Ever since I was in High School, and started becoming interested in tanks more & more. One of the vehicles that caught my eye was both the RDF/LT and HSTV-L. Not because of YouTubers, or any sort of obsession by people. I first found it weirdly enough while looking through Soviet air-deployed vehicles on pinterest… Ironic, I know, a lot of things have changed in terms of info since then.
Anyways, that’s aside the point. I know that one document about the Senate’s briefing on budget for many of the US projects says the HSTV-L’s ammo capacity tested, is 26. But that’s tested. Looking further into it, you can see the time it takes to unload the basket and the carousel. Minus the breech. And given, that’s probably why everyone claims it’s 26. Because loading and unloading it, that’s how it is.
However, given how the system works in question, which loads 6 munitions from the basket. I would think that it would be completely capable of uploading a extra 6 to the basket after the 6 is loaded.
Given in War Thunder you can load the full amount, in every stowage, from the start. I think this is a interesting topic point.
A certain someone would be happy for a change like this to occur, but I have no doubt in my mind gaijin will immediately shoot down a bug report if it’s related to this vehicle lmaooo.
Spookston argued it’s 26 due to the senate hearing saying they tested 26 rounds for rapid deployment. Though, I’d rather not talk about him here due to personal reasons. Whats tested vs max could be the same or very well be different. If they loaded the carousel without going through the basket first, then it could definitely be 26. But I believe they loaded the basket to 26, loaded 6 into the carousel, so 20 is in the basket now, so that also means an extra 6 in the basket itself.
I haven’t suggested it because I cannot confirm how they loaded it for the tests
I wish it was that easy. I doubt any of the people who work where the tank resides (Aneston, Alabama) know either, but I’m not sure on that. it’s pretty much just a museum piece at this point. Given, if there’s a plaque or some type of documentation they have there that says, it that isn’t relevant to national security anymore, it would’ve been published long ago.
I’m aware of the interview with the engineer that worked on it, but again, unless he worked on the autoloader, I don’t think they would be credible. Try asking your grandparents about Vietnam. They will often get things confused they don’t know about. Not to discredit the dude, but one primary source without any other sources to match really coincide with it doesn’t mean much in the long run. The tank was built around 26 being used in combat and when being deployed by air if applicable. But that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the maximum.
Either way, visiting Aneston, Alabama would do nothing, I doubt there’s enough rounds in good condition available to test it, and even if there was, they wouldn’t risk breaking a 60 year old tank for any reason. Which that would do, as the tank is not in pristine condition at all, or maintained for any sort of service or even public viewing. Not many people live in Aneston directly due to the high levels of DU in the water that were dumped or disposed of poorly. So, I don’t even if it would be safe to stay in the town for a while to see unless your active duty on base.
The tank only has room for 26 rounds, which is what they tested when they tried to see how long it took to reload. Had it entered production it would have had a 60-round magazine, so there is no reason for test to the arbitrary number of 26 if the real magazine could hold more.
I saw that. Though, tested upload ammo vs actual capacity could very well be different. As I stated, the vehicle was a test bed. This begs the question though, if the carousel is loaded separately from the main compartment, then you’d be corrrect. However, if it loads from the basket, then a extra 6 can be stored in the basket after loading into the carousel. I don’t know if 60 could be held on the HSTV-L, as the autoloader placement and basket was a bit different.
I changed it on Gaijin network a few minutes ago to be appropiate. Hopefully it will update… Was pointless and I was being a goof. Honestly surprised I stuck with it for so long.
I’ve had so many teammates shoot me because of it with their MGs. Which was the point of it. Attention. But, that was a while ago. Now, recently, I’ve made a realization with all the tanks I have collected, and how the games changed since I first joined back in 2017 (?ish). It is not a good idea to goof off in game or with user names as much as I used too.
The HSTV-L could not hold 60 rounds but had it gone into production it was the plan to increase the magazine to that size, shown here on the concept:
The simplest explanation here is that 26 actually means 20+6, which might also explain the time discrepancy between 5 and 26 rounds. Loading only 5, they might go through the carousel which means that the revolver basket rotates around and loads the carousel which takes longer than just loading the basket so the last 6 rounds are loaded faster.