- Yes
- No
caid’s suggestion #88
I would like to suggest a pretty natural successor to the AMX 30B2, the AMX 30C2
The AMX 30C2 was an alternative development to the Giat leclerc offered for France and also for other countries using the AMX 30. the vehicle was developed in 1990 and offered a rather significant upgrade to the existing AMX 30B2 without being too heavy. the improvement features notably a gyro-stabilizer for the gun which gives the tank a much better offensive capacity, a new fire-control, reinforced suspension, a new ZF LSG 3000 automatic transmission, a new engine, and the tank also got a new thermal sight. all together this made the tank have quite an update.
the test was successful and the tank was ready for production. however, the upcoming introduction of the Leclerc was almost ready for production making the AMX 30C2 an upgrade that came too late. the AMX 30 was been about to retire from the French army and so the upgrade was an expense that was just not needed. the demonstrator is currently exposed at the Saumur Tank Museum
Firepower
the main improvement of the tank is the stabilizer. the stabilizer is who stabilizes the turret and the sight. the fire control was also improved to allow fire on the move. the armament retained is the 105mm CN-105-F1 which is the same armament as used in the AMX 30B2 but as it was built in 1990, it should have access to every single round available for this gun which allows the tank to have a decent buff of firepower as well. the tank has in his option a thermal for the gunner sight and commander. otherwise, it only has the laser rangefinder and night vision like the AMX 30B2. in the photo it was removed as those are from the museum, but the tank also retains the 20mm auto-cannon next to the gun.
Mobility
the mobility of this tank will be fairly improved. Getting an improved HS 110-2 mk E9 providing 850 hp to replace the 620-680-720 engine of the previous model, will be faster to accelerate. the tank also receives the ZF LSG 3000 automatic transmission. this transmission is the same as found on the early AMX 40 and comes with a torque converter which makes it have 8 forward and 4 reverse speeds. it will give a better top speed and lower reverse speed but the reverse speed remains pretty good. the tank will feel much more mobile than the average MBT it will encounter and will seem as mobile as the 3rd generation MBT such as the Leclerc and Leopard 2. Weighting 37 tonnes, it remains fairly light for an MBT.
Protection
the protection is not any better than the AMX 30B2. it will feature the same level of protection as any AMX 30. the armour is the same and it has no improvement in this aspect. in several it is alright but it will be comparable with other tanks that will start to feature advanced armour such as the ERA, spaced and composite armour. the crew of 4 men is standard amounts to the AMX 30. the tank would normally feature a smoke launcher but it does not appear on the pictures.
Sources
Spoiler