Controls are identical to predecessor. The M65A2 Ardent is a variant of the Ardent series, distinguished by it's unusual turret and armament; a 152mm gun-missile system (missile system not demonstrated here). Now in the Paternian Army, there are many things which can inspire regret. For Paternian Army R&D, this is one of them. An attempt to modernize the M65 series, it was an abject failure which everyone wants to forget. Reliability of the weapons system was incredibly poor, with a paltry 45% readiness rate. The ammunition was bulky, rate of fire slow, and the bagged charges required careful handling and was a significant hazard if the hull was penetrated. The vehicles, introduced in 1972, would serve less than five years, replaced by the more reliable M65A3 and M65A4. Many of the hulls would be converted to the A3 and A4 standard, while others would be converted to specialist vehicles.