In the 2010s Russia would unveil their new T-14 Armata MBT which was a radical departure from previous Soviet and Russian tank design and promised even more protection than ever before. To make matters worse for Western countries, the widely used 120 mm smoothbore gun was approaching the limits in the potential size of its ammunition so a new solution was needed. This lead the original creator of the 120 mm smoothbore, Rheinmetall, to create a successor, which would become the 130mm smoothbore gun and had the potential to not only be mounted in existing MBTs like the Leopard 2 but also future platforms like the Franco-German Main Ground Combat System. Another issue would arise however in that because the size of the ammunition increased the possibility of manual loading was eliminated, therefore, a new autoloader had to be developed.
As the gun and autoloader combination could not fit within the turret of a Leopard 2 without significant modification, another platform was needed in order to test the new gun. Instead, it was decided to modify a turret that was proposed for the British Challenger 3 program which itself was placed onto the hull of a Challenger 2. While the rounds of the 130 mm are only an eight percent increase over the existing 120 mm, it has resulted in a fifty percent increase in energy behind the round, enabling the cannon’s APFSDS round to defeat any currently existing tank armour with ease.
As previously mentioned, the hull of the 130 mm Demonstrator is that of a standard Challenger 2 which features about 500 mm of protection on the upper front plate and 80 mm of protection on the lower front plate. It is powered by a Perkins CV12-6A V12 engine which can produce 1200 bhp which puts it on the slower side compared to its contemporaries, the Leopard 2 and Abrams. On the other hand, the turret is an entirely new design by Rheinmetall and as such its protective qualities are unknown though if I had to guess I would say the protective qualities are somewhere similar to the Leopard 2PL and other Leopard 2 variants upgraded by Rheinmetall.
Crew: 3 (driver, commander, gunner)
Hull armour: 400 mm UFP, 80 mm LFP, 38 mm sides, 50 mm rear
Turret armour*: 800 mm front, 400 mm sides, 30 mm rear
Engine: Perkins CV12-6A V12 producing 1200 bhp
Transmission: David Brown TN54E
Armament: Rheinmetall 130 mm L/51 with 20 rounds ready in autoloader
Optics: Thermal imager for commander and gunner
It would be a cool addition, but it would fit better in the British tree than the German one. Germany still has other high-caliber MBTs like the Panzer 87 140 or Leo-140.
Ill be honest, I want it in game, but not for Germany as they already have several options for a 130mm armed Modern Tank, this ideally (In my opinion) would be for Britain given that Britain at current does not have many more tanks other than a couple Challenger 3 Prototypes yet to be unveiled.
so +1 but only for the British Tree and Germany can get one of their own ones built on a Leopard chassis
This is based upon a british tank with a german gun made by an anglo german compnay(RBSL). Both Germany and Britian have a claim to this tank hence we have allowed it to be suggested in both sections.
as a german main myself, absolutely fine with that thing going to the UK techtree. after all it’s Challenger based and would end the Chally line perfectly.
We can still get the KF-51 or the swiss 140mm Leo 2
Edit; was in response to someone raging over me saying that brit deserves this not germany.
Lol, what? I don’t have top-tier Britain; I don’t play Britain at all. It’s just that Britain needs more good MBTs. Germany has WAY more options when it comes to bigger caliber guns, so why should one of the few options that they have go to Germany?
You are also forgetting that it’s using the Challenger 2 hull with all british parts. This is deserves to be in the german tree as much as the challaner 3 (p), which is not at all.
