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Introduction
General Falcon History
The Falcon self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system was developed in response to the need for a cost-effective, versatile air defence solution for low-flying aerial threats. Designed and built by Vickers-Armstrong, the system was built on a modified chassis of the Abbot self-propelled gun. The project emerged as an effort to provide a simpler, more affordable alternative to complex radar-equipped systems like the French twin 30mm or the German twin 35mm systems. The goal was to create a platform capable of engaging both aerial and ground targets without relying on sophisticated, unreliable, and potentially vulnerable technology, which would also come with cost savings for any potential customers.
The prototype, completed in 1970, used a Value Engineered Abbot chassis fitted with a turret housing twin Hispano Suiza HSS 831L 30mm guns, the firing the same ammunition as the British Rarden cannon. The Falcon’s design prioritized simplicity and reliability, with electric-powered gun operation, belt-fed ammunition, and manual fallback controls for emergency use, and the turret’s stabilisation allowed accurate fire on the move.
We’re all familiar with the Falcon. It’s in-game, it’s an absolute menace, it’s an early IFV masquerading as an SPAA, and because of its lethal effectiveness against against ground vehicles, from an anti-air perspective it’s pretty massively overtiered for a twin-30mm, no radar, no proxy system. It therefore finds itself at a BR where other vehicles in the same tech tree, namely the Chieftain Marksman and ZA-35, vastly outperform it in the anti-air role, while also opening up a significant gap in Britain’s SPAA line between 5.3 and 8.3.
So where does the Falcon (pre-production) come into this? Well, first, to be completely clear, only a single Falcon was actually completed, with the vehicle that is currently in-game representing the final appearance and full capabilities of the production standard Falcon system. The Falcon (pre-production) represents an earlier configuration, with the external differences being an array of smoke grenades on the right-hand turret cheek, a slightly different turret geometry (see below), as well as some cosmetic differences with VICKERS branding being slapped all over it. There is also the opportunity for some internal differences, with the Falcon being fitted with several different engines and optics over the course of its life as a marketting vehicle. But the real opportunity of this pre-production variant is to is to introduce a Falcon with essentially zero anti-ground capabilities, by reducing the ammunition selection, potentially only to High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) and High Explosive Incendiary - Tracer (HEI-T), meaning the system is essentially completely harmless to ground vehicles, except milk trucks.
By introducing a Falcon variant that isn’t capable of sending an IS-7 back to the hanger frontally, it would allow it to be placed at a BR representative of its anti-air capabilities, instead of its anti-ground capabilities, which would place it right around 7.7, which would go a long, long way in alleviating the current large SPAA gap in the British tree.
To summarise the differences that this would offer compared to the current, in-game Falcon
External
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Slightly different turret geometry with additional metal plating on the front
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1x set of smoke launchers on the right turret cheek
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Cosmetic differences including some decals and a ‘BMARC’ placard on the side of the turret
Internal
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Different engine - the Falcon was first fitting with the Rolls Royce K60, but also later fitted with the Cummins V555C or the GM 6V53. The K60 could be retained in the pre-production Falcon with the Production variant getting the 6V53, which would offer a veryxslight boost in performance
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Different optics/FCS - several different gunners and commanders optics were fitted to the Falcon, and late in it’s life the Falcon was almost certainly fitted with a laser rangefinder, whilst early-on the vehicle almost certainly wasn’t.
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Ammunition - by adjusting the ammunition selection to ‘earlier’ (less effective vs ground) belts, the Falcon (pre-production) would maintain is proficiency against air targets while being reigned in against ground targets.
Specifications
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Images
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Proposed pre-production Falcon on the left (with differences circled in red), production-standard Falcon (currently in-game) on the right.
Sources
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Vickers Falcon SPAAG - Tank Encyclopedia
British Defence Equipment Catalogue, 1979
Abbot FV433 Self-Propelled Gun, Chrisopher F. Foss
International Defence Review, September 1970 Volume 3
