The M1 TTB was a technical test bed for what would become the “FMBT” project, which was halted at the end of the cold war, however restarted in recent times due to the new materials making a much more agile and lighter crewless turret plausible for newer American MBTs, alongside recent continuations and advancements in adversary’s ground forces equipment warranting a new approach to ground warfare.
It was planned to have thick layers of composite in the front, alongside an extra 4-16 round stowage or “complement” if needed, however, these were never implemented in the final prototype. The weight without composite is 45 tons, which is likely why no fittings were made during the prototype phase.
The tank’s cannon was a 120 mm M256 smoothbore gun and an AGT-1500 1500HP Gas Turbine engine
The autoloader was akin to the CAT TTB’s “FASTDRAW” Autoloader, which uses a similar mechanism to fire in around 5 seconds. The autoloading mechanism featured a completely springless setup.
The fate of the tank was sealed when it started, as the name stated, it was a testbed for the “Fastdraw” autoloader system. It was never built to be a practical tank. but to see if alternative methods not including springs could be used to drive the autoloader. Assumably, this is probably why the FCS is separated from the autoloader, as electrically-driven loading systems were tested. The remote turret setup was ahead of it’s time, however, was never adapted until recently due to the clarity of display screens compared to regular optics. Alongside that, the weight when ERA or NERA was applied alongside composite, alongside lack of any frontal fuel tanks, would mean issues with logistics and transportation are very likely worse compared to a standard M1.
The FCS was completely digital, alongside crew separated from the autoloader, as for reasons mentioned above.
There were 3 digital periscopes, assumably the driver, commander, and gunner, alongside the commander being able to remotely view the gunner’s periscope.
Stats
Cannon: 1x 120 MM M256
Secondary: M240 1x7.62mm Machine gun
Maximum Road Speed: 66.8 KMP/H
Weight: 45 Tons
Crew: 3
Engine: AGT-1500 Gas Turbine
Reloading Operation: Single-plant electrically-driven carousel autoloader, capable of either being hydraulically or electrically controlled depending on specifications.
I hope we get it in the state it was intended to be, but Gaijin has this bizarre habit of adding test vehicles in their test configuration not their planned combat one (like how the Obj292 has a test turret on, VT1-2 is made of structural steel, 120S has an under-powered engine, etc) so we might get the TTB but with structural steel for armor…
I have heard base M1 with some armor stripped down (for transport) hit 70mph on highway. With no heavy armor on this one, may be able to go similar speed
Should be based on max trial speed/governor removed speed, at least for prototype stuff. I don’t know if they hit 70 in GDLS trials but I heard they did 60-something
The TTB is not a tank, not a military vehicle, its a tracked test bed, if it is to come into war thunder, a game about military vehicle, it should be in its actual military combat configuration. For all we know it could be a husk with no targeting systems, no seats for crews, nothing but a demonstrator for an auto-loader. Adding test beds in the game in their test bed configuration is just ridiculous, this is a combat vehicle game not a 3d model collection, if a vehicle is to be added it should fit the criteria of being a historical MILITARY vehicle.
AGS is not a unmanned turret. It’s very articulated and cleft, but the crew is still operating in the turret below the gun and turret ring, and being rotated by the turret, like in the stryker.
A unmanned turret means the gunner is not in the turret, but outside the rotation of the turret compartment, with most designs having the gunner in the hull compartment by the driver, and REMOTELY operating the gun.
2s38 and anything later based on the Au-220/M Platform is a unmanned turret, Pantsir is an unmanned turret, HSTV-L and RDF/LT are unmanned turrets. (Commander is in the turret for observation purposes, but it’s being remotely operated by a gunner in the hull in normal circumstances, it can operate independently of commander if needed, so yes, it is classified as a “crewless turret”) AGS is not, as the crew are still being rotated with the turret.
We know for a fact before they stripped the TTB of parts, it did have a targeting system? Why? Because they made, one, potentially more prototypes before the M1 TTB testing just that. The M1 SRV was a test on a smaller scale to get the gist of what would need to be improved.
Alongside that, the stabilizer was fully functioning on the turret.
The HSTV-L was a test bed, but it had everything functional. Like most HIMAG projects, the likelihood is, and I say likely, not exactly, they would use this as a basis to garner more funding to develop a more practical and logistically easier platform if things went well, which was in this case supposed to be the FASTDRAW and the CAT TTB, which would be tested further before being dropped.
Why did they make it unmanned? It probably was because the USSR was doing the same. Object 490 and Object 477 were all unmanned prototypes doing the exact same thing at the same time. And the future was looking towards just that. The USSR collapse was unexpected to most people, outside and inside the ring of intelligence. After that, Russia lost a bunch of their factories, and due to a few wars breaking out in former-USSR countries, they had their hands tied when it came to the already limited production capability. China didn’t pursue any unmanned turrets either, still in catch up at the time.
If the cold war continued, chances are we would’ve seen a giant push for a practical M1 TTB due to their crew survivability, alongside other factors. Just like the RDF/LT was to the HSTV-L. However, the M1 TTB on it’s own would’ve never seen combat. Just like the HSTV-L wouldn’t of either.
