The M247 Sergeant York DIVAD (Division Air Defense) was a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG), developed by Ford Aerospace in the late 1970s. Based on the M48 Patton tank, it replaced the Patton's turret with a new one that featured twin radar-directed 40 mm rapid-fire guns. The vehicle was named after Sergeant Alvin York, a famous World War I hero.
The Sergeant York was intended to fight alongside the M1 Abrams and M2 Bradley fighting vehicles in the U.S. Army, in a role similar to the Soviet ZSU-23-4 and German Gepard. It would replace the M163 Vulcan Air Defense System and MIM-72 Chaparral, ad-hoc systems of limited performance that had been introduced when the more advanced MIM-46 Mauler failed to mature.
Despite the use of many off the shelf technologies that were intended to allow rapid and low-cost development, a series of technical problems and massive cost overruns resulted in the cancellation of the project in 1985.
Famous quotes containing the words sergeant and/or york:
“A sergeant of the lawe, war and wys,
That often hadde been at the Parvys,
Ther was also, ful riche of excellence.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?1400)
“I long for a land that does not yet exist, a place where women are valued both for their intellects and their motherhood and where choices between career and nurturing are somehow less stark.”
—Where Mothers Matter, New York Times Magazine (February 20, 1994)