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M1117 Guardian ASV

1999

History

Following the 1993 Somali massacre, US Army authorities were persuaded to rewrite their approach to armoured warfare and expand it beyond main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, controlled by a fleet of lightly armoured and poorly equipped Humvees . supported. Seeking an interim solution to provide the firepower of an armed Humvee and the level of protection of an IFV, the result became the M1117 Guardian Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) - a 4x4 armored system derived from the Cadillac Gage in Vietnam. Era comes the "Commando" series, developed by Textron Marine & Land Systems.

The Guardian entered service in 1999, just in time to see combat service in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A key feature of the Guardian is its modular, upgradable armor protection system, which includes an outer-applied ceramic composite armor plus an inner fragmentation lining - which greatly improves crew survivability, especially in in a hit-and-run environment. Urban warfare, especially when compared to basic or even "highly armored" Humvees. The weapon is mounted on a 360-degree rotating powered turret that houses a combination of a 40mm Mk 19 automatic grenade launcher and a 0.50 Browning M2HB heavy machine gun. Additional firepower comes from a 7.62mm M240H medium machine gun mounted in the gunner's turret port.

A typical combat crew consists of three people, including the driver, commander and gunner, with the option of a co-pilot if desired. Power pack components include the Cummins 6CTA8. 3 engine with 260 hp driving two axles giving the vehicle a range of 440 miles and a top road speed of 63 mph.

The M1117 program was slow to develop at first, as there were not many products at the time and it was much more expensive than the ubiquitous HUMVEE that was already in circulation. As such, these vehicles were initially only handed over to the military's military police (MP) units, in limited numbers, and these vehicles were named in Kosovo's combat environment. It wasn't until the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraqand the subsequent combat operationsthat armored vehicles needed to be improved to meet the many convoys required for daily operations. These actions demonstrated that the Humvee was highly vulnerable to roadside attacks using IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and elaborate ambushes by guerrilla fighters employing unconventional battlefield tactics.

This brought the M1117 back to the forefront of Army needs, culminating in more than 2,000 M1117 vehicles. Thanks to the use of sloping armour and appropriate weaponry, the Guardian has proven to varying degrees to be effective against improvised explosive devices, mines and small arms fire.

Like other U.S. military vehicles, the M1117 is fully air transportable and can be airborne by a Sikorsky CH-53E "Super Stallion" (suspended below the helicopter), or placed in a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III fixed-wing aircraft Abdominal transport. The latter method can hold up to six.

The US is only the main operator of the M117. Local police forces in Afghanistan and Iraq have embraced The Guardian for their day-to-day counterinsurgency operations.

Bulgaria has seven in its army, while the Colombian army has adopted about 39, and hundreds are expected to be built locally in Cugil, Romania, for the Romanian army.

The M1200 "Armored Knight" is a special vehicle form of the Guardian series that retains its 4x4 wheel configuration and three crew members, but is used by the US Army for precision targeting roles. It entered service in 2008 and fought in Iraq.