# XM104

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{{Short description|US self-propelled howitzer}}
{{for|target acquisition/fire control subsystem of the airburst grenade launcher currently under development|XM25 CDTE}}

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thumb|260px|XM104 howitzer pilot model
[[File:XM204 Soft Recoil Howitzer at the Wehrtechnisches museum.jpg|thumb|260px|XM204 Soft Recoil Howitzer at the [WTS Koblenz](/source/Bundeswehr_Museum_of_German_Defense_Technology)]]
thumb|260px|XM204 Soft Recoil Howitzer at the WTS Koblenz (Bundeswehr Museum of German Defense Technology)
{{external media|image1=[https://www.flickr.com/photos/34540417@N07/9110956266/in/photostream/lightbox/ Howitzer, self-propelled, 105 mm, XM104 prototype at the U.S. Army Artillery Museum, Fort Sill, Oklahoma].}}
The '''XM104''' was a U.S.-developed self-propelled amphibious/air-droppable/heliborne 105&nbsp;mm howitzer. Pilot models of the howitzer were built by the [U.S. Army](/source/U.S._Army) [Ordnance Tank Automotive Command](/source/Tank-Automotive_and_Armaments_Command)'s Experimental Division at the [Detroit Tank Arsenal](/source/Detroit_Tank_Arsenal) shops, [Warren, Mich.](/source/Warren%2C_Mich.) A follow-up model is known as XM204.

== Mobility ==
The vehicle represented a new concept of [self-propelled artillery](/source/self-propelled_artillery), it could be stripped for air delivery by [helicopter](/source/helicopter), parachute drop or ground-landing by the Army's [DHC-4 Caribou](/source/DHC-4_Caribou) and Air Force [C-130 Hercules](/source/C-130_Hercules). Brig. Gen. J. Frederick Thorlin, Commanding General of OTAC, said the full-tracked vehicle, designated the XM104, was developed in answer to the Army's urgent request for a "heavyweight puncher with featherweight mobility."

== Characteristics ==
XM104 had a 4-man crew, was to travel at 35 miles per hour, negotiate swamps and desert sand, cross rivers and lakes. Combat weight of the vehicle was around 6,400 pounds.

== Capabilities ==
The XM104 was designed to provide ground troops with a "scatback" artillery piece which could travel anywhere in the world with airborne combat troops. Once on line, it could follow right behind [infantry](/source/infantry) or [armour unit](/source/armour_unit)s.

== XM204 ==
A similar designation is known with the model ''XM204 Soft Recoil Howitzer'', which had swamp-rollers and could be towed by trucks.<ref>War Department: ''Operator and organizational maintenance manual for howitzer, light, towed : 105mm soft recoil, XM204'', 1967, {{OCLC|56666364}}</ref> With this artillery piece the army examined also an airborne version with [Boeing CH-47 Chinook](/source/Boeing_CH-47_Chinook) helicopters. The aerial artillery design Study is known as: ''Two Externally Mounted XM204 Howitzers on a CH-47C Helicopter''<ref>[https://sobchak.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/aerial-artillery-design-study-two-externally-mounted-xm204-howitzers-on-a-ch-47c-helicopter.pdf Boeing Technical Report D210-10506-1 October 1972], DAAFO3-72-C-OO116, The Boeing Company, Vertol Division</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015078433268;view=1up;seq=173 OTAC Developing Self-Propelled Howitzer, XM-104]. // ''Army Research and Development'', June 1962, v. 3, no. 6, p.&nbsp;15. {{PD-notice}}

Category:Abandoned military projects of the United States
Category:105 mm artillery
Category:Self-propelled howitzers of the United States
Category:Tracked self-propelled howitzers
Category:Airborne fighting vehicles
Category:Cold War artillery of the United States

{{artillery-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [XM104](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XM104) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XM104?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.
