15 Sep 1914-4 Sep 1974. Tank battalion and combat command commander in World War II; 3rd Armored Division commander; commander of US Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, from 1968-72; and Chief of Staff of the US Army from 1972-4. M1.
Armored Infantry Vehicle. AIV is an obsolete US term for APC.
AMX
Ateliers de Construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux. ("Construction Workshops of Issy-les-Moulineaux." French.)
AOE
Army of Excellence. 1980s program to restructure US Army units.
AOS
Add-On Stabilization.
APBC
Armor-Piercing, Ballistic Capped. Armor-piercing projectile that has an aerodynamic ballistic cap on the nose.
APC
Armored Personnel Carrier. APCs, usually armed with machine guns, generally transport infantry to the battle and then the troops dismount to fight on their own.
APCBC
Armor-Piercing, Capped, Ballistic Capped. Armor-piercing projectile that has a piercing cap installed over the projectile's nose to help prevent projectile break-up when encountering face-hardened armor. Since piercing caps were typically blunt, aerodynamic ballistic caps were then installed over the piercing caps. During World War II, the US did not nomenclaturally differentiate between APC and APCBC projectiles; e.g., the 75mm APC projectile M61 had a ballistic cap fitted as well.
Ad-hoc Group on Armament for Future Tanks or Similar Combat Vehicles. Late-1950s US Army tank program analysis.
Armor-piercing discarding sabot
Armor-piercing projectile that is smaller than the diameter of the gun's barrel. Sabots (French for "shoe") are placed around the projectile and fill the space between the projectile and barrel walls. Once the projectile clears the gun tube, the sabots fall away. APDS projectiles have a higher muzzle velocity than comparable full-bore projectiles.
Armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot
APDS projectile that is aerodynamically stabilized by fins rather than spinning.
As in BGM-71 TOW. B: Launch environment: Multiple. G: Basic mission: Surface attack. M: Vehicle type: Guided missile.
BITE
Built-In Test Equipment.
BMP
Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty.
Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty
(Боевая Машина Пехоты). "Infantry combat vehicle." (Russian.)
Bradley, General of the Army Omar Nelson
12 Feb 1893-8 Apr 1981. 12th Army Group commander in World War II, Chief of Staff of the US Army in 1948-9, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1949-53. M2. M3.
BT
Bystrokhodnyy Tank (Быстроходный Танк). "Fast tank." (Russian.)
The suspension designed by J. Walter Christie in the 1920s involved independently springing a vehicle's road wheels on tall vertical helical springs. The wheels were attached to swing arms which then connected to the springs. The springs required a tall double-walled hull, and they were placed in between the two hull layers. Many vehicles with Christie's suspension could drive on or off of their tracks, wheeled motion usually being powered by chains running from the sprockets or final drives. Among vehicles using variants of Christie's suspension were many British World War II-era cruiser tanks, and the Soviet BT series and T-34.
This type of suspension involved springing the road wheels on a bogie against each other with a horizontally-oriented volute spring.
HRV
Heavy Recovery Vehicle.
HVAP
Hyper-velocity Armor-Piercing.
HVSS
Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension.
Hydropneumatic suspension
This suspension transmits pressure from the road wheel arm to compress a volume of gas via hydraulic fluid from which the gas is separated by a piston. By pumping or draining fluid into the suspension, the road wheel can also be raised or lowered.
Hyper-velocity armor-piercing
Armor-piercing projectile that has a dense tungsten core surrounded by a lightweight, aerodynamic metal body. The light weight of the projectile imparts a higher muzzle velocity, and this, along with the relatively small diameter of the piercing core, yields greater penetration compared to conventional projectiles, especially at shorter ranges since the lighter HVAP projectile will bleed off speed more quickly than a heavier conventional projectile.
Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care. System to digitally capture medical treatment data in operational environments, leading to a comprehensive lifelong electronic medical record for personnel.
9 Nov 1944-7 Nov 1967. US Army grenadier who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for actions performed on 7 November 1967 near Loc Ninh, Republic of Vietnam.
Stryker, Private First Class Stuart S.
30 Oct 1924-24 Mar 1945. US Army platoon runner who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for actions performed on 24 March 1945 near Wesel, Germany.
Stuart, Major General James Ewell Brown
6 Feb 1833-12 May 1864. Confederate cavalry general in the US Civil War. M3. M5.
This suspension involved mounting the road wheels to a bogie in pairs on arms and pivoting them against a vertically mounted volute spring, which was typically protected from damage by the bogie frame.
As in M4A1(76)W Sherman. Wet ammunition stowage. In tanks with wet ammunition stowage, main gun ammunition was stored in double-walled boxes. In between the walls of the ammunition boxes was a mixture of water, antifreeze, and an anticorrosive agent. When the boxes were penetrated, the water delayed or eliminated the resulting ammunition fire, giving crews valuable time to escape. More importantly, the ammunition was moved from the tanks' sponsons to under the turret, a much safer place for ammunition storage.
Walker, Lieutenant General Walton Harris
3 Dec 1889-23 Dec 1950. US 3rd Armored Division and XX Corps commander during World War II, and Eighth Army commander in the Korean War. M41.
