The much needed Mk.149 Sabot for M163 VADS

Machinery of War Discussion
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1
  • Yes (correct answer)
  • No (very unbased)
0 voters

Also if you vote no then please explain why

The M163 is the only rank 5 SPAA in the American tech tree and the only one to bridge the gap between 4.0 and 9.0 and It’s kinda bad. Its cannon has horrible ballistics and its radar has a lot of trouble locking onto targets. In the rare event it does lock, the lead is very inaccurate and only works at very close ranges. Paired this with the extremely low damage per-shot of its 20mm and fighting jets means you have a very poor SPAA experience.

It also severely lacks the ability to defend itself from enemy tanks. It’s not even able to frontpen BMP-2s or 2S38s unlike the M42 which could shred them both in seconds. One could even argue the M42 is a better SPAA in almost all aspects than the M163.

My proposed solution is adding the Mk.149 Sabot round that Gajin has simply ignored.

  • 1,120 m/s
  • Depleted Uranium
  • 70 grams
  • 12mm

According to Global Security, the Mk.149-2 used depleted uranium, but the Mk.149-4, which used tungsten, still met the NAVY’s requirements. If Mk.149 were added it would likely be the DU shell as there’s more info on it.

Sources:
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/mk149.htm

http://www.cartrology.com/cartridges/2382

And here’s an image : D
Screenshot from 2024-06-26 15-24-09-1

2 Likes
2

Sure, why the hell not.

3

“Woe, 8.3 BR upon ye”

1 Like
4

It would still underperform at 7.7 with APDS, but atleast It would have a reason to be in my lineup.

1 Like
5

it would be actually nice if those fitted in helis with rotary cannon

1 Like
6

VADS right now doesn’t underperform at 7.7 lol. People playing it smartly still get air kills pretty easily.

7

bros been huffing too much ZSU 23/37

2 Likes
8

We could see other US spaa platforms take the 7.7 role if this were too strong. So +1 from me

9

I highly doubt it would be OP with how bad the radar is. If it is, giving the M42 proxy and moving it up could be a good filler.

10

WZ305 has no radar but proxy and is 8.0 so…

11

But it also has extremely strong 150mm pen APHE shells, more ammo, better ballistics, and same firerate. it has more than double the M42’s AP-T pen.

12

Tbf it all depends on gaijins decision. Id like to see it but gaijin makes the final decision

13

They will probably just ignore this all

14

Maybe, maybe not whos to say

15

I don’t think the Mk.149 has been used for anything other than ground based SPAA

16

I’d prefer it if the radar on it just worked tbh

17

Ngl Gajin could do both. It could be a good 8.3 SPAA with APDS and useful radar, and an M42 with proxy could take its place at 7.7 or 7.3

18

I don’t think the M42 ever had proxy. There was a prototype with a tracking radar but it would be pretty bad since it didn’t even have automatic target lead

1 Like
19

I’ve seen people talking about it getting proxy irl, however info on M42 prototypes is very hard to come by. I’m not aware of any proxy shells made that would fit its chamber either.
If they did experiment with proxy then Gajin would probably be able to find info on it.

20

Finally, unless zsu-37-2 and veak40 move to 8.0, m163 should get any buff if it has.