Around 1978-79 the 101 Airborne was playing with a setup using a Jeep fitted with 6 multiple 2.75-inch rocket pods from a Huey Cobra gunship. Known as *Slammer VI* the idea was to replace or augment the indirect fire weapons available to the Airborne; the pods launched 19 rockets each, allowing a barrage of 114 rockets in one go. Using the 17-pound high explosive warhead, the things put more explosive weight on target than either the 81mm or 4.2 inch mortar teams, and equalled the power of the 105 howitzer. About the only noted downsides were the facts that the M151 Jeeps weren't amphibious and that the exposed crews had no more protection from chemical attack than other exposed infantrymen; the rocket pods and ammunition were already in the 101's supply system for the helicopters, there were also antitank and smoke rounds available, and the only optics needed was a modified M43A2 sight from an M29A1 81mm mortar, a tube clinometer/ angle finder and a pocket calculator for FDC purposes.
Then some bright Sky Soldier came to the realization that the old Ontos was amphibious and certified as air-droppable. Though the 106s weren't needed for AT use since the M551 Sheridan then used offered a 152mm direct fire gun-missile system and the paras had TOWS, the Ontos recoilless guns could be retained without degrading the capability of the rocket pods, and it was found that 8 pods could be fitted to the M50 Ontos instead of the 6 on the Jeeps. Additionally, instead of the 1/4-ton M416 trailer of the Jeep that could only carry seperate rockets for reloading the Jeep-mounted pods, the Ontos could pull a 3/4-ton truck trailer carrying eight preloaded pods plus additional reload rockets.
A workable system was pieced together, and a proposed Slammer *mini-MLRS* section TO&E was developed on paper, with 4 ONTOS launchers and 6 on Jeeps, plus a few light trucks and a couple of Jeeps for the forward observer teams and the section commander. The entire project would cost less than a single tank or SP artillery piece, and the plan was forwarded to the Army Deputy Chief of Operations and TRADOC for approval.
When senior Ordnance and Artillery branch brass found out about it, they ordered the Slammer VI experiments to halt immediately, and a couple of promising careers probably ended right then and there, though noone went to jail so far as I know. Some higher-ups had good deals promised to them as civilian representatives for the General Dynamics MLRS program after their military retirement, and no troop requirement could be allowed to stand in the way of that sweet deal....
