Commando Stingray - Royal Thai Army's Airborne Hitter

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Commando Stingray - Royal Thai Army’s Airborne Hitter

grafik

Hi and welcome to my 39th suggestion, which is about the Royal Thai Army’s Stingray light tank, hope you like it. :popcorn:

First of all:

  • This is a suggestion for a Vehicle we could see in game at some point in the Future , that doesn´t mean next Patch or somewhere in the near Future
  • Feel free to share more Information and / or correct me if something is wrong
  • Discuss respectfully, any aggressive kind or verbal abuse will be reported, the Forum rules also apply here

grafik

Basic Background

The Stingray was developed privately by Cadillac Gage Textron in the 1980s as a new light weight air-borne vehicle for export, with the first prototype completed in 1984. In 1992, the development of the Stingray II began. To be competitive on the market, the Stingray was less technologically advanced than e.g. the HSTV, but relied on existing components from other US armored vehicles to keep costs down. The emphasis was of course on mobility and armament, to the detriment of armour, in a classic light tank/cavalry pattern. Production was completed in 1994 and marketing continued to countries such as Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan until 2003.
In 1988 the RTA brought the Stingray into service with a purchase of 106 tanks. The contract was worth $150 million. Cadillac Gage assisted in repairing some tanks after reports of cracked hulls were received. The Stingray turret was also marketed separately, since it could be fitted on the hull of the M41, M47, M551 and V600 APC. Further marketing efforts were unsuccessful and Thailand remains the only user of the Stingray to this day.

The Stingray Overall

The Stingray was designed to increase strategic and tactical mobility and serve as an air-transportable light tank, so it can e.g. be transported by a C-130 Hercules or similar cargo aircraft.
The tank is armed with a fully stabilized 105mm low recoil force smoothbore cannon derived from the British L7A3. This cannon is equivalent in performance to that used in the M1 Abrams main battle tank. It can fire the entire spectrum of NATO ammunition, that including M426 and M735A1 APFSDS rounds. It carries 32 rounds of 105 mm ammunition, of which most are stored below the turret ring and eight rounds in the turret. The three ready-to-use cartridges are stored in special individual holders configured for all types of 105mm ammunition.

Stingray spotted with Mesh Add-on

grafik

A coaxial 7.62mm machine gun and a 12.7mm machine gun mounted on the roof are the secondary armament. The gunner has an Optic-Electronic Corporation M36E1 roof-mounted day/night sight. Optionally, this can be replaced with an M36E1 SIRE day/night sight with laser rangefinder or a thermal imaging sight. The commander has a NV-52 day/night sight, seven periscopes and a one-piece hatch.
Originally powered was a stock Detroit Diesel Allison 8V-92TA 535 hp (399 kW) engine, but the production model (for the Royal Thai Army) was a liquid-cooled, supercharged 2-stroke V8 diesel engine producing 550 hp developed.

grafik

Thanks for your time, hope you liked it :salute:
[Will add more if there are some (more) important / declassified things]
[PM or comment if a Link or Picture isn´t working]

Sources:

Links

Stingray light tank | Thai Military and Asian Region
Light Tank Stingray (1984)
Stingray Light Tank | MilitaryToday.com

Book / Other:
Thailand Royal Army Weapon Systems Handbook Volume 1 - IPB USA 2009

List of Suggestions for Thailand

10 Likes
2

Tanks adopted by export customers but not adopted by its host nations should go to the export customer’s nation tech tree as a priority.

8 Likes
3

+1 interesting tank

2 Likes
4

+1 for US where it is needed and where it should be

1 Like
5

if the Thailand sub tree comes for Japan it should go their

5 Likes
6

+1 for whatever tree Thai vehicles enter the game in, be it a combined ASEAN tree or Japan sub-tree.

USA can get the Stingray II, which remained a prototype.
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9 Likes
7

Absolutely not. Japan has no need for it, and has NOTHING to do with it. The US made the vehicle and it should only be in the US tree.

1 Like
8

US should get both at different BRs, similarly to the TAMs.

They made the damn vehicle and should be a priority to have the Stingrays added to them.

9

If they get a Thai sub tree which is very likely they should get it

Its as simple as that

10 Likes
10

As long as the US gets it as well, I don’t care if Japan does or doesn’t. It should be in the US tree.

11

No US never used it so it doesn’t get it

4 Likes
12

Neither did Japan, and Japan definitely didn’t create the vehicle and produce it, unlike the US. What an argument.

1 Like
13

Nobody is suggesting a Japanese Stingray. The vehicle was operated by Thailand, and the connection with Japan would be a Thai subtree. This is the same as Italy not operating the KF41, yet they got it in the Hungarian subtree.

If you want the Stingray for the US, there are more than enough other Stingray variants than the one operated by Thailand for you to suggest.

Spoiler

Stingray II; Developed in the US but never adopted by any nation.
image

Stingray turreted M551; Once again a US vehicle never adopted by any nation.
image

Stingray turreted M41; This one was tested by Thailand in a similar configuration, however if you really wanted you could argue that the 50. cal machine gun that was not present on the Thai vehicle makes this a different, US only tank.
image

Stingray “(P)”; This one seems to be a prototype for the Stingray, though I didn’t look into the image much. Notable differences to the Thai tanks seem to be the smoke launcher positioning and a smaller drivers hatch. While those differences might be enough to argue for it as a different vehicle, it would still perform the same.
image

So I feel like this whole argument is pointless.

17 Likes
14

Very pointless, aye. The Thai Stingray can go to Japan, one of those Stingrays can go to the US. It’s a non-issue that’s being blown out of proportion for no reason.

7 Likes
15

Simple solution: generic Stingray in the USA tree now (and folder it with some of the other variants). If and when a Thai subtree is added, the Thai service Stingray can go there as well.

3 Likes
16

Possible solution but the US never adopted the tank. Hence Thailand should get it first before the US. What I mean is that it should be released as part of the Thai subtree, which is looking more & more towards Japan, ergo Japan should get the Stingray first before a version is released for the US tree or it at least together.

5 Likes
17

How would you know that lol. US doesn’t have gaps like Japan, but if it’s really a problem add it to both nations

6 Likes
18

So basically, Stringray is only adopted and used by RTA (Royal Thai Army) so The Stingray should be added to Japan Techtree (Thai Sub-tree). And for US Techtree, you can have either Stringray II (proto) or Stringray AGS (also proto), and btw there’s already Stringray in US Techtree if you’re smart enough to notice.

3 Likes
19

Well considering that Japan already has the Type 74s and Type 16 as tanks with good mobility that fill the same role as the Stingray, and that they are at the same BR as the Stingray would be, yes, there is no need for it in their tree.

On the other side, the US doesn’t have ANY tech tree light tank that isn’t an IFV in the 8.3-9.7 range, and it NEEDS it because the light tanks that should have been in the tree, ended up as FOMO event vehicles.

US should get a standard Stingray at 8.7 where they heavily lack vehicled in general, not just light tanks. And then the Stingray 2 should be at a higher BR with better ammo.

Japan does not deserve to get this vehicle, at least not exclusively and not before the US does. They have nothing to do with it and it would be extremely unfair to not give the US this vehicle. I don’t why it’s such an insane concept for you people to give a country the vehicle it made AND needs.

20

And nothing is keeping you from suggesting those two. I even provided a pretty comprehensive list consisting purely of US Stingray variants that even included both of these:

What it didn’t include however, was the Stingray in Thai service, which is what this suggestion specifically is about. Which brings me to this:

This is not a suggestion for a US vehicle for Japan, it’s a suggestion for a Thai operated vehicle in a Thai subtree. It was paid for by Thailand, they deserve it because they paid for it.

It would be going to Japan with a Thai subtree, which offers support for one nation (Japan) in exchange for representing the military of another without forcing their players to jump trees (Thailand).

I am not saying US shouldn’t get a Stingray, they absolutely can, go suggest it. But a Thai operated Stingray in a Thai subtree is far from unreasonable.

Going by this for need/no need I’d also like to mention that in this specific BR range the US has as many MBTs as Japan has tanks in total. I agree that the US could use a cannon armed light tank in the tree, but then go suggest one. This argument is just silly.

9 Likes