- Yes
- No
- Tech tree
- Premium
- Event
- Squadron
- Battle pass
- I don’t want this
- France
- United Kingdom
- Both France + UK
- I don’t want this
AML-30 (RARDEN Turret): The Irish Fox
Note that the name for this vehicle is not official. It is to provide confusion with the AML-30 (H-30)
I am here to propose the addition of a unique Irish modification of the French AML, a singular model with its former 60mm turret replaced with that of the British Scimitar and its 30mm RARDEN gun. It is hard to find information about the vehicle but the only two images of it, not even archived by the Defence Forces, proves its existence.
History
Spoiler
AML in Irish service
In 1964, Ireland obtained its first AMLs from France, these first models being the AML-60 CS armed with a 60mm mortar and two 7.62 machine guns, the first two of the Irish army. These were later followed up by 14 more AML-60s in the same year. In 1970, Ireland ordered 36 more AMLs, 16 AML-60-7 HBs and 20 AML-90s, these all being delivered by 1975.
AML-60 CS of the Irish Army
AML-90 (foreground) and AML-60(background) of the Irish Army
In 1979, due to a fault in the mortars and multiple misfires and accidents, the Irish Army stopped all use of the mortars on the AML-60 CS, resulting in the crews of them to have to use the two machine guns as their primary weapon. In 1986, one AML-60 CS was sent to France to have its turret replaced with the Creusot-Loire T25 turret armed with the M242 Bushmaster autocannon. Another one was fitted with the full turret of the FV107 Scimitar , making the AML-30, a vehicle similar in appearance and performance to the Fox, being the vehicle I am proposing. Both were tested at the Glen of Imaal in Wicklow.
AML-60 CS with 25mm T25 turret
Neither of these modifications would be done to the entirety of Ireland’s faulty AML-60 CS fleet, instead in 1989 they replaced the mortars and machine guns with a single 12.7mm Browning heavy machine gun and swapped out the original engine with a Peugeot diesel engine. These were re-designated AML-127.
The final modification of the AML-60 CS/ AML-127 fleet was replacing the turrets with the South African LCT-20 turret armed with the 20mm GI-2 autocannon and 7.62mm machine gun, the turret similar to that of the Ratel-20. These were re-designated as the AML-20/ AML H-20.
AML-20 on parade
During Ireland’s extensive service of the AML, they served in Many United Nations peacekeeping missions, having served in Cyprus(AML-60), Lebanon(AML-90) and Liberia(AML-20, AML-90). They had their last test firing in 2013 and were retired in the same year, at least one being sold to a French buyer.
Details
The only two known images of the AML-30 (RARDEN turret)
In the images, the AML-30 has a large ring-like structure between the hull and turret that appears to be the turret ring for the 30mm RARDEN turret.
Other than that, there is no further known differences with the hull or turret.
Specifications
Note that he weight and speed are estimated using stats from the AML-90
Crew: 3 (Driver, gunner, commander)
Weight: approx. 5.5 tonnes
Armament:
Main: 30mm L21A1 automatic cannon
Ammunition: At least 51 (I calculated from counting only the box-like structure in the X-ray of the Scimitar)
Belt capacity: 3 rounds
Reload: 1 second
Fire rate: 80 shots/min.
Vertical guidance: -10°/+40°
Turret rotation:
Horizontal: 21°
Vertical: 21°
Available belts:
-
30/170mm APHE-I (SAP-HE)
-
30/170mm HE-I-T (HEI-T)
-
30/170mm APDS-T (APDS)
Secondary: 7.62mm L37A2 machine gun (coaxial)
Optics:
Gunner: 9.8-10.0x
Commander: 1.0-10.0x
Mobility:
Speed
Forward: approx. 91 km/h
Backward: approx. 17 km/h
Power-to-weight ratio: approx. 16.4 hp/t
Horsepower: 90hp
Sources
Spoiler
Unfortunately, there is not much information available about this vehicle
- Wikipedia:
Armoured fighting vehicles of the Irish Army - Wikipedia
- War Thunder Wiki:
- Geocities (online forum and gallery of Irish ground vehicles):
https://www.geocities.ws/irisharmoredvehicles/P_AML60.html
- Irish Military Online (online discussion forum on the Irish military):