- Yes
- No
- Benelux
- Other
- I don’t know
- I said no
This vehicle was made in 1986 as a private venture by CMI (now John Cockerill) after they had finished designing the CM 90 turret and wanted to present it to the export market.
Belgium had ordered their M113s in 1980 and started receiving them in 1982.
CMI then bought a Belgian M113A1-B and fitted it with the CM 90 turret, making it a fire support vehicle still capable of carrying 10 passengers and flotation panels have been attached so that the vehicle remains amphibious.
The M113 hull is very well known, being made out of aluminium and isn’t really supposed to take heavy anti-tank fire. The turret as well is very light, but unlike the hull, is made of welded steel, and while additional armor can protect it frontally from 14.5 mm AP fire, base armor protection will only get you as far as 7.62 mm from all angles.
However armor isn’t everything, and the turret features a good 90 mm Cockerill Mk 3M-A1 cannon firing APFSDS, HEAT-FS and a variety of HE, HESH and smoke shells.
The cannon can be told apart from the standard Mk 3 gun via its muzzle brake, which only has a single baffle instead of 3.
Optional equipment include a ballistics computer, night vision (no thermals) and a laser rangefinder.
No major redesigns have been made to the hull, and the mobility remains pretty good, although the turret does bring the vehicle to its maximum weight.
Other features include 2 machine guns including a pintle-mounted one, 16 smoke grenade launchers, x8 magnification for the gunner and commander sights and electro-hydraulic traverse and elevation.
M113A1-B CSE 90
Specifications
Armament:
90 mm Cockerill Mk IIIM-A1 cannon (ammo: 12 + hull stowage)
- M652A1 APFSDS: 100 mm RHA at 1000 m and 60°, 1210 m/s
- M620A1 HEAT-FS: 250 mm RHA, 890 m/s
- NR 478 HEAT-FS: 300 mm RHA, 890 m/s
- NR 220 HEAT-FS: 330 mm RHA, 700 m/s
- M625A1 HESH: 102 mm RHA, 800 m/s
- M618A1 Smoke: 714 m/s
Reloading rate: Unknown, around 8.7 s
2 x 7.62 mm machine guns (ammo: coaxial: 400, cupola: 200)
Vertical guidance: -10 / 30° at 30°/s
16 x smoke grenade launcher
Stabiliser: no
Laser rangefinder: optional
Night vision sights: optional
Armor:
38 mm Aluminium front and rear hull
44 mm Aluminium hull sides
Turret protected against 7.62 mm AP
Mobility:
6V-53 6-cylinder engine (215 hp)
Max. speed: ~64 km/h (6 km/h in water)
Power to weight ratio: 15.3 hp per ton
Crew:
3 (Driver, Commander, Gunner)
Dimensions:
Mass: 14 t
Length: 4.8 m
Width: 2.68 m
In-game, this could perform very similarly to the C13 T90 in the Italian tree with it having the same gun with better shells but also worse armor somehow.
The APFSDS shell, while having pretty poor penetration (expecting ~250 mm of flat pen) would still perform better against spaced armor and isn’t as likely to get eaten up by volumetric.
If it does get the optional laser rangefinder, it could suffer from the increase in BR since it doesn’t have a stabiliser and chemical rounds may start to become problematic.
Overall i think this could be a slightly worse C13 due to its worse hull, but it could definitely still be fun!
As for where it would go, i’d personally want to keep this for a Benelux tree, as Belgium is its only possible operator nation, but in the event of a Belgian subtree to France, then France is the next most logical option to me.
Let me know what you think!
Sources