- Yes
- No
Hello and welcome to yet another SPAA suggestion. This time we’ll be having a look at the Saudi AMX-30C1 Shahine.
The Shahine’s story starts in the early 1970s, with development of the Crotale missile, itself a product of a collaboration between South Africa and France. The latter had placed their own order for the Crotale system based on the Hotchkiss P4R chassis. In this same time period, Saudi Arabia had been looking to improve and expand its tank inventory, and ended up signing a contract with France for the AMX-30. Various models were ordered by the Saudis among which the MBT, the engineering vehicle, the 30mm armed SPAA variant and more. Among all these variants was also an order for the AMX-30C1 Shahine. This was the last of the order to be completed, with deliveries only taking place between 1980 and 1989. Saudi Arabia ended up ordering a total of 50 Shahines with the order being split between firing units and acquisition units.
The Shahine did not use the same R440 missile that was employed by the French, instead it used the improved R460 missile. This missile had a higher top speed of mach 2.8 and a longer range of 11.8km, a welcome upgrade over the 9km of the R440. Another notable and very visible difference of the Shahine compared to its French counterpart is the amount of missiles carried. While the original system only carries 4 missiles, the Saudi system instead carries 6.
A typical Shahine system would consist of a set of vehicles compromising of one or more (up to 4) firing units and a single acquisition unit. The Acquisition unit was also built on the AMX-30 chassis, but instead of the missile system, it featured a retractable radar array. The radar is a Doppler E/F-band system with a detection range of 18500m. It can keep track of up to 40 targets and can automatically identify the 12 most dangerous ones.
The firing unit does not come without its own radar, but it is limited to a tracking radar only, drastically reducing its situational awareness without the acquisition unit. However, the tracking radar present on the turret is no slouch. It is a monopulse Doppler tracking and guidance radar for J-band missiles with a detection range of up to 17km. An additional TV tracking system is also present in the vehicle. The vehicle can operate without the acquisition unit and serve as a standalone system if necessary.
The Shahine would eventually even receive an upgrade upgrade as well, with a contract being signed in 1984 and upgrade work taking place between 1991 and 1993. The upgrade was relatively modest, but included an upgraded acquisition radar which boosted the detection range to 19.5km as well as a slightly upgraded missile. The latter featured an electromagnetic fuse instead of the original IR one.
Saudi Arabia ended up being the only customer for this vehicle, but in their service the vehicle did not sit idle. Saudi Shahines prominently took part in the liberation of Kuwait-city in 1991 following the occupation by Iraq. Here they served in their intended role as mobile SPAA platforms protecting the columns of vehicles advancing into Kuwait. The Shahine remains in service with Saudis until this day.
On the technical side of things, the Shahine is still very much an AMX-30. It’s powered by the Hispano Suiza 110 engine which provides 690hp. The firing unit was a rather hefty vehicle, weighing in at up to 38.800 kg, 2.8 tons heavier than the base AMX-30 MBT. This gave the vehicle a power-to-weight ratio of 17.7 hp/ton which is still by no means bad. This allows the vehicle to reach its top speed of 65 km/h. As far as armor goes, the vehicle was really only protected against light arms fire, with the upper part of the hull providing protection against fire of calibers up to 12.7mm.
It is worth noting that the Shahine did not carry any spare ammo inside its hull and instead relied on a third vehicle, a logistics truck with a crane to come and provide the reload for it.
General characteristics:
-
Acquisition unit:
- Crew: 3
- Weight: 35 tons (estimate)
- Length: 6.59m
- Width: 3.10m
- Height: 5.5m
- Engine: Hispano Suiza 110 providing 690hp
- Power-to-weight: 19.7 hp/ton
- Maximum speed: 65 km/h
-
Firing unit:
- Crew: 3
- Weight: 38.8 tons
- Length: 6.59m
- Width: 3.10m
- Height: 5.5m
- Engine: Hispano Suiza 110 providing 690hp
- Power-to-weight: 17.7 hp/ton
- Maximum speed: 65 km/h
Armament:
- 6x R460 Shahine 1 missiles
OR - 6x R460 Shahine 2 missiles
Place in-game:
The AMX-30C1 Shahine provides the logical next step up from the original Crotale system, and the logical bridge between it and the Crotale NG. With its extra range and speedy missiles, it will be a potent SPAA system for the 11.0 or beyond bracket. The vehicle is resistant to machine gun fire and has good mobility thanks to its tracked chassis and good power-to-weight ratio. This will allow players to set up in good locations from which the fast missile can be a real surprise to any pilot.
Given its development heritage and the chassis upon which it is built, it seems logical to me that this vehicle would find a place in the French tech tree. However, with nations that don’t have a permanent home in the game yet, such things are hard to predict, and I’m sure whichever nation ends up receiving it, will be gaining a welcome reinforcement.
Similar to the P4R Crotale, the Shahine can be implemented both as a standalone vehicle and in a multi vehicle configuration, as both are viable operating modes of the vehicle. We can perhaps also compare it to the Soviet Buk M3, which comes as a multi-vehicle system, but destruction of the command vehicle does not knock out the whole, because the launchers have their own radar, same as the Shahine.
Sources
Shanine anti-aircraft missile system | Missilery.info
Crotale (Rattlesnake) / Shahine
The French AMX-30 Tank - TankNutDave.com
Army Guide
Shahine SAM Self-Propelled Tracked Surface-to-Air Missile Vehicle
Shahine | Weaponsystems.net
AMX 30 B SYSTÈME SICA SHAHINE THOMSON CSF (INTERMAQUETTES - 1/32 - par Jérôme Hadacek) - Milinfo
AMX-30C1 Shahine (1975)
https://artillerie.asso.fr/cesane/Texte/DocumentsMemorial/5.67.SHAHINE_(FR).pdf
https://www.forecastinternational.com/archive/disp_old_pdf.cfm?ARC_ID=1109