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Alvis Scorpion 90
The Scorpion 90 also known as the Scorpion 2 was a variant of the successful FV101 Scorpion developed by Alvis in the early 80’s in an attempt to bring a more powerful variant of the vehicle to export customers. The normal Scorpion had been a rather successful venture and Alvis hoped to capitalize on that by offering an improved vehicle armed with a 90 mm CMI Defence Mk III gun. Due to the roomy nature of the already-designed Scorpion turret, it did not take much effort to modify it to accommodate the larger gun, creating a turret designated the AC 90, which was almost identical to the basic vehicle turret, with only a modified mantlet to house the new cannon. The gun had an elevation of +30° and a depression of -8°, which was almost the same as the normal 79mm equipt vehicle. The tank carries 34 rounds of ammunition, a slight decrease from the 40 carried by the 76mm equipt vehicle. In addition to the 90mm cannon the Scorpion 90 was equipt with 2 7.62 GPMG’s, one mounted coaxially and a second on a pintel on the top of the turret, with a combined 3000 rounds of ammunition. A pair of quad smoke dischargers were also carried on either side of the turret, allowing the vehicle to launch both smoke grenades and Fragmentation grenades as the situation required.
In order to market the Scorpion 90, Alvis constructed a proof of concept demonstrator, which was equipt with the following features and capabilities:
- Thales NV 3001 system
- Thales NV53 day/night commander’s sight
- Thales NVL53 day/night gunner’s sight with integral laser range-finder
- Power traverse and elevation drives
- External 7.62 mm GPMG mount which can be used by commander or gunner
- Revised final drive units
- Revised sprocket carrier and rear idler unit
- Longer life tracks
- New fume extraction system
- New electrics with low-maintenance batteries
- Improved transmission
- Improved suspension and enhanced cross-country mobility
- Fire detection and suppression system
- A range of additional thermal imaging sights
These upgrades were also offered to existing Scorpion customers to modernize their fleet if deemed appropriate, though initially there was little interest in the gestating Scorpion 90. This malaise would soon break though, when Alvis took advantage of the American LAV project to market the Scorpion 90, along with the Stormer IFV (LAV-25). The IFV would not see much success from this marketing ploy, but the Scorpion 90 would see several orders, with both Malaysia and Venezuela ordering their own modified variants of the Scorpion 90, though both would differ from the complete design presented in the test bed. Production of the Scorpion 90 would begin in 1982, and it is still in service today with some of the countries that adopted it.
When looking at photographs the Alvis demonstrator can be easily spotted, as unlike the production vehicles, it has a different more slender muzzle break for the Cockerill LP 90mm gun, which got larger and more chunky after the prototype was built, but before production of any orders could commence. The proof of concept would later be modified to include this more modern muzzle break, but for the most part, the early photos can easily be decerned due to this noticeable variance in the preproduction vehicle.
Vehicle specification:
Mass 8,700 kg
Length 5.288 m (17 ft 4.2 in)
Width 2.134 m (7 ft 0 in)
Height 2.102 m (6 ft 10.8 in)
Crew 3 (Commander, Driver, Gunner)
Armour Aluminium armour, Cast and 1318b plate
Main armament 90mm Cockerill Mk3 M-A1 gun (34 rounds)
Secondary armament 1 x Coaxial 7.62 mm L43A1 machine gun (1500 rounds)
1 x pintel mounted GPMG (1500 rounds)
2 x 4 76mm smoke grenade launcher
Engine Perkins 6-cylinder diesel (200 hp at 2.700 rpm)
Power/weight 22.9 hp/t
Transmission Self Change Gears TN15X
Suspension Torsion-bar
Operational range 756 km (470 mi)
Maximum speed 72.5 km/h (45.0 mph)
Additional photos:
Sales brochure for the Scorpion 90 in Arabic:
Additional photograph of the demonstrator at a later date fitted with the muzzle break that would be found on production Scorpion 90s:
Sources:
- Army Guide (History of the Scorpion)
- In Development: Scorpion 90 | Armored Warfare - Official Website (Additional info on scorpion 90)
- https://www.militarytrader.com/military-vehicles/the-scorpion-cvrt (Additional history for scorpion)
- FV101 Scorpion - Wikipedia (Wiki page for Scorpion)
- Scorpion 90 | Weaponsystems.net (Additional info and vehicle statistics)
