 It provided the M1117 with an extremely potent form of firepower for its size and weight class, firing canister, high explosive, high explosive squash head, and high explosive anti-tank shells, as well as an armour-piercing discarding sabot round capable of destroying older main battle tanks.One advantage of the low-pressure cannon was that, in spite of its relatively large caliber, it could be mounted on a vehicle weighing only 18 metric tonnes, or about 40,000 pounds, combat loaded.The new armament was also fitted with a single-baffle muzzle brake and concentric hydro-spring recoil mechanism as standard to reduce the pressure exerted on the relatively light chassis.