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M108 SPG

1952 COLD WAR SELF-PROPELLED ARTILLERY VIETNAM WAR

History of the M108 SPG

The Cold War period after World War II saw tremendous growth in the tracked armoured vehicle segment - many designs from the US, Europe and the Soviet Union. In the early 1950s, the U.S. developed a tracked vehicle program that focused on different weight classes of self-propelled artillery/self-propelled artillery (SPA/SPG) types, all using the same chassis to simplify logistics and better manage acquisition costs.

This resulted in the light SPG M108 with a 105mm gun and its better known cousin, the M109 "Paladin" SPG with a 155mm gun.

The M108 is a fully armored, fully tracked vehicle providing a self-propelled frame for its M103 series 105mm howitzer system. The weapon is breech-loading, has a rate of fire of 4 rounds per minute, and has a range of up to 11.5 kilometers (rocket-launched projectiles can reach more than 15 kilometers).

The barrel is sealed by a rather distinctive looking muzzle system with a muzzle velocity of approximately 1,550 feet per second. The M108 mounts its 105mm armament in a 360-degree rotating turret mount that is placed around the top of the hull. The five crew members included the driver, commander, gunner and ammunition dealer. The driver lived in the turret with the rest of the crew.

Hatches are installed on the rear surface of the hull and at the rear of the turret to facilitate management of spent cartridges and field reloading. The track system consists of seven twin tire wheels on one side of the fuselage, with the drive sprocket at the front and the track idler at the rear. Track pulleys are not used.

The vehicle weighs 21 tons, has a total length of 6.11 meters, a width of 3.15 meters, and a height of 3.28 meters to the top of the tower. In addition to the primary armament - offensive in nature - the vehicle is also armed with a heavy Browning M2 12.7mm machine gun for self-defense against lightly armored vehicles, infantry and low-flying aircraft. These vehicles are usually equipped with several M14 semi-automatic rifles (or similar) for close-quarter crew defense, and an M20A1B1 rocket launcher.

The aircraft can carry up to 87 x 105mm projectiles and 500 x 12.7mm ammunition.

Power is provided by a GMC Detroit Diesel 8V71T series liquid-cooled turbocharged V8 two-stroke 425 hp diesel engine. This gives the frame a top speed of 56 km/h and a range of up to 386 km.

In practice, the M108 proved to be sufficiently maneuverable for such vehicles, primarily for direct fire support with combat teams when deployed with armoured personnel carriers, main battle tanks or light tanks. Since its introduction in the 1950s, the M108 series has fought against the US military in the Vietnam War. It remained in service throughout the conflict and was eventually phased out after the US ended its involvement in Southeast Asia - it turned out to eventually switch to the 155mm M109 series of weapons compared to the lighter 105mm M108.

As the M109 was designed in the same way as the M108 before it - using the same chassis and turret configuration - it mimicked the form and function of the previous design - although it proved to be more popular and tactically valuable.

The M108 is no longer in service with the US Armed Forces, but has been adopted by the militaries of Belgium, Brazil, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey and Tunisia. Until the 1980s, the Belgian army managed up to 90 examples before decommissioning them completely. Brazil operated about 50 under the local designation M108AP, while Spain received 48, although it was retired. Taiwan received about 100 M108 units.

Turkey operates the M108 under the export name M108T. Tunisia operates (or operates) around 48 of this type.

For those operators who still need a SPA/SPG solution, the M108 has been directly replaced by the M109 series. At the time of this writing (2013), M109 is still widely used.

M108 production was taken over by General Motors' Cadillac automotive division.