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M113A3
M113 of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War
Specifications
Mass	12.3 metric tons
Length	4.863 m
Width	2.686 m
Height	2.5 m
Crew	2 + 11
Armor	aluminium 12-38 mm
Main armament	M2 Browning machine gun
Secondary armament	varies (see text)
Engine	Detroit Diesel 6V53T, 6-cylinder diesel engine 275 hp (205 kW)
Power/weight	22.36 hp/metric ton
Suspension	torsion bar, 5 road wheels
Operational range	~480 km
Maximum speed	66 km/h

The M113 is an armored personnel carrier family of vehicles in use with the US military and many other nations.

It is a fully tracked vehicle capable of limited amphibious operation in lakes and streams, extended cross-country travel over rough terrain, and high speed operation on improved roads. The M113 family has many variants and modifications that are used in a variety of combat and combat support roles. Approximately 80,000 units of all types have been produced worldwide making it the most widely used armored fighting vehicle of all time. Although not a tank, or even designed as a fighting vehicle, the M113 was the most effective armored vehicle of the Vietnam War, and remains in service and production in the 21st century.

History

Origins

The M113 was first introduced in 1960 and in 1962 was fielded in Vietnam, but without the added ACAV sets, which consisted of gun shields and belly armor. The M-113 was developed from the M59 and M75 Armored Personnel Carrier which were designed by Ford Motor Company and Kaiser Aluminium and Chemical Co. in the late 1950s. The M113 was originally developed and manufactured by FMC of San Jose, California to fulfill the requirement to be an "Airborne Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle Family" (AAM-PVF) of all-purpose, all-terrain armored fighting vehicles as outlined by General James M. Gavin who was the Army's Chief of Research & Development at the time.

Two vehicles were initially considered, the T113 and T117. The T113, effectively the prototype of the M113, was chosen because it was marginally lighter than the T117. This was a product of the T113 being made of aluminum rather than steel. This difference on construction material was the major difference between the two vehicles. The T113 design was improved upon as the T113E1, and adopted by the US Army in 1960 as the M113. A diesel prototype T113E2 was put into production in 1964 as the M113A1. The M113A1 quickly supplanted the gasoline engined M113 in service.

Vietnam

The Vietnam War was the first combat opportunity for "Mechanized" Infantry, a technically new type of infantry with its roots in the Armored Infantry of World War II, now using the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier. In addition, Armored Cavalry Squadrons in Vietnam consisted largely of M113s after replacing the intended M114 in a variety of roles, and Armor battalions contained M113s within their headquarters companies, such as the maintenance section, medical section, vehicle recovery section, mortar section, and the scout (reconnaissance) section.

M113s were instrumental for escorting convoys through contested territory in Vietnam, and are commonly seen in combat photos, sometimes with M48 or M551 tanks for added firepower. Some M113s with improved/modified main gun shields similar to or directly modified from existing ACAV equipment have been deployed to Iraq for similar duties.

Design and Development

The M113 first entered service with the U.S. Army in 1960. It was developed to provide a highly mobile, survivable, and reliable tracked-vehicle platform that is able to keep pace with the current armored vehicles and tanks of the day. It required only two crewmen, a driver and a commander and carry eleven passengers inside the vehicle. Its main armament is a single .50 cal (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gun operated by the commander.

The M113 was designed to transport troops, protected against small arms fire and shell fragments, to the front line where they would disembark. During early engagements in the Vietnam War, when Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) troops were pinned down by fire, they found that they could not simply return fire from within and overwhelm opposing forces. The exposed .50 caliber machinegunner's position made the gunner vulnerable to enemy small arms fire, even if the opposing force lacked the firepower to stop their lightly armored M113s. They soon fitted makeshift shields for the vulnerable machine gun.

The predecessor to the standardized Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle (or ACAV) variant was introduced by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam during the early 1960s. During the M113s initial fielding in Vietnam, in 1962, it was found that the commander and cargo hatch positions were extremely exposed and the vehicles armament was in many ways lacking. The ARVN's had modified the M113's to function as "amphibious light tanks" and not as battle taxis as US designers had intended. Instead of an armored personnel carrier, the ARVN utilized the carried infantry as extra "dismountable soldiers" in an "an over-seized tank crew." These "ACAV" sets were eventually adapted to US Army M113's, with the arrival of the US Army's conventional forces in 1965. The vehicles continued to operate in the roll of a light tank and reconnaissance vehicle, and did not operate as designed in theatre. Still, the M113 could carry 11 infantrymen inside, with two crewmen operating the M113.

The US Army, after berating the Vietnamese for flouting battle doctrine, came out with their own ACAV version. This more or less standardized ACAV kit included shields and a circular turret for the .50 caliber M2 machine gun in the Track Commander (TC) position, and 2 additional M60 machine guns with shields for the left and right rear positions, and "belly armor", which consisted of a sheet of steel, bolted from the front bottom extending 1/2 to 2/3 way towards the bottom rear of the M113. The two rear machine gunners could fire their weapons while standing inside the open cargo hatch, which was rectangular in shape. This transformed the M113 into a fighting vehicle, but the vehicle in such a role still suffered from its lightly armored configuration, having never been designed for such a role. A number of prototypes with factory-installed firing ports on each side of the APC were constructed, and at least one of these XM734 was deployed to Vietnam for testing. Reports from the field were reportedly not enthusiastic.

Modified versions of the Vietnam War ACAV sets have been deployed to Iraq (Formally referred to as Southwest Asia within the US military) for installation on the current M113 series vehicles in use. An improved circular shield turret deployed to Iraq, and such vehicles have been utilized without the 2 rear stations. However, they reportedly are modified with armor to protect the Track Commander (TC) position and are NOT employing the two rear left and right machine gun stations.

The M113 is built of aircraft quality aluminum which gives it some of the same strength as steel at a slightly reduced weight (the vehicle weighs approximately 10.5 tons), as the greater thickness allows structural stiffness. Its weight allows the use of a relatively small engine to power the vehicle, a Detroit 2-stroke six cylinder diesel, as well as allowing the vehicle to carry a large payload cross-country and to be transported by fixed and rotary-wing aircraft. It can also swim without deploying any flotation curtains, powered by tracks, which was of tactical importance in battlefields like Vietnam which required crossing a multitude of terrain features; such as jungles, swamps, muddy dirt roads, forests, and rice fields.

The current M113A3 has a 480 km range and a maximum speed of 64 km/h. The upgraded M113A3 has added spall suppression liners, armored external fuel tanks, a more powerful engine and transmission, and mounting plates for the option of bolt-on titanium, aluminum, ceramic, or high-hardness steel appliqué armor. Band tracks and hybrid-electric drive features can make the M113 stealthy and travel faster than 60 mph on roads while doubling range from 300 to 600 miles on one load of fuel.

Today’s M113 fleet includes a mix of these A2 variants together with other derivatives equipped with the most recent A3 RISE (Reliability Improvements for Selected Equipment) package. The standard RISE package includes an upgraded propulsion system (turbocharged engine and new transmission), greatly improved driver controls (new power breaks and conventional steering controls), external fuel tanks, and 200 AMP alternator with 4 batteries. Additional A3 improvements include incorporation of spall liners and provisions for mounting external armor.

The future M113A3 fleet will include a number of vehicles that will have high speed digital networks and data transfer systems. The M113A3 digitization program includes applying appliqué hardware, software, and installation kits and hosting them in the M113 FOV.

Nicknames

The M113 has never received an official name, but has received a variety of nicknames over the years. The Viet Cong called it the "Green Dragon"; the Swiss referred to it as the "Elefantenrollschuh" or elephants' roller-skate; the Germans called it the "Schweinewürfel" or pig cube. U.S. troops tended to refer to the M113 simply as a "track". Some sources have referred to the M113 as the "Gavin" in an allusion to Gen. Gavin, since U.S. forces have used the name unofficially like some pilots refer to A-10s as "Warthogs". The Israeli official name for the M113 is "Bardelas" (Cheetah) but the troops call it "Zelda". The Australian Army refers to its M113s as "Buckets".

Modifications

The M113 has relatively light armor, but is being augmented with reactive armor, add-on plates, and RPG standoff cages ("slat armor"). Windowed gunshields developed by an armorer in Iraq are reminiscent of ACAV vehicle modifications so effective in Southeast Asia (Vietnam War). Band tracks to replace the high maintenance, (if rubber pads are missing) road-damaging steel tracks are in use by Canadian and the other 30+ nation's forces using M113s. During the Vietnam War, troops wishing to mitigate the effects of remotely-detonated and conventional mines often rode on top rather than inside, and some units fabricated alterations to the controls so the driver was also riding high, and almost outside the vehicle.

Most of the M113s which are still in service have been upgraded. However, they are still lightly protected compared to heavier, less cross-country mobile APCs or IFVs such as the M2 Bradley or IDF Achzarit. Those larger vehicles cannot be transported in a C-130 plane so it may be argued that their capability to be air-deployed and move through closed, vegetated, rocky and urban terrain provides an advantage over more heavily armored vehicles. A fervent pro-M113 community has developed due to the versatility of the platform.

The M113 has also been adopted to replace the aging fleet of visually modified (vismod) M551s being used to simulate Russian-made combat vehicles at the US Army's National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California. These M113s, like the M551s they replace, have also been modified to resemble enemy tanks and APCs, such as the T-80 and BMP-2. One of the advantages of the M113 being used to simulate the latter is that the infantry squad can now ride inside the simulated BMP instead of in a truck accompanying a tank masquerading as one, as was often the case with the M551s.

Weapons

The basic M113 armored personnel carrier can itself be fitted with a number of weapon systems. Most common is a single .50 caliber M2 machine gun or 40mm Mk 19 automatic grenade launcher. A number of anti-tank weapons were also fitted. Armored Cavalry units in Vietnam removed jeep mounted M40 106mm recoilless rifles fitting them to their M113s instead. The US Army also developed a kit that allowed the Dragon anti-tank missile system to be mounted to the existing machine gun mount, without having to remove the machine gun. This allowed the commander to use the weapon, as well as the machine gun.

Basic variants

M113A1

• 1964 diesel replaces gasoline engine

M113A2

• 1979, cooling and suspension improvements

M113A3

• 1987, further improvements for "enhanced (battlefield) survival"

M113 Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle (ACAV)

The "Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle" or "ACAV", was introduced in the Vietnam war after it was found that the commander and cargo hatch positions were extremely exposed and the vehicle's armament was in many ways lacking. Initially field expedient shields and mounts were used, they a kit was produced on Okinawa for the .50 cal. machine gun. Finally, the full ACAV kit, manufactured in the US, was introduced. The kit included shields and circular turret armor for the commander's .50 caliber machine gun and 2 additional M60 machine guns, again with shields, fitted on either side of the rear hatch. This kit could be retrofitted to any M113. ACAV kits were also sometimes fitted to the M106 mortar carrier, but the different rear hatch found on this vehicle required the left M60 machine gun to be fitted to the extreme rear instead of the side. Many kits were added in the field, but at least in the case of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, the vehicles were modified in the US before the unit left Ft. Meade, MD for Vietnam. Additional armor in the form of a mine protective kit under the hull was also frequently fitted.

Other

Custom and specialized versions of the M113 have been developed and used by a number of different nations and firms across the world.

Operators

See also

• FV432 - a contemporary British vehicle
• Pbv 302 - Swedish APC
• Boxer MRAV - Germany's replacement for the M113

References

1. BAE Systems
2. Simon Dunstan, The M113 Series, page 5, Osprey Publishing, London, 1983
3. Tunbridge, 1978. p. 4
4. Zumbro, 1998. p. 470
5. Zumbro, 1998. p. 470
6. ^ "M113 Armored PErsonnel Carrier". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2007-02-26. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
7. "Nicknames of army vehicles in your country". MilitaryPhotos. Retrieved 2007-02-26. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

• Dunstan, Simon. The M113 Series London, UK: Osprey Publishing, 1983. ISBN 0-85045-495-6.
• Nolan, Keith W. Into Laos: Dewey Canyon II/Lam Son 719. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1986. ISBN 0-89141-247-6.
• Tunbridge, Stephen. M113 in Action. Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc, 1978. ISBN 0-89747-050-8.
• Zumbro, Ralph. The Iron Cavalry. 1998, New York, New York, Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-01390-4

External links

• Army Fact File for M113
• United Defence
• FAS.org
• Gary's Combat Vehicle Reference Guide
• NASA Kennedy Space Center site
• Tenix - LAND 106 M113 Upgrade Project
• M113 performance vs. RPG-7
• M113 at Israeli Weapons
• Canadian Forces Official Website
• M113 ACAV Operations with 11th ACR in Vietnam

Template:Link FA

• Tracked vehicles
• Cold War armored personnel carriers
• American armored personnel carriers
• Modern armored fighting vehicles
• Amphibious vehicles
• Military equipment of the Philippines