- Yes, as a tech tree vehicle
- Yes, as a premium vehicle
- Yes, as an event vehicle
- Yes, as a squadron vehicle
- No, I would not like to see the early Valiant in game.
History
In 1976, Vickers was given the go-ahead to utilize the new Chobham composite armor for the development of armored fighting vehicles, and the Main Battle Tank concept would forever be transformed. Let’s go back a bit, though - what makes it such a big deal? Composite armor provides greatly increased protection against chemical warheads and maintains adequate protection against kinetic weapons while taking less weight per volume than pure steel. Needless to say, this was a game changer in the field of tank design, and Vickers was keen to put it to good use.
The Vickers MBT Mk.4 was drawn up as an improvement to the Vickers MBT Mk.3 export tank and was trialed much for the same purpose. Looking at it, it’s quite hard to tell it’s derived from the Mk.3. In fact, despite appearances, the hull is essentially the same, though it is composed of aluminum alloy instead of steel to save weight. Now, that might sound bad, but plenty of Chobham armor was applied to the vehicle for its main protection. The Chobham armor package, in fact, weighed over 13 tons! Chobham was used to cover the entire front of the tank and two-thirds of the turret/hull sides, with the last third on the hull being empty boxes for appearance’s sake. This took the tank’s weight from a mere thirty tons with an unladen hull/turret to 43.6 tons in a full combat load. The extra protection gave it protection against 105mm APDS (this is a late 70’s tank after all) across a 50-degree frontal arc, 120mm HEAT across a 60-degree arc, and RPG warheads across a 90 degree arc.
While well protected and reasonably mobile, the Mk.4’s first turret incarnation had one issue, that being the 105mm Royal Ordnance L7 - it was a little out of style. With the Universal Turret, seen on the Vickers MBT Mk.7 in game, the Mk.4’s later years would allow it to mount the Royal Ordnance L11A5 120mm cannon, along with much-improved fire control systems and crew sighting equipment. The aluminum hull of the Valiant would come back to bite it when the vehicle was dropped from a trailer and the heavy steel/Chobham turret contorted the weaker aluminum, rendering it unusable.
Why it should be in War Thunder
The Vickers Mk.4 may sound rather unattractive, but there is one thing I think this tank will excel in, and that is versatility. If players so desired, they could load their tank up with several tons of extra Chobham armor blocks across the hull/turret sides, but these were detachable, allowing players to decide whether they want to lose speed for more protection or go pedal to the metal with a fast moving but risky tank at its tier. Being literally made of aluminum, this would probably be a preferable choice, but the case could be made for carrying the extra Chobham too. You wouldn’t be losing 13 tons by foregoing the side plates, as Chobham was baked into the hull and turret front, but it can safely be assumed to be a considerable amount. With a conservative estimate of the side armor comprising seven of the 13.6 tons of extra armor, the Mk.4’s power to weight would skyrocket from 22.9 to 27.3 hp/t, giving it comparable power/weight to the Leopard 2 or Abrams.
Specifications
Vickers MBT Mk.4 Valiant (Early)
Crew: 4
Weight: 43.6 t (full combat load)
Engine: Rolls-Royce CV12 TCA (1,000 hp)
Transmission: TN 12-1000 automatic transmission
Power/Weight: 22.93 hp/t (full combat load)
Max Speed: 61.8 km/h*
*Not sure if this is due to weight or transmission limited
Armament:
- Royal Ordnance L7 105mm cannon (w/muzzle reference system), 56 rounds. - 10 / + 20 gun elevation
- L8 7.62mm machine gun
- L37 roof mounted 7.62 mm machine gun
Armor:
- Hull layout is assumed to be similar to the Vickers Mk.3 (though made of aluminum alloy), but with large additions of Chobham armor on the lower front plate and optionally on the hull sides. The upper front plate also had some Chobham, though not as much as it was less likely to be hit and much more angled.
- Turret internal layout for the Mk.4 Early is assumed to be similar to the Mk.3’s turret shape which provided excellent protection against the APDS of its day. Large Chobham turret cheeks were applied over the all-steel cast turret, with optional side packs.
Unfortunately I don’t have any specifics to provide in this area.
Additional Equipment:
- Laser rangefinder
- 2-plane gun stabilizer
- Optics on the early Valiant appear to be nearly identical to the optics found on the Vickers Mk.3 in-game.
- 2 x 5 smoke grenade dischargers, one on each side of the turret face
Pictures
Sources
