1× .50 cal (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gun with 1,000 rounds 1× .30 cal (7.62 mm) M73/M219 co-axial machine gun (later replaced by the M240C) with 3,000 rounds
Engine
Detroit Diesel (General Motors) 6V53T, 6 cylinder, turbocharged diesel[3] 300 hp (220 kW) at 2800 rpm[3]
Power/weight
17.9 hp/ST (14.7 kW/t)[3]
Transmission
XTG-250-1A
Suspension
flat track, Torsion bar suspension
Ground clearance
19 in (48.3 cm)[3]
Operational range
350 mi (560 km)
Maximum speed
Road: 43 mph (69 km/h) Swimming: 5.8 km/h (3.6 mph)
The M551 "Sheridan" AR/AAV (Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle) was a light tank developed by the United States and named after General Philip Sheridan, of American Civil War fame. It was designed to be landed by parachute and to swim across rivers. It was armed with the technically advanced but troublesome M81/M81 Modified/M81E1 152 mm gun/launcher, which fired both conventional ammunition and the MGM-51 Shillelagh guided anti-tank missile.
The M551 Sheridan entered service with the United States Army in 1967. At the urging of General Creighton Abrams, the U.S. Commander, Military Assistance Command Vietnam, at the time, the M551 was rushed into combat service to South Vietnam in January 1969. Later that year, M551s were deployed to units in Europe and South Korea.[4] The Sheridan saw extensive combat in the Vietnam War, where problems with the platform became evident, particularly its poor survivability and reliability.
Based on its experiences in Vietnam, the Army realized the shortcomings of the Sheridan, and after the war in 1975 began to eliminate the vehicle from its units in 1979. A modest fleet of vehicles remained in the 82nd Airborne Division and the National Guard. Various improvement programs were successfully undertaken to improve the Sheridan's reliability. Problems persisted with the 152 mm gun/launcher, and various efforts explored to replace it with a more conventional model. The Sheridan went on to serve in the invasion of Panama and the Gulf War. The Army sought to replace the Sheridan with the M8 Armored Gun System, but this was canceled in 1996, late in its development. The Sheridan was retired without a designated replacement in 1996. The Army acquired the M1128 Mobile Gun System to fulfill a similar requirement, but this is being retired in 2022.[needs update] The Army's current light tank acquisition program is Mobile Protected Firepower.
A large number of Sheridans were retained in service at the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California and as Armor Officer Basic training at Armor Training Center, then located at Fort Knox, Kentucky. They worked as simulated Soviet armored opposition force (OPFOR) to train U.S. military units on simulated tank on tank armored combat to test on combat effectiveness in a desert environment. They were retired from the NTC in 2003.[5]
^Tom Clancy (1994). Armored Cav: A Guided Tour of an Armored Cavalry Regiment. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-00226-1. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
^Defense Industry Bulletin (May 1965), p. 25
^ abcdefghijkHunnicutt 1995, p. 309.
^Hunnicutt 1995.
^Byron Hartshorn. "The Strange Second Life of the M551 Sheridan Light Tank". Retrieved 16 February 2015.
The M551 "Sheridan" AR/AAV (Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle) was a light tank developed by the United States and named after General Philip...
Army competition in the 1990s to design a light tank to replace the M551Sheridan and TOW-equipped HMMWVs. It was the ultimate incarnation of several...
Army's M8 Armored Gun System, the service's planned replacement for the M551Sheridan light tank. The MGS was procured in limited numbers. It has been retired...
intervention forces which were not expected to face enemy tanks. The US M551Sheridan had similar strengths and weaknesses, but could also be airdropped,...
Mobile Gun System – US Army's previous assault gun based on Stryker M551Sheridan - US Army's last light tank. Retired in 1997 M41 Walker Bulldog - Light...
commander and gunner. The Sheridan's only air drop in combat occurred during Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989, when 14 M551's were deployed; four were...
23. Zaloga, M551Sheridan, p. 5. Fletcher, p. 72 Flint, pp. 24–25. Flint, p. 26. Zaloga, M551Sheridan, pp. 7–8. Zaloga, M551Sheridan, pp. 8–10. Flint...
residential community. The M551Sheridan tank is named after Sheridan. Mount Sheridan in Yellowstone National Park was named for Sheridan by Captain John W. Barlow...
ceased production of the M41A1 in late 1954. It was replaced by the M551Sheridan during the 1960s. Beginning in 1946, the United States Army commissioned...
S. M551Sheridan, an American light tank USS Sheridan, a U.S. Navy ship Sheridan, the name of USS Stettin after she was decommissioned Sheridan's, an...
Engineer Vehicle), as well as the MBT-70 prototype vehicles, and on the M551Sheridan Armored Reconnaissance / Airborne Assault Vehicle (AR/AAV). They were...
T110 M47 Patton M48 Patton T95 medium tank M60 tank T92 Light Tank M551Sheridan MBT-70 XM803 Expeditionary tank M1 Abrams M8 Armored Gun System Block...
T110 M47 Patton M48 Patton T95 medium tank M60 tank T92 Light Tank M551Sheridan MBT-70 XM803 Expeditionary tank M1 Abrams M8 Armored Gun System Block...
also used by Armored Cavalry Squadrons in Vietnam until replaced by M551Sheridan Armored Reconnaissance Airborne Assault Vehicles (ARAAV) in the Divisional...
the Vietnam War, and was replaced in the reconnaissance role by the M551Sheridan light tank. By 1979, it had been branded a failure and retired from...
as the Type B standard. The Type C turret was essentially a larger M551Sheridan-style turret. A mock-up of this turret was built, but the design was...
vehicle was eventually replaced in Vietnam by the troubled but effective M551Sheridan which had a fully armored turret. The USMC used the Ontos, which had...
Israeli Merkava and Swedish S-tank in protection, while for decades the US's M551 remained the only light tank deployable by parachute. Commanding and coordinating...
development and photos as predecessor to Sheridan Article about the T92 light tank Hunnicutt, R P (September 15, 2015). Sheridan: A History of the American Light...
the army's new aluminum tanks (Sheridans) for combat testing. General Abrams concurred, and in January 1969, M551Sheridans were issued to the 3rd Squadron...
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