Marine LAV-AD

[DRG]

"General Dynamics began delivering the new LAV-AD to Marine light armor units in the fall of 1997."

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/lav-ad.htm

another source--- http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.o...rine_Corps.htm
says....
LAV-AD, fielded in 1999, with Stinger missiles and a 25 mm Gatling gun to provide air-defense protection for forward elements.

so it looks like is was delivered in late 1997 may have been fully operational in 1999 and up 'till then the Duster would have been the unit in service

Don

[KevinRanger95]

I just recreated what the set up was. And I went to the artillery screen and then the 5th spot down said LAV-AD, I then clicked on that and it offered 2 Dusters.I agree, after research today that also I came up with 1998 as when the LAV-AD came out, and fully operational in 99.
I figure that maybe the 5th spot in 95 Sept is miss labeled or just should'nt be there.
I was playing the Marines and I was in a meeting engagement against Cuba in Sept of 1995.
Also thank you for the sites I try to save all I can thats worth saving I didn't have those!!!!!!

[Pepper]

I get the same error. Its some kind of typo I suppose. I didn't check the surrounding dates, but in Sept. 1995, USMC v. Cuba, in the Artillery Menu there is most definitely a LAV-AD option, and when you hit it, the menu remains labeled LAV-AD but the only unit to pick from is the Duster.

[DRG]

OK, I see the problem. This will be corrected for the supplement

Don

[Sewter]

It is amazing that the venerable Duster has remained in service for so long. It would be wonderful to see such an old school weapon in action. I think that the LAV-25(MC) is a powerful weapon, with much versatility. If anyone is interested with any info, I would be pleased, and honored, to offer some of the information from my glorious and complete access to neat services, which has been humbly offered to me by a great man.

[Sewter]

Interesting info on the M42 Duster is that, around 1982, a 'tracking device' was offered as an upgrade for all nations who had purchased the presentable weapon. However, no one seems to have purchased it, relying more on its manual tracking, than optically assisting it. It seems so obsolete.

[IanWilliams]

Yes its obsolete as a SPAA but as a light infantry support tank it's still quite useful.

I often purchase a couple of sections when playing against masses of infantry.

[Randy]

To my knowledge I don't think the Marines ever used the Duster.

[Sewter]

I think that the M42 may have been 'loaned' to the Corps, during times of deployment. However, I agree with your statement. I have not found any information which would stand to your strong position. It appears that the USMC depended more on its AA batteries and, most important, the use of Redeye/Stinger missiles. Because of the mobility of the Marines, the individual teams of infantry SAMs were the cheif deterant of AA. And the use of Naval Carrier Air Superiority. Very interesting. Which seems to be backed by its present day inventory of air deterance:

2000 Stingers/infantry
250 deployable Avengers
17 LAV-AD

Unsure of 20mm Vulcan AA.

Neat stuff

[Randy]

I agree, I was reading "Marines Under Armor" by Col. Estes, and he mentioned a battle where the Marines used some Dusters which were loaned by the Army. Nonetheless, the Duster (like the M16 halftrack) is a great anti personnel weapon, especially when fighting off human wave attacks!