Mobile Gun System

Prototype Mobile Gun System firing its autocannon.

Air-dropping a Mobile Gun System from a C-17.

The Mobile Gun System is the name used by the nations that own derivatives of the Mowag Piranha for yet another derivative of that vehicle that would mount a large, high-velocity cannon.

Following the end of the Cold War some theorists believed that the existing suite of US Armoured vehicles, designed largely to fight Soviet tank divisions in Europe, were not well suited to the lower intensity missions US Armed forces would be tasked with.

This wheeled vehicle would mount a cannon like the 105 mm cannon used in the previous generation of NATO tanks, like the Chieftain, M60 Patton, and the Leopard. But, while it would take on some of the roles that have fallen to tanks, it is not a tank replacement. Its armour, for instance, is be designed to defend against the kinetic kill rounds of modern tanks. But, in the kinds of conflicts likely today, it would be uncommon for it to encounter many modern tanks.

The most important derivative of the Piranha is probaby the United States Army's Stryker vehicles. The Stryker is more lightly armed than other derivatives, mounting only a machine gun in a remotely controlled turret. The variants used by the United States Marine Corps, and other nations, like Canada, mount more powerful armament, like the 25 mm Bushmaster autocannon. Those vehicles are too tall to drive on and drive off a C-130 Hercules with their turrets mounted. They can't drive straight off the C-130, right into combat.

Because it used the same chassis as other Piranha derivatives, it would have the same mobility, and could be rescued or salvaged by a Piranha derived recovery vehicle. But without a radical redesign it too would require some re-assembly before it could drive into combat, after being delivered by a C-130.

The turrets proposed for these vehicles have been low profile, remotely controlled, with an autoloader.