Just a side thought, whay wasn't the development based on Bradley or M113 (or one of its knockoffs)? After all the turrets were for sure less armored than Patton so the "heavy" chassis armor wasn't the requirement, was it?
Or, wanting to have it on tank chassis, why wasn't the development kept in Abrams family? I mean M1 chassis without composite armour and most likely shortened (smaller turret) might be "relatively" cheap as well, no?
Other than that, the GAU-8/A design looks cute
