U.S. Army photo by Staff Sergeant Arnold W. Kalmanson, 13MAY1985.

In the mid-1980s, a company called Standard Manufacturing (not to be confused with today’s firearms manufacturer of the same name) created what might be the ultimate ‘gun-truck’; the Excalibur, armed with a 20mm Vulcan gun.

USA photo by Staff Sergeant Arnold W. Kalmanson, 13MAY1985.

The photos were taken on Fort Eustis, Virginia, in May 1985.  It was then that the U.S. Army (USA) held a technology exposition called Progress in Logistics, officially called ProLog ’85.

USA photo by Staff Sergeant Arnold W. Kalmanson, 13MAY1985.

The Vulcan gun was used for anti-aircraft defense.  The Excalibur had a patented independent suspension system, was lighter and faster than the M113 based Vulcan gun system.

The original Excalibur Vulcan gun system was a tracked vehicle proposal (based on the M551 Sheridan) in the early 1970s, by a company called Sperry.  Sperry ceased to exist in 1986.

USA photo, 24FEB1991.

Apparently the USA decided to go with its then new HMMWV M998, towing a Vulcan gun, as a lighter weight anti-aircraft gun system, just in time for Desert Storm.

Cold War: Approximately 1947 (due to U.S. President Harry Truman’s Truman Doctrine) to 1991 (Operation Desert Storm, collapse of Soviet Union).

Cold War Vehicle I-D: SHORT LIVED CHENOWTH F-A-V, U.S. ARMY vs U.S. NAVY