LOHR RPX 90 (Serval 60-20), Mortar with direct fire

CaID · October 9, 2024, 2:14pm

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caid’s suggestion #206

i would like to suggest an interresting armored car, the LOHR RPX 90 with Serval 60-20 turret.

the LOHR RPX 90 was an armored car proposed by LOHR industry to provide an offer amount of class 10 military vehicles. offered from 1983, the class 10 was highly needed in the market and LOHR had hoped to secure some contracts on the international market and make a name for themselves. relatively new in the military industry, LOHR hoped that one of their design could make a name for themselves and make competition Panhard with the AML and ERC. The RPX 90 was a larger version of the RPX 6000 which was a reconnaissance armored car. the RPX 90 was offered in 4 different known versions, each with a different turret which would all be subject to their suggestion. the Serval 60-20 is a pretty weird turret design, it has a 60mm mortar gun as the main armament, but also has a secondary 20mm mounted to the rear. and weirdly enough, the 60mm can fire HEAT and APFSDS for anti-tank combat. this turret makes the RPX 90 a fire-support vehicle first of all. but it can still be used as a reconnaissance vehicle
the RPX 90 wasn’t a success. no contract came to LOHR at all. the company didn’t manage to make the name they hoped for.

Firepower

Featuring the often underestimated, 60mm Brandt LR, is capable of direct fire using HEAT and APFSDS rounds, it can fight other tanks. at the same time, a 20mm auto-cannon is installed at the rear which is not useless against vehicles, the auto-cannon has been either a M693 or a HS820 (both auto-cannon have been proposed) are essentially showing the same ballistic performance, only the ammo load will change. all armaments offer pretty high elevation angles which make them easy to use in uneven terrain and possibly against aircraft.

serial options are also proposed with this turret

Hydrolic transverse to raise the rotation speed to 48°/sec
Laser range finder
balistic computer

those option could have been included on the turret mounted on the RPX 90 but there is no way to know from the picture only. this allows Gaijin to choose which option to include as they might change the BR of the vehicles. the following chart will only show the basic turret performance.

Mobility
the RPX 90 offers a very high mobility. the vehicle weighing about 9.4 tonnes is powered by a 250 hp engine. the power-weight ratio normally around 25 hp/tonnes gives it a high acceleration that would be pretty comparable to the R3 T20 FA-HS which is infamous for its high speed. the vehicle’s top speed reaching 105 km/h on the road would sometimes allow the players to reach 70 km/h off-road on flat terrain. if you want to raise your acceleration further, you can always turn your turret backward and fire a few shots to make the recoils give you a bit of buff in the acceleration. vehicles have hydraulically assisted steering, 6 forward and 1 backward speed gearbox, and all wheels break.

the weight was stated in Jane’s armor and artillery 1985-86 which mentioned the MARS F4 turret in the description which led me to assume the weight is the one with the MARS F4 turret.

knowing the MARS F4 is heavier than the HS 90, the overall weight shall be reduced by 600 kg which shall give us the estimated weight.

protection
the protection of the hull is unspecified in thickness, but it is indicated in the protection level. it was simply said to have protection against small armed and splinter all around. made of welded steel, this means a thickness of 8 to 12mm (like the AML and ERC from Panhard) this protection is a bit light and would make the armored car easy to take out. but the small size is a great advantage. 2.52 m tall, the vehicles will offer a pretty small target. the crew of 3 men is a bit small, the driver is placed in the center at the front of the hull while the gunner and commander are bellow the turret. this makes it easy to take out the crew with a single shot. the engine is at the rear. the turret offers about the same protection, the front armor being raised to 15mm will offer a bit better protection against HMG at longer distances. but that would be a rather minimal improvement.

Sources

Jane's armour and artillery 1985-86