M578 (lehké obrněné vyprošťovací vozidlo)

Development


Development of the M578 began in 1958. Production of the first prototypes began in 1962. The vehicle was included in the armament of the US Army since 1971. Originally, the M578 was developed for workshop support of 175 mm self-propelled gun M107 a 203,2 mm samohybné houfnice M110. These artillery means suffered from excessive wear of the main cannons and it was necessary to carry out their frequent replacement in the field. The M578 was developed for just this purpose. After exclusion M107 a M110 from the US Army armament, M578 vehicles are used as universal workshop and rescue equipment. M578 participated in the fighting in Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm in 1991.


Determination


The M578 light armored rescue vehicle is one of the older types of rescue equipment in the US military. Its main task is to provide rapid technical assistance, rescuing stranded and removing damaged equipment. Its advantages include low weight, long range (up to 725 km) and the ability to transport by air. However, it also has disadvantages - a high silhouette, structurally obsolete chassis (taken from the types M107/ M110) and is not able to navigate.


Description


M578 is based on a modified machine bottom 175 mm self-propelled cannon M107 (203.2 mm self-propelled houfnice M110).
The chassis consists of five wheels on both sides of the body. The drive wheel is at the front, the last travel wheel also serves as a tensioning wheel. The chassis is not equipped with support rollers, the track belts are loosely placed on the wheels at the top. The travel wheels are sprung by torsion bars.
The body is divided into the engine compartment in the right front, the driver's compartment - in the left front and technical space in the body at the rear of the body.
The power unit consists of an 8-cylinder liquid-cooled turbo-diesel engine Detroit 8V71T with an output of 320 kW (425 pcs). The transmission of torque from the engine to the chassis is ensured by the Allison XTG-411-2A gearbox, with 4 gears for forward travel and 2 for reverse travel.
At the rear of the body is a hydraulically operated blade, stabilizing the vehicle when rescuing equipment and working with the boom.
At the rear of the hull is a superstructure (non-rotating tower) with the commander's hatch on the left side, mounted 12.7 mm machine gun M2HB and a crane boom. The superstructure contains a firing diameter of 500 rounds of ammunition for 12.7 mm machine gun and 2 pieces of automatic rifles M16 caliber 5.56 mm.
The vehicle is not equipped with smoke grenade launchers. The vehicle is also equipped with a filter ventilation device against WMD, means for internal and external connections and a driving night vision AN/VVS for driving at night. The M578 can be transported by C-5A or C-160 aircraft. The crew of the vehicle consists of three members: the commander, the driver-mechanic and the mechanic-crane operator.



Special vehicle equipment:


- a crane jib with a load capacity of 13.6 tonnes with a unloading length of 3 500 mm,
- main winch with an output of 270 kN (27 t) with a rope length of 70 m,
- auxiliary winch with a power of 67.5 kN (6.75 t) with a rope length of 70 m,
- a hydraulic blade, at the rear of the body under the tower, to stabilize the vehicle when rescuing stuck equipment with winches,
- hydraulic screw jack,
- flame welding and cutting kit,
- a set of rescue equipment and aids,
- set of drawbars (triangle)
- engineering tools



Resources:
Ing. Miloš Soukup Modern Military Technology Tanks 5th part, published by Military System Line s.r.o as the first edition in 1999, ISBN 80-902669-1-6.
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m578.htm
www.inetres.com
www.globalsecurity.org
www.rememuseum.org.uk
www.olive-drab.com
http://www.toadmanstankpictures.com/m578.htm
http://news.webshots.com/album/54937296xHLQvQ
commons.wikimedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

Vážení,
dovoluji si předložit nákresy M578 s popisem. Vyobrazení jsou převzata z oficiální tiskoviny vydané v roce 1990.


Zdroj:
TM 9-2350-238-10: Operator´s Manuals, Recovery Vehicle, Full-Tracked: Light, Armored, M578, Headquarters, Department of the Army, 1990

Vyprošťovací vozidlo M578 (VPZ 43.355) z výzbroje dánské armády zachycené v muzeu Oksbøl. M578 v dánských ozbrojených silách sloužily v počtu 26 kusů v rozmezí let 1966 až 2005.

A light mine clearance vehicle M578 from the Lebanese Army during transport by a MAN TGA 33.400 tractor-trailer (Matn district, 17.06.2010)



Source: milinme.wordpress.com

the Monument and the museum of the Armored corps, Latrun own photo, 2017.

Own photo, Texas Military Forces Museum, 2019