Before the U.S. Army settled on using the M551 Sheridan as the basis for its ‘fake news’ Soviet tanks, they tried out the self propelled artillery unit called M109.

Actually, the special M109 was created just for the JAWS/JAAT programs of the U.S. Air Force/U.S. Army. Notice that the radar antenna looks like an actual radar off a ZSU-23-4.  It could be that the M109 ZSU-23-4 could generate ‘fake news’ radar signals so that attacking aircraft could practice their ECM (electronic counter measures).

The JAWS (Joint Attack Weapons System) exercises of the late 1970s helped develop anti-tank tactics for today’s NATO air forces  This was important as the U.S. Air Force (USAF) was just breaking in its new A-10 Thunderbolt-2 tank killing aircraft.  JAWS exercises also included U.S. Army (USA) AH-1 Cobras and OH-58 Kiowas.

JAWS also coincided with JAAT (Joint Air Attack Team), which tried combining fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft into a single anti-tank operation. JAWS-1 took place at Fort Benning, Georgia, and focused on aircraft gun cameras. JAWS-2 took place on Fort Hunter Liggett (formerly Hunter Liggett Military Reservation), California, using a Range Management System that linked with aircraft gun cameras in an attempt to calculate real-time ‘hits and misses’ during war games.

It was during the JAWS/JAAT exercises that USA and USAF personnel learned each other’s tactical language for anti-tank operations.

Less than one year after the 1977 JAWS-2 wargame took place on Fort Hunter Liggett, the one-off M109(M108?) ZSU-23-4 made an appearance in West Germany, during FTX Certain Shield 1978.  According to the info that came with the photo below, its appearance had ‘tank spotters’ speculating that it was an new experimental U.S. Army anti-aircraft tank inspired by the Soviet ZSU-23-4.

Does anybody know what happened to the one and only M109 ZSU-23-4?

Cold War Fake News Armor: WHEN IS AN M551 NOT A SHERIDAN? WHEN IT’S A ZSU-23-4!

Fake News Armor 2020: IDAHO’S 1:1 SCALE FAKE NEWS RUSSIAN RADAR TANK