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Armor/AFV: Modern - USA
Modern Armor, AFVs, and Support vehicles.
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Structure of M752 Lance battery during 80s
Reforger-Victim
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Hessen, Germany
Joined: March 26, 2017
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Posted: Tuesday, October 20, 2020 - 11:24 PM UTC
I m looking for structure of an us army lance launching battery during 1980s..does anybody have an idea?
Headhunter506
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New York, United States
Joined: December 01, 2007
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Posted: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 - 07:59 AM UTC
Check out FM 6-42, Field Artillery Battalion, Lance October 1984. It should contain the information you require.
Headhunter506
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Posted: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 - 08:07 AM UTC
There also is DTIC ADA127320 Lance Firing Team Leader's Handbook.
Reforger-Victim
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Hessen, Germany
Joined: March 26, 2017
KitMaker: 95 posts
Armorama: 79 posts
Posted: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 - 10:54 PM UTC
Thank you both..do you know what vehicles were in the battery `s maintenance platoon?
thathaway3
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Michigan, United States
Joined: September 10, 2004
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Posted: Friday, October 30, 2020 - 09:07 AM UTC
I contacted the Field Artillery Museum at Fort Sill and provided them the number of the TO&E which was included as a reference in the FM 6-42 in Joseph's note.

And the answer is that the Maintenance Section in each Firing Battery was a part of Battery HQ (along with Supply, Mess, etc.), and consisted of 3 vehicles as follows:

1 M35 2 1/2 ton truck with a trailer (almost certainly an M105 1 1/2 ton 2 wheel trailer although that specific information was NOT provided) This vehicle was for parts and tools.

This is SPECULATION on my part, but I would also add the following: First of all, I'd GUESS that this M35 would have been equipped with a winch, but that is a GUESS!
And second, I would also guess, that the unit would have made a field modification to the M35 and built a plywood box into the bed of the truck with a rear door and a removable stair/ladder from the floor to the ground. This is based STRICTLY on my own experience with FA units at the time. The Maint section typically turned the truck into a "workshop" and covered the plywood with OD canvas, and built all sorts of stuff inside to make it a shop. BUT THAT IS A GUESS!!

Vehicle number 2 was an M578 light recovery vehicle. This makes sense as the launcher vehicles were small enough to NOT require an M88 to recover them.

And the third vehicle was a 5 Ton Wrecker to be used to assemble and transload missles if the Loader-Transporter (LT) vehicle was down. Based on the time period (and again this is a guess because I didn't see the TO&E myself directly) this PROBABLY would have been an M816 and again, probably would have been equipped with a winch on the front of the bumper.
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