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Cadillac Gage Stingray

1988 COLD WAR MODERN

History of the Cadillac Gage Stingray

The Stingray Light Tank is a privately owned business of Cadillac Gage (now Textron Marine and Land Systems) with a budget-conscious export market in mind. Therefore, the target audience is national militaries interested in combat-quality tanks that provide great long-range firepower and good self-propelled mobility without the need for expensive acquisition, operation and maintenance of main battle tanks such as the M1 Abrams or Leopard 2 series . For this reason, the Cadillac Gage uses a number of off-the-shelf standard components in its inventory to form the interior of a new light tracked vehicle dubbed the "Stingray." As a "light tank" system, the Stingray has a certain tactical duty on the modern battlefield - compared to the firepower and armor protection of modern main battle tanks - although due to its great agility, the vehicle has a very good role in armored reconnaissance and firepower The support aspect still retains its value.

To date, only Thailand has purchased the Stingray series in bulk, with a total of 108 prototype machines.

Design of the Stingray began in 1983, and a prototype was being prepared for testing in 1984. In the interest of Thailand, a prototype was delivered for evaluation in 1986 and the system was successfully tested on the system, resulting in a purchase order for the production of 106 quality vehicles for the Royal Thai Army in 1987.

Cadillac Gage manufacturing began in 1988 and deliveries ended in 1990.

The overall configuration of the Stingray is traditional, with a crew of four - a driver, a vehicle commander, a gunner and a loader - managing the tank's various onboard systems. The turret is located in the center of the top cover of the fuselage, and it is electrically operated (manual operation backup), which can achieve 360-degree full rotation. The front of the turret is well sloping to provide basic ballistic protection, and can accommodate a crew of three, with the driver located in the center of the front of the hull. The engine occupies a compartment at the rear of the design.

The vehicle uses six twin tire wheels on one side of the track, each with three track deflection rollers. The drive sprocket is at the rear and the chain idler is at the front. The sides of the hull are designed to be noticeably vertical, providing limited support. The thickest side of the Stingray is protected by an all-welded construction with up to 23mm of armor. This provides protection against small arms fire (up to 14.5mm caliber) and artillery jets, but nothing more.

Only the optional decal armor block increases crew and system protection at the expense of weight and performance. The car weighs 23 tons, is 9.3 meters long, 3 meters wide, and has a headroom of 2.7 meters.

As such, it can be carried on medium tactical aircraft such as the ubiquitous Lockheed C-130 Hercules family.

The Stingray is equipped with the NATO standard Royal Ordnance 105mm L7A3 main gun with towed main gun and thermowell - a piece of equipment that was effective during the Cold War, with a great British design. However, the 105mm gun has limited penetration by modern standards and has fallen out of favor compared to the increased firepower of the 120mm/125mm gun competition available today. As a NATO standard design, the Stingray retains the full range of use of the NATO standard 105mm projectile. The main gun was supported by a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun, which was used against infantry and lightly armored targets at long distances when the main gun was the "insufficient" solution.

A heavy 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun on top of the turret further defends the vehicle and can be used against low-flying fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters. Eight smoke grenade launchers were installed in two groups of four, flanking each front turret, to create a smoke screen to cover the tank's movement. 32 x 105mm projectiles are stored around the hull and turret, along with 2,400 rounds of 7.62mm and 1,100 rounds of 12.7mm.

There is no onboard reload for the fume extraction system.

The Stingray is powered by a liquid-cooled turbocharged Detroit Diesel Allison 8V-92TA diesel engine producing up to 535 hp. Suspended on an independent trailing arm torsion bar suspension, the vehicle can reach a top speed of 70 km/h and have a range of 480 km on ideal road surfaces.

The suspension is similar to that used in the US Army M109 Paladin Self-Propelled Gun (SPG).

The original Stingray series has been modernized through the "Stingray II" program, which was aggressively marketed as an Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFV) solution compared to the light tank in the original. The new design features improved performance, slightly expanded weapon options and an increase in engine to 550 hp, as well as increased hit probability due to an improved Digital Fire Control System (DFCS). In addition, the series is equipped with an LCF (low recoil) main gun and dual fire controls for the gunner and vehicle commander.

Explosive reactive armor (ERA) blocks are optional but required for enhanced battlefield survivability, and optical support facilities provided include thermal imaging systems and laser rangefinders. NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) protection is standard, while a land navigation system and fire suppression system are optional.

The Stingray II was introduced in 1996 but did not appear in effective marketing materials from Textron Marine & Land Systems (2012).

Following the merger of Cadillac Gage and Textron Marine in 1994, the Cadillac Gage brand label has now been replaced by Textron Marine & Land Systems.