M113 T.20/13, French export APC

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caid’s suggestion #104

I would like to suggest an up-gunned version of the M113 the M113 T.20/13

this upgrade was a design from the 70s. it was never intended to be in service in France as the AMX-10P and AMX VCI were already in service, leaving France with no need for M113, yet they had ordered a few of them for evaluation, development and mostly for export.

France was not without knowing the high success of the M113 around the world. with a dozen thousand vehicles in service, France couldn’t miss to realize the export potential of an up-grade for this tank. and one of the most obvious weaknesses of this APC was the firepower. the M113 (all APC variants) was almost exclusively armed with a 12.7mm M2HB in an unprotected turret (if we can call a gun mount in front a hatch a turret). knowing this lack of firepower and exposition of the crew, France had used their knowledge of lightweight turrets to mount a new turret for the M113. they had mounted the Toucan I turret armed with a 20mm auto-cannon and 7.62mm LMG

this turret was similar to the Toucan II used on the AM 10P. The T.20/13 was later called Toucan I and was an inferior version in most aspects.

the M113 T.20/13 was presented in 1976 as an export upgrade. a single prototype was built and tested but there was nothing that fallow. it seems the project was canceled and the upgrade was never really offered officially for export. probably due to the right to improve the American tank or the introduction of the Toucan II turret (used in the AMX 10P)

Firepower
the firepower comes from the installation of the Toucan I turret. the main armament was a 20mm M693 dual feed gun who’s carry 120 rounds magazine and was allowed to switch from two types of rounds at once due to the dual feed allowing 2 belts to feed the gun (one of 75 rounds, the other of 45 rounds). the fire-rate of 900 rpm is pretty intense. the velocity reaching 1100 m/se c allows rather good effectiveness against aircraft. the french having access to various ammunition types including AP, APHE, APDS, APFSDS, and HE rounds allowed good firepower in all situations. the elevation allows a -13°/+50° which allows excellent flexibility in all situations. the transverse offering 13° sec in manual and 37° sec with the optional electrical transverse. the elevation speed is 16° sec

the turret come with a 7.62mm coaxial LMG having 200 rounds ready to use


Mobility

been a prototype of 1976, there was only 2 variants of the M113 chassis in services. the M113 (1960) and the M113A1 (1964), the M113A1 standard was retrofitted on the existing M113 chassis making it 95% sure the M113 T.20/13 was using the M113A1 chassis.

powered by a 6V-53 Detroit Diesel engine 215 hp engine , and the weight estimated to 12.000 kg (11.090 for the chassis without armament, 698 kg for the turret with ready-to-use rounds + about 300 kg of additional rounds) this allows a power weight of 17.9 hp/ton and a top speed of 67.6 km/h . the tank is completely amphibious but moves in the water with the track making it pretty slow. a mare 5.8 km/h in the water . it makes from 0 to 32 km/h in 10.5 sec . can break completly in 12 meters or less. can cross 1.66 m trench and turn in a 4.26 meters radius

it has a 3-speed automatic gearbox and steering differential.

Protection
the chassis built in Aluminium alloy 5083 , offers a balance between lightness and protection. the front armor has been 38mm at the front with a good angle of 45° at the upper part and 25° at the lower part. the side is completely flat but has 44mm at the side . the rear have 38mm with a 10° angle. the roof is 38mm as well. this allows overall protection against LMG and HMG but shouldn’t be resisting well to auto-cannon or any guns.

the crew of 2 consists of a driver at the front left and a gunner/commander under the turret. both well protected by the hull armor. while the Toucan I turret has the option to have smoke discharge, the picture clearly shows it was never mounted.

Sources

Turret


Spoiler


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yes as event/battlepass reward, as we already have AMX 10P

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