- Yes
- No
caid’s suggestion #31
I would like to suggest an interesting SPG for Israel. the M10 SA50
the M10 SA50’s history started in 1951, when Israel acquired 27 M10 tanks from UK junkyard. the tanks were in a sorry state and needed intensive repair. Besides the mechanic that needed to be restored, their guns, mainly 76mm M1, were often worn out. the gun itself been considered obsolete needed to be replaced. the initial planning was to mount the 17-pounder on the tanks to replace the M1, but negotiations about acquiring the gun were not going that well and the gun itself was considered as obsolete despite the fact it was still potent against heavy armor. they came the Idea to up-gun the M10 with the modern SA50 gun who’s was considered an improvement. Israel had requested the assistance of France to develop the new tank in 1953. France had agreed to help and had quickly built a prototype themselves to check the suitability of the concept. after having built their prototype, France had taught Israel how to do it themselves and provided their technical knowledge related to this development along with a contract to sell the SA50 guns and ammunition.
but came another idea from France. knowing that Israel was negotiating to acquire the 17-pounder gun for the Sherman, France had proposed to mount their gun on the Sherman Instant. the contract was much juicier for France there as there were 300 Sherman to rearm instant of 27 M10. Israel had adopted the idea of the Sherman being up-gunned and concluded that the M10 with SA50 was not needed (it was no better than the Sherman in his role of TD) and the Israeli M10 was used for a secondary role and armed with the 17-pounder that was already acquired from UK (probably guns intended for both M10 and Sherman) the test on the M10 SA50 ended in 1954
Firepower
the main feature of the M10 SA50 over the other M10 was the gun. the tank was armed with the 75mm SA50 gun adapted from the AMX-13. the gun offers a higher velocity and higher penetration over the original 3-inch gun from the M10. but the rounds are all solid shots making the post-penetration damage a lot less. it fire APC , APCBC and HE rounds. the gun can have a penetration up to 200mm at close range with the APCBC rounds. the velocity of 1000 m/sec allows excellent accuracy at long range. the 12.7mm M2HB was never mounted on this tank or at least the photo evidence does not show any details it was ever mounted. the turret rotation reaching 4.5° sec can seem quite slow and it would be better to keep distance from the targets to follow them with the gun. the elevation was probably the same with a good -10°/+30°
Mobility
been mainly unchanged in weight and having the engine untouched, the M10 SA50 mobility would remain almost identical to the M10 ingame (minus the weight of the add-on armor) with a weight of 29.6 tons, and a General Motors 6046 diesel, 375 hp engine . the power weight would get about 12.7 hp-tons . the tank would reach with some patience a speed of 48 km/h on the road making it have average mobility for a tank of his era.
Protection
been using identical chassis as the regular M10 tanks, the M10 SA50 would not have much more to offer. The add-on armor does not appear on any picture of the tank meaning it would be normal not the have it on this version. the hull offering 51mm at the front and 25mm at the rear and side would offer decent protection against tank weapons at his rank. the turret features good protection around the gun allowing it to take some good shots safely. the crew of 5 men consists of 3 men in the turret, a gunner, a commander, and a loader, and 2 men in the hull, a driver and an assistant driver.
the turret is open-top making it very vulnerable to attack from above.
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