M-113 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) Family of Vehicles
The M113 vehicles carried eleven soldiers plus a driver and track commander under armor protection across hostile battlefield environments. The M113 is air transportable, air-droppable, and swimmable, allowing planners to incorporate APCs in a much wider range of combat situations, including many 'rapid deployment' scenarios.
The M113s were so successful that they were quickly identified as the foundation for a family of vehicles. Over the years, the M113 FOV has undergone numerous upgrades and development of derivitive configurations, including the M577 command track and the M106 mortar carrier. In 1964, the M113A1 package replaced the original gasoline engine with a 212 horsepower diesel package, significantly improving survivability. In 1979, the A2 package of suspension and cooling enhancements was introduced.
Among the many derivitive vehicles produced were these examples:
- Armored M113 chassis:
- M113 Armored Ambulance
- M125A1 mortar carrier
- M577 Armored Command Post Carrier
- M741 Vulcan air defense vehicle
- Unarmored M113 chassis:
- M548 cargo carrier
- M667 "Lance" missile carrier
- M730 "Chaparral" missile carrier
The M113A3 RISE (Reliability Improvements for Selected Equipment) package includes an upgraded propulsion system (turbocharged engine and new transmission), greatly improved driver controls (new power breaks and conventional steering controls), external fuel tanks, and 200 AMP alternator with 4 batteries. Additional A3 improvements include incorporation of spall liners and provisions for mounting external armor.
The M113A3 fleet will include vehicles with high speed digital networks and data transfer systems. The M113A3 digitization program includes applying appliqué hardware, software, and installation kits and hosting them in the M113 FOV.
As of 2005, these variants are in U.S. military inventory:
- Mechanized Smoke Obscurant System
- M548A1/A3 Cargo Carrier
- M577A2/A3 Command Post Carrier
- M901A1 Improved TOW Vehicle
- M981 Fire Support Team Vehicle
- M1059/A3 Smoke generator Carrier
- M1064/A3 Mortar Carrier
- M1068/A3 Standard Integrated Command Post System Carrier
- OPFOR Surrogate Vehicle (OSV)
M113 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) with TOW anti-armor missile mounted.
M-113 Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment during scout training at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland in 1965.
M113 tracks of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam.
M-113 Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) training, Fort Jackson, SC, 20 June 1966.
The M1059/A2 or A3 smoke generator consists of an M113A2 or A3 APC with two M54 smoke generators. This track belongs to the 31st Chemical Company (Army), Fort Irwin, CA, 19 Mar 1997.
