvees typically uses a mix of M2 .50 caliber machine guns and Mk19 40mm grenade launchers to provide them with firepower.

There’s always a tension between the light and heavy sides of the Army. Back in the early 1980s, while Reagan was able to get the size of the Army expanded somewhat, there were still manpower limits in place. But the Army figured it still needed more divisions, and divisions that could be moved very quickly. The answer was the Light Infantry Division. By stripping the 9 rifle battalions down to the bone, and having very little organic firepower beyond small arms, and virtually no vehicles, the Army was able to create a couple new divisions.  And an entire division could be deployed on 500 C-141 sorties.

The problem was, once it reached  a theater, any force beyond a simple insurgency would have the firepower to blow light infantry units off the map. The Light Infantry divisions might avoid that by not being sent into high intensity combat. But the “other” light units, the Airborne and Air Assault divisions didn’t have the luxury of not being instantly deployable. And so where a light infantry battalion had three rifle companies and an headquarters, the ABN and AASLT battalions had three rifle companies, and a weapons company. The weapons company was mounted on Humvees, again, with .50cal, Mk19, and with the TOW missile system, typically a platoon of each system.

Right now, the firepower school of thought is leading in the Army.  Firepower comes with its own downsides (higher costs, higher maintenance costs, greater transportation costs, larger signature on the battlefield, greater likelihood of killing innocent bystanders, etc.) but traditionally, the Army swings back and forth over the course of a generation. Having said that,  I have often wondered why the Army didn’t mount more autocannons before.