The M35 was designed and developed by
Benét Laboratories,
Watervliet Arsenal in 1983 for the Mobile Protected Gun Program, a joint
U.S. Marine Corps and
U.S. Army program. The program was canceled the following year, however the Large Caliber Weapon System Laboratory (LCWSL) mounted the EX35 in an XM4
Armored Gun System (AGS)
turret basket during FY1984. LCWSL fired 100 rounds from the gun.
Armored Gun System In 1991, the Senate and
House Armed Services Committees joined in directing the Army to integrate the
turret and
Watervliet Arsenal EX35 gun of the LAV-105 with an AGS chassis. This joint project never came to fruition. When the Army began its Armored Gun System (AGS) competition in 1991, the Army agreed to furnish the winning bidder with the EX35 gun. In 1992, the Army selected
FMC's Close Combat Vehicle Light as the winner of the AGS competition.
United Defense (created by a merger of FMC and BMY) built six prototypes of the CCVL under the designation XM8, later type-classified as the M8. United Defense proposed the AGS to meet the Army's
Interim Armored Vehicle requirement, however the Army instead chose
General Motors' proposal, later type classified as the
Stryker M1128 mobile gun system armed with the
M68A2.
M10 Booker In January 2023, an Army report noted unexpectedly "high levels of toxic fumes" from the spent rounds were being vented into the
GDLS M10 Booker. The Army's long-term solution is to add a purge system to clear the fumes. == Design ==