- Yes
- No
caid’s suggestion #19
I would like to suggest a tank whose chassis would be obsolete for the BR his turret allows, the M113A2 Samson Mk.2
The M113 Samson Mk.2 was a technology demonstrator of the prototype of the Samson Mk.2 turret. this turret the successor of the RCWS-30 built by Rafael was a version of the Mk.1. The turret was more of a conventional shape which might look like a usual turret but it is an unmanned remote turret. the main feature was a low profile, retractable ATGM, and more importantly for the safety of the crew, the capacity to reload the gun from the safety of the tank by a hatch under the turret. the M113 Samson Mk.2 was presented in 2012 during the Eurosatory in Paris as a technology demonstrator for the future Samson Mk. 2 that would receive further improvement on the design before being marketed (with some success already). this suggestion will focus on the Prototype of the Samson Mk.2 which is the only version that appears to have been mounted on the M113.
Firepower
The main armament is the Bushmaster Mk.44 with 200 rounds ready to use in dual feed. the turret itself offers a lot of good features such as the two-plane stabilized gun, dual control for the commander and gunner, reloading from the inside of the hull, retractable ATGM pod, high gun elevation, and fast turret rotation, optionally the turret can also be equipped, at the request of the customer, with laser-rangefinder, Day/night sight or Thermal camera. as those are optional, i will let Gaijin decide which of that feature could be included to this turret according to the BR they want to give it and the interest of the player they want to have for this vehicles.
For those that didn’t like to read the full text, here is a resume of the good feature
- Dual control (Commander & gunner)
- Dual feed (two belts are feeding the gun for a total of 200 rounds)
- Stabilized
- Laser rangefinder (optional)
- Night vision (optional)
- Thermal (optional)
- High elevation
- fast rotation
- fire-and-forget ATGM launcher (need to first lock on targets)
Mobility
The mobility of this tank is based on the weight and power of the engine. the turret with his ammo weighs 1.5 tonnes, and the chassis weighs 11.3 tonnes. this allows us to estimate the total weight to 12.8 tonnes, which for a M113 is pretty normal. the engine is a General Motors 6V53 provides 215 hp at 2800 rpm. it would give a power/weight of 16.79 hp ton. which is not very great for a light tank of this rank, but it would give a power/weight similar to the M24 chaffee which is not so bad. it will not break the mobility record but it would be playable. the top speed would reach 64 km/h and 15 km/h backward, which is not bad at the end. this tank is amphibious with a water speed of 5.4 km/h
Protection
The armor of this specific M113 is pretty basic. made of aluminum, it would be a bit weak despite of its good thickness. barely capable of protecting against HMG at some distance, it would be still enough to protect the tank against Shrapnel and some damage. but it remains a light tank so the protection is not expected to be a great feature. the crew of 3 are inside the hull. a driver sits at the front, while the commander and gunner sit side by side in the middle of the tank under the turret.
Source
- DEFENSE STUDIES: Rafael Says Trophy and Spike are on Target for Australian Requirement
- Armored turret Rafael Samson Mk 2
- https://www.rafael.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Samson-30mm-Integrated1.pdf
Turret
Chassis
- M113 armored personnel carrier - Wikipedia
- APC M113
- http://www.military-today.com/apc/m113.htm
- https://www.army-technology.com/projects/m113-armoured-personnel-carrier/
armour package