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The T249 Vigilante was a prototype 37 mm self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) designed as a replacement for the Bofors 40 mm gun in both towed and self-propelled (
Springfield Armory Museum Collection Record for T250T249 Vigilante – The Biggest Gatling Gun Ever Built
{{Modern Gatling Guns Anti-aircraft guns of the Cold War Rotary cannon Cold War weapons of the United States Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons of the United States 37 mm artillery
M42 Duster
The M42 40 mm self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, or "Duster," is an American armored light air-defense gun built for the United States Army from 1952 until December 1960, in service until 1988. Production of this vehicle was performed by the tank d ...
) forms in US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
service. The system consisted of a 37 mm T250 six-barrel rotary cannon
A rotary cannon, rotary autocannon, rotary gun or Gatling cannon, is any large-caliber multiple-barreled automatic firearm that uses a Gatling-type rotating barrel assembly to deliver a sustained saturational direct fire at much greater ra ...
mounted on a modified M113 armored personnel carrier
The M113 is a fully tracked armored personnel carrier (APC) that was developed and produced by the FMC Corporation. The M113 was sent to United States Army Europe in 1961 to replace the mechanized infantry's M59 armored personnel carrier, M59 A ...
chassis.
The alternate mounting for the weapon was on a trailer, designated T248 Vigilante A
By the early 1960s, the US Army declared that gun-based systems were outdated, and canceled further development in favor of the MIM-46 Mauler missile system that also failed to enter service. In the end the M163, a M61 Vulcan mounted on an M113, was used.
The designer, the Sperry Utah Engineering Laboratory, later revived the Vigilante, rechambering it for NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
-standard 35×228mm rounds and mounting it on an M48 Patton
The M48 Patton is an American first-generation main battle tank (MBT) introduced in February 1952, being designated as the 90mm Gun M48, armored, full-tracked, combat vehicle of the medium-gun tank class. It was designed as a replacement for ...
tank chassis for the Division Air Defense (DIVAD) contest. However, it ultimately lost to Ford's M247 Sergeant York
The M247 Sergeant York DIVAD (Division Air Defense) was a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG), developed by Ford Aerospace in the late 1970s. Based on the M48 Patton tank, it replaced the Patton's turret with a new one that featured twin ...
(twin 40mm Bofors) that also failed to enter service.
Development
Very little information exists of the T249 Vigilante and its T250 cannon. The conceptual design for the T250 cannon was initiated in 1956. While the design of cannon of this caliber would ordinarily be handled byWatervliet Arsenal
The Watervliet Arsenal (WVA) is an arsenal of the United States Army located in Watervliet, New York, on the west bank of the Hudson River. It is the oldest continuously active arsenal in the United States, and today produces much of the arti ...
, it was decided that Springfield Armory would take responsibility due to their previous development experience with smaller caliber rotary cannon such the 20mm T171. The T250 was the largest Gatling gun ever assembled. Its 37×219mmSR round was based upon a shortened and necked-down 40×311mmR Bofors cartridge case. Hydraulically powered, the gun was able to vary between 120 rpm for (especially stationary) ground targets and 3,000 rpm for air targets.
It had a 192-round drum magazine
A drum magazine is a type of high-capacity magazine for firearms. Cylindrical in shape (similar to a drum), drum magazines store rounds in a spiral around the center of the magazine, facing the direction of the barrel. Drum magazines are contra ...
, which in the maximum 3,000 rpm mode would have equated to approximately 4 seconds of fire. When Springfield engineers finished their work in 1962, the design was handed over to Watervliet for production. The Sperry Utah Engineering Laboratory was selected to handle the integration of the T250 gun with the modified M113 chassis to create the T249.
Surviving Examples
One T249 Vigilante is currently displayed at the Air Defense Artillery Training Support Facility, at Ft. Sill, OK. This example was previously located at theUS Army Ordnance Museum
The United States Army Ordnance Training Support Facility (formerly known as the U.S. Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center and U.S. Army Ordnance Museum) artifacts are used to train and educate logistic soldiers. It re-located to Fort Gre ...
in Aberdeen, MD. A T250 rotary cannon is also on display next to the T249 as of July 2023.
A T250 rotary cannon is on display in Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung in Koblenz, Germany.
References
External links
Springfield Armory Museum Collection Record for T250
{{Modern Gatling Guns Anti-aircraft guns of the Cold War Rotary cannon Cold War weapons of the United States Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons of the United States 37 mm artillery