Editing M163 VADS (section)

==IRL==
[[File:Ad spaag m163 o1.jpg|300px|right|thumb|See that helicopter, gunner? I don't want to.]]
The M163 VADS entered service in 1968 as a stop gap vehicle to supplant the M42 Duster as more advanced air defense platforms could be developed ([[M247 Sergeant York|though not always successfully]]) and was used by both the Americans and Israelis. Unlike its portrayal in Team Yankee, the effectiveness of the M163 VADS in its intended role was always somewhat questionable. While its 20mm M61 Vulcan gun had sufficient firepower, it was a relatively short-ranged weapon by anti-aircraft armament standards. Combined with the lack of a search-and-track capable radar, the M163 VADS would have great difficulty engaging the sort of targets it was intended to engage, namely low-flying aircraft and helicopters. 

In any case, the VADS was rarely used for its designed purpose, with the notable exception during Operation Peace for Galilee, where an Israeli VADS shot down a MIG 21. Instead the M163 was mostly used to support ground forces, like during Operation Just Cause in Panama where a VADS sank a PDF patrol boat.

The M163 VADS was integral to Air Defense Artillery (ADA) Battalions which were attached to Mechanized and Armored Divisions in the 1980s. Each Battalion was made up of 3 Batteries of which two Platoons were equipped with 4 M163s (If you were wondering the 3rd Platoon was made up of Stinger missiles). These batteries would then be attached to the various battalions of the division to provide local air defense, mostly against helicopters in the VADS case.

The VADS ended up serving longer than intended, due partially to the lack of any drastically better alternatives offered that would give return on investment proportional to cost, due partially to the lingering bad taste in the mouth left by the M247 "Sergeant York" the last time they tried to replace it, due partially to the brutally lethal reputation of the Stinger SAM so widely deployed to every infantry battalion, but mostly due to US politicians having the wit to avoid picking fights with nations that have an air force worthy of the name since around 1941. The VADS was eventually replaced by the M1097 Avenger and M6 Linebacker, which is a Bradley variant that replaces the TOW antitank missiles with Stinger Missiles. Though the last VADS in America were retired in 1994, it continues to serve in several other countries. When the VADS fires its gun in anger, they are invariably engaging enemy dismounted infantry in a direct fire support role, ever since the first ones were rolled onto firebases in Vietnam.  One hundred rounds of 20mm autocannon fire per second per vehicle are universally agreed to be quite effective, though I don't know if it should get "Brutal" in-game in Team Yankee, which seems to be reserved for the nastiest of the nasty.

The early versions of VADS in Israeli service were called the Hovet, or "Boxer."  Since 1998 they've been upgraded and the new version is called the Machbet, or "Club."  The Machbet has vastly improved sensors and fire-control system over the VADS, plus four launch tubes for Stinger SAMs bolted onto the side of the turret.

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Israeli Forces in Team Yankee}}
[[Category:Team Yankee]]
[[Category:Vehicles]]