The General Dynamics Griffin is a series of

armored fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured cars, ...

s under development by

General Dynamics Land Systems General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) is a manufacturer of military vehicles such as tanks and lighter armored fighting vehicles. History In February 1982 Chrysler announced the sale of Chrysler Defense, its profitable defense subsidiary, to Gen ...

(GDLS) for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. The Griffin is a derivative of ASCOD family of AFVs, which was also designed by GDLS.

Platform

Griffin - Technology Demonstrator (TD)

At AUSA 2016 annual meeting, General Dynamics unveiled 120mm Griffin Technology Demonstrator (TD) as a "conversation starter" for the US Army

Mobile Protected Firepower The Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) system is a U.S. Army program to procure a light tank that is capable of providing mobile protected direct offensive fire capability. The program is part of the Next Generation Combat Vehicle program. A previo ...

(MPF) program. MPF is a light tracked vehicle intended to provide support of large caliber direct fire for Infantry Brigade Combat Team. The chassis of Griffin I shown at AUSA is from British Scout SV program (now called Ajax), but it only has six road wheels. The welded aluminum turret is armed with 120mm XM360 lightweight gun which was developed by the Army Research, Development and Engineering Center. The XM360 gun was developed as part of the canceled Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.

Griffin II

Griffin II is offered under Army's

(MPF). In accordance with the program's caliber requirements, it incorporated a 105mm caliber M35 gun and a redesigned chassis. The M35 was originally designed and developed by

Benét Laboratories Benét Laboratories, part of the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center, is the US Army's primary design, development, engineering and production and field support facility for large caliber armament systems, including can ...

, Watervliet Arsenal in 1983 for the Marine Corps' Mobile Protected Gun Program. It was later incorporated in the Army's M8 Armored Gun System light tank, which was canceled in 1996. The M35 is about lighter than the M68 used on the M60 tank. In December 2018, GDLS was downselected, along with

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

, to develop prototypes. GDLS presented its first prototype in April 2020. BAE's M8 AGS proposal was disqualified in March 2022. In June 2022, GDLS won Mobile Protected Firepower program competition and was awarded a contract worth up to $1.14 billion.

Griffin III

Griffin III was first unveiled at the Association of the United States Army's 2018 Exposition in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...

. It was being offered under Army's

Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle The Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) is a U.S. Army program to replace the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. OMFV is one part of the Next Generation Combat Vehicle portfolio of programs. After the cancelation of the Ground Combat Veh ...

(OMFV) program with six fully equipped infantry carrying option in the back. This version, while similar in weight to Griffin II, scaled down the main gun from 105mm caliber to the 50 mm XM913 gun system. It is equipped with the IMI Systems’ Iron Fist

Active Protection System An active protection system is a system designed to actively prevent certain anti-tank weapons from destroying a vehicle. Countermeasures that either conceal the vehicle from, or disrupt the guidance of an incoming guided missile threat are design ...

(APS) and AeroVironment’s Switchblade loitering munition system.

References

{{Authority control Experimental military vehicles General Dynamics land vehicles Tracked armoured fighting vehicles Tracked infantry fighting vehicles Light tanks of the United States

Platform

Griffin - Technology Demonstrator (TD)

Griffin II

Griffin III

See also

References