- Yes
- No
Description: The RS80 MARS was a joint Italian-Anglo-German rocket launcher based on the Leopard 1 tank. It’s development started back in 1971 when the governments of Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom decided to start a consortium for a new rocket launcher following the idea of the SP70 project. The new system was planned to use long-range unguided rokets to hit deep into the enemy territories at the cost of a smaller number of rokets available in the launcher. It featured a total of 6 280 mm unguided rifles, with two different types of ammunition: a cluster one, developed by the German MBB (that could also use mines istead of bomblets), and a fragmentation one, developed by the Italian OTO. The project went ahead without any issue until 1975, when Britain asked the system to be modified to fulfill the British requirement of a a better accuracy while Italy and Germany preferred a better initial speed of the rocket. The denial of the British request led to the end of British participation in the project. The project continued between Italy and Germany regardless, and in 1977 the first prototype was made. After the British exist of the project the partition between the two remaining companies was decided: MBB had to create the first prototype, and the alredy mentioned cluster munitions, while OTO had to create the telemetric equipment, and the alredy mentioned fragmentation munitions. The platform chosen by MBB was the Leopard 1, due to the launcher’s weight and its good mobility. As already mentioned, the turret was quite large and heavy, so a rotary system was installed in order to make movments easier and reload faster. Around 1976, the first (and only) prototype was made and tested some months later. Unfortunately, the project was cancelled due to the high cost of the program. Germany preferred to improve the already existing LARS system, while Italy started looking forward to the newly made FIROS. The prototype survived, and it’s today exposed to the public at a German armed forces museum.
Why it should be in game: It could be added as an event or premium veichle to each nations of the programme. It could probably be useful as a very big roket arty at medium tier.
Specifications
Riepilogo
(Leopard 1 hull)
Roekts specifications:
Range: From 70 km to 80 km or from 40 km to 60 km (sources are controversial on this information)
Weight: 482 kg
Warhead weight: 216 kg
Type of ammunitions:
HE
Cluster
Anty tank mine (similar to cluster but with mines istead of bomblets)
(unfortunaly not more infos are avaible)
Sources
Riepilogo
Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) - Think Defence
GLI AUTOVEICOLI DA COMBATTIMENTO DELL'ESERCITO ITALIANO VOL IV by Biblioteca Militare - Issuu
RS 80 MARS - Wikipedia
Defence and Freedom: Battlefield missile artillery from the blackpowder age to the 21st century - Part II
Pictures
