AMX-13

History

The AMX-13 light tank was developed according to the new requirements of the French army after World War II. In the postwar years, France was rebuilding after years of German occupation and war, eventually replenishing its stocks with donations from the Allies, captured German equipment, and pre-war supplies.

The design of the new light tank began in 1946 under the responsibility of Atelier de Construciton d'Issy-les-Moulineaux. The result was a conventional tracked armored vehicle with a unique "swinging" turret assembly, which was adopted by the French Army as the "AMX-13" after trials.

Production was taken over by Atelier de Construction Roanne, with approximately 7,700 units completed from 1952 to 1987. In addition to the 4,300 produced for the French army, 3,400 were exported to French allies around the world.

As expected, the AMX-13 was heavily influenced by World War II tank warfare theory. It is designed around a traditional "track wheel" system with five twin tire wheels assigned to each chain side, a front drive sprocket and a rear chain idler. Power comes from a water-cooled 8-cylinder SOFAM model 8Gxb petrol engine with 250 hp.

Capabilities include a top speed of 37 mph and a range of 250 miles, while the hull is suspended on a torsion bar system that provides the required off-road capability. The car is driven by three people, including the driver (sitting in the front of the hull) and the commander and gunner (located in the turret). The autoloader eliminated the need for a fourth full-time crew, allowing for a more compact turret design.

NBC protection is not granted, night vision equipment is optional.

The unique turret provided by GI?????(now the Nexter brand) consists of an upper and lower turret section assembly, the upper part is hinged to function independently of the lower part. This allowed engineers to fit very heavy primary weapons on an otherwise light chassis. In this way, the AMX-13 gained access to the powerful 75mm gun - a weapon based on the German wartime L/71 gun, fired by the Panther medium tank (updated to 90mm in 1966) main gun).

Internal volume is limited, so there is a distinct overhang in the upper part of the turret for ammunition storage. Only the AMX-13 light tank and Panhard EBR armoured personnel carrier were designed for frontline vehicles where the swinging turret became a major design feature - a concept that never caught on in mainstream armoured fighting vehicle design circles.

The AMX-13 ended up in multiple prototype forms to test the effectiveness of various concepts. A few prototypes emerged after continued operation, resulting in more than a dozen production variants over the life of the vehicle. During the Cold War era, modernization programs helped keep the system efficient. In addition to the basic light tank form, the AMX-13 chassis was used in the development (and subsequent production) of the armored personnel carrier (AMX-VTT/AMX-VCI), the 105mm self-propelled gun (AMX-105) and the 155mm SPG (AMX- 155). Other notable versions include the AMX-13 PDP bridge launcher, the AMX-D armoured rescue vehicle, and the anti-aircraft-focused twin-gun AMX-DCA with 2 x 30mm Hispano-Suiza HS 831 series cannons.

A turretless version was developed for driver training.

The AMX-13 (or related products) are operated by operators worldwide outside of France, including Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland and Venezuela. The French began phasing out the AMX-13 series in the 1970s, but their influence didn't stop there. During the Six Day War in 1967, Israeli tanks were used to provoke, although the original 75mm main gun proved ineffective against Egyptian and Syrian-Soviet tanks.

Some Israeli stockpiles managed to find their way to Singapore, where there are about 350 examples in service, which, although modernized, are being phased out at the time of writing (2012).

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

Armor

32 x 90 mm projectile.

3,600x7.62mm ammo.

4 x Smoke Grenade.

Changes