The Tank of the 1970'S

The tank of the 1970's G. Soffer, Ph.D. Associote Professor Univ. of Daylon, Ohio There are two schools of thought concerning the British Chieftain that is the most controversial. tank of the future. The debates as to what When the British developed the blueprints for whould be preferred, fire power and maneuver- the production of a brand new tank to replace ability, or armor and defense for the crew still the Centurion, experts expected that Britain, an continues. The British prefer a powerful gun and advanced country in tank design, would produce heavy armor, in the tradition of the Centurion a new revolutionary tank based upon very pro- tank. The result is the new Chieftain tank. In the gressive ideas. However, when the new Chieftain last few years the number of tank-producing appeared, most were surprised. The new tank is countries has increased. Today there are approx- equipped with a 120 millimeter gun. In order to imately thirteen nations that could be catagorized stop its heavy backfiring, its weight was increased as tank-producers. The outcome is a variety of to 50 tons! This added weight of armor plates, combat tanks on the market. gives the crew greater defense against anti-tank missiles. However, this is a sharp departure from One can divide these tanks into major groups the new concept, whereby maneuverability and according to their weight. Tanks that weigh be- mobility are emphasized, rather than the defense tween thirty to forty tons include: the French for the crew. AMX-30, the German Leopard, the Russian made T55 and T62, and the Swedish-S tank. The The British had a very good reason to prefer the 'heavy weights," forty-seven to fifty-two tons, in- Chieftain's greater fire power and heavier armor. clude: the M60, American made, British Chief- Their reasoning was based on lessons studies in tain, and the MBT-70, the futuristic American- World War II. The German tank, 'Tiger,' that German built tank. was used during World War II, was equipped Major emphasis was put by all producers upon the with an 88 millimeter gun and heavier armor development of a combat tank. The following plates, had successfully competed with the Allied major characteristics were included: 1. the in- Armor Divisions, in the first part of the war. In crease of fire power, 2. the increase of maneuver- one incident, one German Tiger tank was able to ability, and 3. the perfection of aiming systems. stop the advancement of a British Armor Divi- The maneuverability and mobility were perfected sion and was able to destroy from close range 25 at the expense of armor. This, in spite of the British tanks, 15 armor carriers, and 15 soft car- sophistication and efficiency of the anti-tank riers. Most of the fire shot at it just scratched it weaponry, rose sharply since 1945. without damage. This bitter lesson was not for- From all the new tanks on the market, it is the gotten by the British. Since the war, British tanks were equipped with a heavy gun and heavy armor plates. The best example is the 105 milli- De auteur is een „sabra" (geboren In Israël) uit meter gun, mounted on the Centurion. lts effi- de vierde generatie van een Jeruzalemse familie, die momenteel geschiedenis doceert aan de uni- ciency was proven again in the six day war be- versiteit van Dayton, Ohio. Hij is afgestudeerd aan tween Israël and Arabs. In designing the Chief- de Georgetown-universiteit en behaalde zijn M.A. tain, the British followed the same line of think- en doctorale graad aan de American University ing. Therefore, the Chieftain maneuverability and School of International Studies te Washington DC. speed are not as high as one finds in the German Dr. Soffer was Kapitein in het Israëlische leger in de jaren '50 en nam in 1956 deel aan de Sinai- Leopard tank, the Swedish-S tank, or the T-62 oorlog. Hij was buitenlands correspondent in de built by the Soviets. VS en Canada voor het Israëlische weekblad Ba- machane van 1961 tot 1964, heeft een Amerikaanse TV-show geleid, schreef artikelen over het Midden- The Chieftain and the T-62: a comparison Oosten voor vaktijdschriften en reisde m.b.v. een „Fulbright Grant" in 1967 door het Midden-Oosten The Soviet T-62 is taster than the Chieftain and om de oorzaken en gevolgen van de Zesdaagse has a longer range. However, in all other charac- oorlog te bestuderen. teristics, namely, ability to penetrate, accuracy 426 in hitting long-range targets and fire power, the River and was able to cross without any damage Chieftain is superior than most advanced Soviet at all. Thus, it was proved that it is possible to tanks. The Chieftain's silhouette is considerably cross with the Leopard all European Rivers with- lower than the Centurion's. This was made pos- out additional amphibious devices. The Leopard sible since the driver is operating the tank while is equipped with a 830 horsepower engine, and lying down. The Chieftain's engine can use dif- there is none like it in any tank in the world. lts ferent kinds of fuel, e.g., solar, benzine, and spe- weight is 39.4 tons. The British Chieftain, in cial fuel for turbine engines as well as a combi- comparison, weighs fifty tons and has a 700 nation of fuels. horsepower engine. The T-62 is equipped with a 115 millimeter gun, The gun mounted on the Leopard is the British- without rifling, and without a floating stabilizer. made gun 105 millimeter that is also to be found The floating stabilizer makes firing power pos- in the Centurion and in all tanks used in NATO sible while in movement. countries. It is considered to be the best gun in One of the disadvantages of the Russian tank is the world. The Leopard tank was introduced the absence of a range finder. As a result, the with success in foreign markets. The Leopard is efficiency of the gun for long-range firing is de- the backbone of the armor divisions of Germany, creased. If in combat, a British Chieftain dis- Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark. covers a Soviet T-62 in a range of 4 kilometers, Italy is in the process of obtaining it for use in it can easily destroy it before the T-62 can even its armor divisions. begin its firing since it is outside its range. The infra-red light system in the Chieftain, allows The Swedish S-Tank maneuverability and firing at night. It is possible to use the aiming infra-red system for passive The most revolutionary tank of the 70's is the surveillance in order to find other infra-red devi- Swedish S-tank. In order to lower its silhouette ces emminating from other tanks. The Chieftain to a minimum, the Sweeds produced a tank that is also equipped with a warning device, that is does not have a tarret at all. The gun is fixed on immediately operative when an infra-red light the chassis, and it is impossible to move it about is received by it. The crew, therefore, is warned except bij moving the tank itself! These revolu- instantaneously in the field of the possibility of tionary changes aroused bitter and lengthy deba- combat. The exhaust pipes of the Chieftain are tes among experts of armor. The major debatable bidden underneath the armor in order to de- issue is the speed of moving the gun in combat. crease the possibility of discovery and detection On the other hand its very low silhouette makes by infra-red sensitive picking devices. it hard to detect in the field. The Sweeds claim To conclude then, the Chieftain is a multi-ope- that the tank can move and aim its gun in the rational, efficiënt combat tank. The tank has a same speed that other tanks move their tarret. system especially designed for operation in non- For this purpose the tank is equipped with two conventional warfare, that is based mainly on engines. The driving system was simplified and special devices, and filters designed to keep the the driver also serves as the gunner. pressure within the tank. The Chieftain's crew The lack of a tarret did not decrease consider- can live within the tank for seventy-two conse- ably the weight of the tank. The S-tank weighs cutive hours, with cooking and sleeping facilities thirty-eight tons. The weight remained stable as for two. a result of the added armor plates for crew defense. The British 105 millimeter gun could also The Leopard, Germany's pride be found on Swedish tanks. The German Leopard is noted for its mobility The German built the Leopard and gave the U.S. and maneuverability. lts maximum speed is twice a hand in the design of the MBT-70. The French, the one to be found in the Patton M-48. The pas- therefore, went their independent way and the sed successfully tests that included among the result is the AMX-30, a light tank (36 tons) that rest, the crossing of the Rhine River, in an area is equipped with a sensitive system of infra-red where it is 320 meters wide, and four meters and sight devices. However, the AMX-30 could deep. The Rhine was crossed in less than three not compete with the very successful German minutes while traveling at the bottom of the ri- Leopard in the European markets. The French ver. In one experiment, a tank was purposely hoped that Libya who is interested in the Mirage- left for half an hour in the middle of the Rhine Super jets, will also purchase 200 AMX-30's.

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