M551 Sheridan Was Like No Other: The U.S. Army Built a Tank Light Enough to Drop Out of an Airplane

M551 Sheridan Was Like No Other: The U.S. Army Built a Tank Light Enough to Drop Out of an Airplane

The M551 Sheridan was one of the U.S. Army’s most ambitious tanks: light enough to parachute onto a battlefield, able to swim rivers, and armed with a 152mm gun that fired both shells and the Shillelagh guided missile. Rushed into Vietnam in 1969, it proved fast and mobile, with HEAT rounds that shredded bunkers. But its thin aluminum hull was vulnerable to mines and RPGs, and its gun was unreliable. Retired in 1996, it was America’s last light …