It’s the one with the 105mm cannon on it. But what battle function was it supposed to have?
Do you mean the 106mm Recoilless Rife? The function Im guessing is anti-tank? Maybe anti-infantry like the m50 Ontos?
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A light weapons carrier, it was selected by the army instead of the M50 ONTOs because the ONTOs didn’t really offer benefits compared to it, the M38 was more exposed but had more space for ammunition and crew, and the ONTOS was too complicated for Infantry Divisions to maintain.
A 106mm recoilless rifle - its main purpose was an anti-tank weapon, shooting HEAT rounds. So that Jeep was supposed to be a tank killer. It was in Vietnam where it was used as human wave stopper with the beehive flechette round. I heard the weapon is so successful it is still being used by the Chinese and by special forces who even have guided munitions for it.
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I could be wrong but I believe some were still being used in Afghanistan by some of the coalition troops, can’t remember exactly which ones though. Maybe US special forces?
We taught the ANA how to use the SPG-9, which was very similar.
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The Jordanian Army had them as well as did the IDF after capturing said Jordanian weaponry
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In the 90’s, when I was with 19th Group, and later on when I was in LRS and we shared some facilities and regularly worked alongside 19th Group, there were 106mm RRs in their armories that they would break out on occasion.
But yes, before the advent of ATGMs, the 106mm RR was in infantry battalions in Combat Support Company to provide them with organic anti tank weapons. Rifle companies had the 90mm RR. The 106 was replaced in this role by the TOW missile in the early to mid 70s. Dragon missile replaced the 90mm RR in most infantry units. Light units such as the 193rd Brigade in Panama kept their 106mm RR well into the 80’s due to the limitations of TOW when fired from vehicle & ground mounts in the terrain and vegetation there.
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In the Dutch Army, NEKAFs (the Dutch-built version of the M38A1) were fitted with M40A1 RCLs like in the US Army, though they differed in details so you can’t just build an M38A1C kit as Dutch. After the TOW came in, the RCLs were replaced by TOWs on the same vehicles (or at least, on some of them).
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