Doing a search on Scalemates and found this interesting cancelled project from Magic Factory, this piqued my interest. So was this variant ever considered for real or just a paper panzer or just a figment of someone’s imagination?
I may have to see about make one of these as I’ve always liked the look of the Stryker MGS and well, this just cries out to be built in kit form even if it didn’t work out for real.
My immediate thought was, “This was funny as an April Fools joke once, but twice is pushing it” but per the comments on Scalemates, it appears to be genuine:
Of course, a test build would be easy enough to fake with a Magic Factory Bradley and an AFV Club Stryker MGS turret, but we can give them the benefit of the doubt. What I’m guessing is going on, is that they were surprised at the demand for it and decided to actually make it …?
SO, basically the entire MGS off an M1128, slapped atop an M2A4 hull… It’s a Photoshop. Look at this image closely. it fooled me initially, until I started looking at it more closely.
Hypothetically, if the M2128 MGS was actually real and built, it may work for the US Army in some regards for something.
The M1128 Stryker MGS was criticized for being too cramped and vulnerable. With 30mm AP protection and a more spacious Bradley hull, those issues may be remedied. The Stryker hull only resists 14.5mm AP.
However, the US Army has the 105mm M10 Booker Combat Vehicle, and that is true, so it doesn’t need the M2128 MGS for direct fire support of the Soldiers. Thus, what good is the M2128? For speculation purposes, the M2128 can fire 105mm HVP for an anti-drone and anti-missile role, which the US Army is thinking of. It looks like this and it’s 155mm, but no one said that it can’t be 105mm also.
Thus, the M2128 can be used for air defense instead of ground fire support…hypothetically, of course…because it probably technically won’t work since the MGS cannon elevates to 15 degrees and the M109A7’s 155mm gun elevates to 75 degrees. The M1A2’s 120mm gun also elevates to 15 degrees.
I’m not an engineer, so I don’t know if 15 degrees is effective for air defense purposes.
The M2128 might be used as coastal HVP anti-ship artillery shore defense…
Then there’s the elephant in the room: the diameter of the MGS turret
The M1168 turret ring has a diameter of 1,85m
The M2 turret ring has a diameter of 1,5m
The suspended autoloader and the interfaces of the FCS, the gunner, and the VC extend the turret beyond the available volume for such as Franken-TD. The top plate of the MGS hull is ~2,25m wide to accommodate that reality.
It’s cute. But it’s created by someone who has little or no understanding of the anatomy of either of these two systems.
The M2128 may be a concept pitched for inclusion in the AMPV program, but the AMPV (in several other variants) is real and is being fielded.
I’d guess that some (or all) of the actual AMPV variants as kits using the basic hull from this will be released by Magic Factory. Seems kind of a normal marketing strategy to release the least desirable variants of some kit in order to maximize sales to the “early birds.”
No, it was not. It is a totally fictional vehicle that someone photoshopped together. It was not part of AMPV which is a turretless Bradley to replace the M113 series of vehicles.