APDS For AMX 30

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Tis is a transfer from the old forum

The French gov had an APDS program for the AMX 30 named : the 105/60/43 APDS, however no precisions were given on the round.

At the same time, The AMX/APX test division was ordered to test British L28A1 APDS

And by 1961 the AMX bureau had made pre-production modifications to the 105 gun to ensure compatibility with British APDS and HESH rounds.

Now if we do a comparison with between the program name and L28A1’s dimensions (picture above) we can find they are the same value rounded up (104,8 = 105 ; 61,2 = 60; 44,4 = 43), we can conclude the 105/60/43 APDS round is just the french test designation for L28A1.

The only difference would be that the round is fired at 1450 m/s instead of the usual 1470m/s to ensure compatibility with French twist.

This would reduce penetration from 350mm (at 1478 m/s) to around 340mm (at 1450 m/s) (estimated with Gaijin penetration calculator)

Given how the 20F2/M693’s APDS is named OPTSOC, I could guess this could have been named OPTSOC F1 had it been adopted.

Sources :

1961 AMX document about modifications made to preseries /prototypes of the AMX 30 before production. From Chatellerault (french army) Archives
This included APDS compatibility

Spoiler

https://i.imgur.com/IkkFtFB.png
https://i.imgur.com/SuamLeI.png

1960 EAB (Bourges plant) letter to the AMX test department director. From Chatellerault (french army) Archives.
This is about the D1510 gun (complying to D1507-T standards) capable of firing T57 (future OCC 105 F1) and British L28A1 APDS.

Spoiler

https://i.imgur.com/ZEOqzlD.png
https://i.imgur.com/10dDt2d.png

DGA Armament history division, part of the French Ministry of Defense. Picture from Chatellerault (french army) Archives. Story about the french APDS programe with the AMX 13’s 75/54/40 APDS but also talks about the AMX 30

Spoiler

https://i.imgur.com/9IpisX0.png

L28A1 dimensions from
https://vpk.name/images/i479626.html

15 Likes

interesting, would be a nice change of pace for the AMX-30s with only heat.

4 Likes