The XM800 Armored Reconnaissance Scout Vehicle, or ARSV, was an experimental scout vehicle developed by the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

in the 1970s. It was part of a series of armored vehicles being designed by the Army to replace their existing

armored personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Ac ...

s, the M113 and M114, with vehicles with greatly improved fighting capabilities. While the

MICV-65 MICV-65, short for ''Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle, 1965'', was a US Army project that studied a number of armored fighting vehicles that would replace the M113 and M114 as well as take on a variety of new roles. A number of designs were st ...

program focused on troop carriers, a separate requirement for a scout vehicle led to the XM800. None of the vehicles from the MICV-65 project entered production, although they provided valuable experience that was used in the

M2 Bradley The M2 Bradley, or Bradley IFV, is an American infantry fighting vehicle that is a member of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle family. It is manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Armaments, which was formerly United Defense. The Bradley is designed ...

. Two different vehicle designs were designed for the XM800 project, Lockheed's XM800W unconventional

articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were sometim ...

6 × 6 wheeled armored car and FMC's XM800T tracked version. Both models initially featured the same turret with the US-built version of the Hispano-Suiza HS.820 20 mm autocannon, the M139, as the primary weapon, as well as an M60-derived machine gun on a pintle mount. The M139 had been selected for all of the MICV projects. The XM800W was later equipped with a new turret design that kept the M139 cannon, but that had an upper cover that flipped forward to form a gun shield, or rearward to close up.

References

* ''Jane's World Armoured Fighting Vehicles'', 1976. Reconnaissance vehicles of the United States Armoured cars Articulated vehicles {{mil-vehicle-stub