I will also add my two cents on the matter at hand, and I will state that this issue is not just one that sits with the XM246 & Gepard, but all of the 35mm SPAA’s in general. Particularly those within a BR range that can see unstabilized AFV’s.
The only 35mm vehicle I can kind of see an argument for is the Chieftain Marksman, as it it fat, slow, and has the most god-awful loud engine whine known to existence that proclaims its arrival 50 years before it rounds a corner. It is one of the very few vehicles in the British TT I have not spaded up to 10.0(still working on those vehicles above that BR) and plan not to simply because it is worse in every way to the ZA-35 except in hull armor.
That being said, so as to not risk myself sounding biased as I am currently a British main, the Chieftain Marksman should have its APHE greatly reduced, if not flat out removed, just like any other 35mm SPAA that hits an cupola/optic to nuke the crew. Or they should all at least be moved up in BR so as not to engage with unstabilized AFV’s that simply do not have the reaction time to deal with them. Moving them up is the worse option, as that leaves an even larger gap between SPAA in lineups that do desperately need good anti-CAS capabilities.
As it stands, if you are in a slow-firing AFV your best chance is that your first shot had better hit, and it had better work. That doesn’t always happen thanks to 500% booster moments. And that one chance is almost always all you get, because 1,100rpm of cupola/optic abusing APHE fury is coming your way.
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I wouldn’t mind the XM246 going up in BR as long as it got the proximity fuse rounds it was historically tested with. There were several other SPAAs in that program that could fill the gap left behind by it.
Having proxy on that thing would be absolutely nasty, and I approve of the idea. My buddy has nothing but praise for the York, and I can’t imagine what an even faster firerate(albeit, smaller explosive mass) would be like to pepper the skies with.
While I want the XM246 to be modeled as accurately as possible with all it’s capabilities like HE-VT and APDS, this change shouldn’t come until the US gets a replacement AA to fill the 8.3 gap
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Exactly why I mentioned the other SPAAs in that program as replacements.
I think we have to worry still about what those vehicles would potentially use as weapons. I am seeing large-caliber rotary cannons, one being the A-10’s gun mounted to an M48. That’s an issue yet again, as it’s just another SPAA firing AP rounds at extremely high rates of fire.
Though if the M163 is anything to go off of, it might be just “alright” as defense against tanks, even if the rounds are 10mm larger in diameter.
The problem with the one you mentioned is it basically has no ammo. Plus it wouldn’t be firing APHE rounds just regular AP.
so copypaste m247? besides the apds
It could be even better than the M247, since the 35mm fire at a higher ROF than the 40mm and aren’t too far off in terms of payload
While I understand it’s often necessary to purposefully gimp vehicles to fill certain BR spots, it’s not ideal in my view. In an ideal world you’d have vehicles that are suitable for a specific BR in their true and accurate state.
Regular AP being fired at, what, 4000rpm? And 79mm of pen could still be devastating due to the sheer volume of fire that has chance to ricochet into the hull, on top of deleting tracks/barrels in an instant. If it was given the A-10A’s 40mm pen AP belt, maybe it could work though. Probably would be similar to the M163 but better due to an actually working radar/lock system as well as higher velocity.