- Yes
- No
caid’s suggestion #114
I would like to suggest the most basic AMX 30 version, the AMX 30A
The AMX 30 was the final form of the French share of the Standard/Europanzer program. it mark an official split between the German and French teams and from this point forward the Char AMX de 30 ton was born and later known as the AMX 30.
built in a preseries in 1963, the AMX 30 closely resembles the Europanzer but features a new turret. the gun was standardized and renamed 105 mm CN-105-F1 and so was the rounds standardized. the tank shows a lot of good performance and has proven satisfactory for the French needs. 5 of those tanks were built as a preseries and used in the French army for training, testing, and comparison with the M47 Patton. the AMX 30 was designed to specifically replace the aging M47 patton which was in the French services since 1953 but was 2nd hand from the US stock in Germany. nothing less than 1200 AMX 30 was needed for the French army. The preproduction officially got the designation of AMX 30A when the AMX 30B got into production in 1966 following the learning of the AMX 30A.
While on Paper the AMX 30A was perfectly good for services and showed good performance, the reality was the transmission which was supposed to be simple, reliable, and proven was in reality prone to breakdown and led to the AMX 30A spending much more time in maintenance than training. this was one of the problems solved in the AMX 30B which received a different transmission.
other differences include the roof-mounted 12.7mm machine gun and the 7.62mm coaxial which make the tank closer to what we can find in other nations in terms of firepower. the AMX 30B saw the coaxial replaced by a 12.7mm and in 1972 a 20mm. a new cupola was installed as well to give the commander more visibility on the AMX 30B
Firepower
for the firepower, the tank is armed with a 105mm CN-105-F1 gun. this gun is the same as the AMX 30B but without sleeves. this gun is a riffle gun that is much more accurate than the smooth-bore gun such as the RH105 and L7. it fired only 2 rounds in 1963. the OCC F1 and OE F1. The OCC F1 an HEAT round capable of penetrating 400mm of armor is quite effective against conventional armour. this round features a rotating shell that cancels the rotation caused by the rifle barrel and lets the core of the round stay almost without rotation which makes the HEAT not lose effectiveness while keeping the high accuracy. the tank is equipped with a Coincidence rangefinder and Tilt corrector with a correction up to 30%. The tilt corrector automatically adjusts the sight to vertical when the tank is not on flat ground which can make aiming difficult for the gunner. the gun has an elevation of -8° to +20° with a 360° transverse at the speed of 30°/sec. the tank carries 58 rounds.
the commander has a 12x sight with the rangefinder
the gunner has an 8x sight for the gun.
the coaxial is a 7.62 mm A-A-F1N placed at the left of the gun. the tank carries 3000 rounds for the coaxial
an additional 12.7mm M2HB is placed on the roof and manned by the commander for close defense. the tank carries 1000 rounds for the 12.7mm
the tank was also capable of equipping the night vision which included the huge box spotlight on the left of the gun.
Mobility
the tank will have a slightly different mobility over the AMX 30B. The top speed remains the same. the engine as well. the tank has the Hispano-Suiza HS 110 providing 720 hp at 2800 rpm, the tank will not lack power. the weight reaching 32.5 tonnes makes it slightly lighter than the AMX 30B. the gearbox is the Type 5 S 200 with 5 speed and a gear inverter. The track’s rubber pad offers a grip to climb 60% slope and tilt to 30%. the tank has a top speed of 65 km/h forward and backward. the tank can cross a river up to 2.2m deep without equipment. this means the water can go as high as the turret top without drowning. this is due to the compressed air for the engine and the inflated seal in the joint which can prevent the water from entering the tank.
Protection
the protection of the AMX 30A is almost identical to the AMX 30B. The only real difference is the cupola which offers a much smaller profile. the tank features rather decent armor for a 2nd generation MBT. it has 80mm of frontal armor with a heavy flop which allows it to take a direct hit of the conventional gun. the side armour is much weaker and some 20mm can penetrate it. the tank features a low profile. it has NBC capacity with an air filter and pressurized interior. the tank has 4x smoke launcher placed at the rear of the turret.
Sources
French Archive
