This must be the oddest tank destroyer ever. Ontos is Greek for The Thing, a fitting name. Armed with six 106mm recoilless rifles, the top four had each a 12.7mm spotting MG fitted to it. The crew had to leave the vehicle to reload the recoilless rifles. I believe it was used by the U.S. Marines in Vietnam. Entered service sometime around 1960 and was retired during the eighties.
I have seen one of these several times, and it is smaller than it looks. I believe they used them in Vietnam because I remember reading about an incident where an Ontos took out several light NVA tanks.
Well it shure looks weird to me... 6 barrels, not to be loaded from the inside... a succes in combat?
Looks like something you'd find in a computer game. Hardly looks like a practical design. How could you be expected to aim all 6 barrels accurately?
The guns are recoilless, so aiming is actually not very hard, and with 6 barrels, the more bullets you throw at something, the more of a chance you are going to hit it. Plus, the 12.7mm MGs mounted on the Onto's have only tracer rounds to spot for the main guns.
reloading seems really problematic. the tank would have to withdraw to reload safely... the design is pretty cool though
I saw one of those things at the Amphibious Museum at the Naval Amphibious Base in Little Creek, Virginia. I did a double take the first time I saw it, believe me!
It worked for the marines in NAm though. Because the vehicle was light weight they could transport it anywhere anytime. The ontos was mainly used ( in Nam) for infantry fire support because of the lack of enemy armour.One of th battles they fought in was the battle of Hue city where they were used as mobile artillery.This becaue the ARVN wouldn't give the americans permission to use there artillery in the city ( the 105 mm ans so on). The rouns used were primarily HE and flechette rounds.
Now take this design idea/concept and use these pieces of equipment. !). The latest trageting optic devices for range, day and night, and all weather conditions. 2). Six belt fed 105mm main guns mounted in two seperate turrets. 3). Take the Black Eagle design enhancements, in regards to the turret and the amour protected crew compartments. 4). The Russian anti missle radar and defence system. 5). Four person crew: Gunner, commander, driver, radio/small arms operator. 6). All the rest is of the latest components of course. 7). A targeting computer, for those six main guns.
..and you end up with a tank straight out of some freaky deaky sci-fi. Which wouldn't be a bad thing.
The problem there s that your design would be big & heavy, whereas the original was meant to be a light support vehicle...
