M48 Chaparral

In Team Yankee

The Stats

While strictly worse than the Rapier and marginally worse than the Roland, the Chaparral is the only long-range anti-air missile system available to the US at 72 inches. Enough to cover your entire force, a platoon of Chaparrals in terrain can provide air defence from a corner. Despite having IRL armor comparable to the other NATO anti-air missile carriers, the in-game version is literally unarmored so they are very vulnerable to enemy machine guns or rifles. A squad with FALs or AKs have a very good chance to blow up your Chapperals in one turn. The lack of a machine gun may be a minor problem if you are the sort of player who likes to leave your support vehicles open to enemy probing.

At 2 points per vehicle in a platoon of 2 or 4, the unit is rather overpriced considering the other options you have available.

Nevertheless, the Chaparral serves a key role in the US air defense net. With abundant access to anti-helicopter weapons in your list, the Chaparral could be seen as the last line of defense for any holes unguarded by a Vulcan.

IRL

Now availible with both hard and soft tops.

The Chaparral was the only truly mobile weapon of this class ever fielded by the US military. It was meant as a stop gap after the cancellation of MIM 46 Mauler SAM forcing the rush development of the Chaparral and M163 VADS to cover the gap. All units were removed from service in 1994 and the unit never saw combat service.