I am suprised that this has yet to reach any Youtubers. Obviously nothing is confirmed outside of the blanks themselves, but there is a solid list of vehicles that you and others have come up with, which while community-made is often more than newsworthy enough for some of these channels.
Regardless, I think there is merit to some of these guesses, and whilst it is unlikely to be revealed for the October update it should not be entirely slept on when predicting the December patch.
Got this from a facebook post
Singaporean Centurion tanks: A Myth?
When it comes to the Cold War beast that is the Centurion, it has experienced many different events during its long time in service. Not only with the British Army, but whilst serving around the world with many armies. Throughout its time, it has seen many conflicts, from the battles in the Korean Peninsula, to the wars of the Middle East, not to mention the streets of Northern Ireland, and even the battles in Western Asia and Southern Africa. Hell, even in the swampy jungles of Vietnam, the Aussie Centurion Mk.5/1 tanks were there to support the Australian troops on the ground. At the same time, such a tank had gone through so many modifications, from the standard updates by Great Britain to personal updates made by the different countries that operated the mighty, long-serving land beast of the late-20th century. Simple to say, the Centurion main battle tank was a grand ole main battle tank to have many stories and records from its time in service.
However, there is one chapter of the Centurion’s story that is a rather short one, as it has been barely uncovered from what little information there is about it. At the same time, such chapter has been debated whether it actually existed, or was nothing but a fairy tale with the Centurion tank. These are the Centurion tanks that were said to have been in service with the Singaporean Armed Forces, the tanks being nicknamed, the Tempest.
The story about the Tempest is one that is questioned to be fact or fiction, as Singapore has neither confirmed nor denied the adoption and use of the Tempest tanks in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). The fact that almost no photo or record of the Tempest tanks have been seemingly found makes this case hard to confirm all information that has been provided about the Tempest. Information such as the providers for the tanks, the year they first were delivered/entered service, the number of tanks delivered in total, their exact main armament/armor/Mark number, and whether they are actually retired, or possibly still in service, but as reserve units.
However, from information that I have from SAF veterans and Singaporeans that knew some SAF personnel from then, I know this for a fact. The Centurion tank, identified as the Tempest by the SAF, was indeed truly in service with the SAF.
In simple info about the tanks, it was said the tanks came from India originally, with Israel later providing upgraded Centurion tanks (Israeli Sho’t Kal) in the 90s. The exact number of Centurion tanks provided to Singapore hasn’t been determine, though an approximate 63 tanks were said to have been delivered from India. India, in fact, did provide the Centurion tanks to Singapore around 1975, with the tanks being equipped with the 20-Pdr main gun.
The tanks being provided by Israel did not happen at all, but the “63?” tanks were given upgrades similar to that of the Israeli Sho’t Kal tanks, including the replacement of the original Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 gasoline engine and Merritt-Brown transmission, with the more reliable Continental AVDS-1790-2A V12 diesel engine and Allison CD850-6 transmission system, same upgrade made to Israeli Defence Force Sho’t tanks, which made them into the Sho’t Kal (Kal being short for Continental, and not to be confused with the Hebrew word “Cal”, or קַל).
Aside from the engine update, the Tempest tanks were also reequipped with the better L7 105mm rifled main gun, replacing the older 20-Pdr guns equipped. The tanks were provided with APFSDS rounds eventually, and the tanks also received updated Fire Control System modules, featuring a ballistic computer and laser rangefinder for Singapore’s Centurions.
While the Tempest tanks received these upgrades, it has been told that the tanks were not offered ERA.
From the beginning of their service, the Tempests were painted in the original grey livery from their time with the Indian Army, and not the camouflage livery used on the well-known SAF AMX-13 light tanks.
Regarding their service record with the SAF, there were Tempest tanks stored in Taiwan. which were primarily used for the conversion courses offered to officers and NCOs with SAF, with the training personnel being flown from Singapore to Taiwan, along with maintenance crews for the tanks. Once all training is complete with the tanks, the Tempests used are then maintained and cleaned, after which they are placed into storage in open tank sheds, where they await the next group in the future. At the same time, each conversion course involves a group photo of all trainees with the Tempest tanks, but these photos are well kept in secret, not to be shared, sadly.
Continuing with the Tempest tanks in Taiwan, they are used by two reserved battalions located at an SAF armoured base in Hukou. 12 Tempest tanks have been said to be stored in Taiwan for the conversion course training (and just that), while the bulk of the tanks were kept in a secret location in Singapore, which is only known by SAF personnel who have been around the tanks.
Whether the tanks are retired or not is unknown, but the possibility of the government officially confirming the Tempest’s service with Singapore is extremely low, due to a potential start of a diplomatic row and arms race with the surrounding countries, mainly Malaysia, who was mainly equipped with lighter armored fighting vehicles, including the Scorpion 90, equipped with the 90mm, SIBMAS APC, also equipped with a 90mm gun, and the Condor APC, which is equipped with the 20mm.
Of course, Malaysia eventually adopted a main battle tank, which was the Polish PT-91M Twardy, which was known by the Malaysian Army as the PT-91M Pendekar. From this it seemed as a good way for Singapore to unveil their secret Centurion tank stock. However, that wasn’t to be, with Singapore instead purchasing the Leopard 2, as it was a good opportunity with Malaysia’s procurement of the main battle tank in general. However, from the adoption of the Leopard 2 tank in service, it hasn’t been determined whether the SAF had officially retired the Tempest tank from service, or kept them in reserves for a potential future crisis.
Regardless, the fate of Singapore’s Centurion tanks still remains a mystery, whether they still do exist, or they have ceased to exist.
For a final note, while the Tempest tanks have many photos of them, which are unfortunately kept hidden, pictured below is what I believe to be, most possibly, one of the Tempest tanks in service with the SAF. It does intrigue me to note that it is fitted with the same headlights as the Sho’t Kal tanks, while featuring a different smoke discharger set (three tube) from the Sho’t Kal Gimel tanks, which were the first Sho’t Kal tanks to be equipped with smoke dischargers (set of eight). It is equipped with the L7 105mm, and also has the Indian Army grey livery. Just as stated by those with the SAF, it does not have ERA, nor the ERA mounts. The photo originally appeared in a Taiwanese (or ROC) defense forum, but it is undetermined what happened to that original source. The soldier pictured with the tank has been said to be with ROCA, although some say that the tank is pictured in Singapore.
That is all I have for this photo so far, and this intriguing chapter to the Centurion in general.
The Tempest is for sure one of my favorite tank-related mysteries, as hiding a force of MBTs throughout the cold war is understandably skeptical to many.
If there are enough sources to support this claim, I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing it in-game based off this photo alone.
I mean there are two Tempest tanks if you look closely but yea and it would fill that 8.0 gap in the sub tree
Eh ?
he Singaporean Tempest tanks were actually modified versions of the AMX-13 light tanks that were used by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). These tanks, originally of French design, were upgraded by Singapore to extend their operational life and improve performance. The upgraded versions were referred to as AMX-13 SM1, but they were also colloquially called “Tempest” tanks within the SAF.
So, the “mark” of the Tempest tank would be the AMX-13 SM1, representing the modernized version of the AMX-13 specifically for Singapore’s needs.
Hmmmmmmmmmm
Singapore : 63 Centurion Mk3 and Mk7s bought from India in 1975 and more from Israel in 1993–1994, all upgraded to Israeli standard with new main guns and diesel engines.
Then yea it’s them
What’s the source for this?
Chat GPT lmao
Haha, can’t trust AI with everything yet
Yep agreed but yea the Tempest seems to be the strongest one
I guess this is one of the posts from a Taiwanese forum with an image of the Tempest, as you can see it is no longer there.
Could be, it would certainly be a unique addition seeing as it isn’t really present in any other games I know of.
mhm so with that we somewhat completed that list lol
I want the Oplot to be the bottom slot, but there are extra spaces after in parentheses, so it might be something different after all.
How do you use chatgpt to decode it?
Make it count how many spaces that’s there, tell it to search X country and boom
Dont really see what else it could be other then the oplot t
Also
Very swank
Also dont tell the chinese players but thailand use the vn 1
To be fair, I would rather the unmodified Chinese vehicles stay out of Thailand, I think the Black Widow could do a decent enough job at replacing the VN-1.