began in April 1943. It was significantly delayed, however, when several faults were found with the tank's design. Marmon-Herrington only began to produce significant numbers of the T9 in late 1943 and early 1944, and by then the design was considered to be obsolete; only 830 were built by the time production ended in February 1945. As a result, the Ordnance Department gave the tank the specification number M22 but no American combat units were equipped with it. However, during 1943, the War Office believed that the tank would perform adequately despite its faults that came to light, so the tank was given the title of 'Locust' and 260 were shipped to Great Britain under the Lend-Lease Act. Seventeen Locusts were received by the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment in late 1943. Eight were eventually used during the airborne Operation Varsity in March 1945. The tanks did not perform well in action and Locusts were never used in action again. M24 Chaffee In April 1943 the government started work on the M24 Chaffee, designated Light Tank T24 as a replacement for the M3/M5 Stuart after the original replacement, the M7, was rejected in March. Every effort was made to keep the weight of the vehicle under 20 tons. The armor was kept light, and a lightweight 75mm gun was developed. The design also featured wider tracks and torsion bar suspension. It had a relatively low silhouette and a three-man turret. In mid-October the first pilot vehicle was delivered and production began in 1944 under the designation "Light Tank M24". 4,730 were produced by the time production stopped in August 1945. The first thirty four M24s reached Europe in November 1944 and were issued to the U.S. 2nd Cavalry Group (Mechanized) in France. These were then issued to F Company, 2nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion and F Company, 42nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion which each received seventeen M24s. During the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, these units and their new tanks were rushed to the southern sector; two of the M24s were detached to serve with the 740th Tank Battalion of the U.S. First Army. The M24 started to enter widespread issue in December 1944 but were slow in reaching the front-line combat units. By the end of the war, many armored divisions were still mainly equipped with the M5. Some armored divisions did not receive their first M24s until the