BSTT
Chimera
Country of
Origin: Britain
Seen in: A 1984
proposal by the British School of Tank Technology to prolong the lifetime of the
Chieftain MBT. It was a
drawing-board proposal that got very close to being built, but in the end only
subscale conceptual models were built.
Notes: The
Chimera (never type-standardized) was the result of work which would have been
done to extend the lifetime of the Chieftain chassis (the Chieftain turret was
always the problem, and the BSTT never had access to full-scale turrets).
The idea then became a design for a vehicle with a casemated main gun,
looking very similar to a German Jagdpanzer Kanone. The result was to be an
effective tank destroyer/assault gun, but lighter and cheaper than either a
Chieftain or the Challenger 1 that was about to appear in British Army units.
The Chimera was
to have the standard L11 120mm rifled gun; because much internal space was freed
up by not using a turret, a relatively large amount of ammunition could be
carried – both machinegun and main gun rounds. (A version of the Chimera with an
XL30 120mm cannon, which is slightly longer and designed to fire more powerful
ammo was postulated, which, though it was a low-pressure design, could still
fire conventional L11 rounds.) The Chimera has an L7A2 coaxial machinegun and
the commander, in a manually-rotating cupola with all-around vision blocks, and
also an early form of a OHWS, mounting an M2HB, and fully capable of being
aimed, fired, and reloaded from under armor.
The commander has an aiming reticle because the L7A2 in front of the
cupola can be aimed and fired with the commander under armor, and the main gun
can be fired by the commander if necessary.
The main gun and coaxial, due to the unturreted design, have a limited
traverse of 5 degrees in either direction and to the top and down; the coaxial
can manage 10 degrees back and forth and 5 degrees up and down.
Like all such designs, further gun movement is done by pivot steering its
tracks.
The Chieftain
hull is lengthened by one roadwheel, in order to allow the recoil stroke of its
main gun in its new, lower position.
The two front roadwheels are of steel instead of aluminum, as the design
of the Chimera places much more stress on those front roadwheels. The profile is
of course low, and the Chimera would have done well in a hull-down position.
Armor was also heavily increased over the glacis and hull front,
including the use of the then-new Chobham armor. The hull side armor was thick
spaced RHA on the top hull side, and somewhat lighter on the lower hull side.
This side armor also had a moderate sloping design. The Chimera would
have sported a comprehensive fire control system for the time, including a laser
rangefinder, ballistic computer, and a night vision suite normally found on the
best British tanks. In addition, the Chimera was operated using inertial
navigation, with a special mapping unit that contains the maps which would be
needed for the most optimistic 48-hour outlook.
The power was
provided by a late model L60 multifuel engine, most likely to have been the
12A/N model, giving the Chimera 750 horsepower. An alternate engine mounting was
a 1200-horsepower version of the one being fitted into the Challenger 1. There
was also talk of using the full-power version of the L60, which would have given
the Chimera 1500 horsepower. In
addition, the Chimera was to have a 10kW APU for silent watches.
The Chimera was
to have a crew of four, driver, commander, gunner, and loader. Their positions
are essentially the same as they would have been on the Chieftain – driver on
the front right, commander and loader’s hatches on the right and left of the
rear of the casemate, and the gunner, whose normal station is to the right of
the gun, uses the loader’s hatch.
Though the commander’s hatch was equipped with an OHWS, there was a relatively
smallish hatch for the commander to squeeze through
In the end, MoD
and Army tank experts examined all of the models, draft drawings, and documents
related to the Chimera. Though they
determined that the Chimera would be highly effective in a European war, the
work on the Chimera came to naught, and they were filed away in one of the BSTT
warehouses. Ironically, the whole idea had been thought of in 1972, and one
prototype was actually built before the design program was shelved.
Maintenance
tools, extra track sections and roadwheels, a first aid kit, and a ration/water
heater completed the equipment of the Chimera.
Twilight 2000
Notes: The Chimera and British tankers had sort of a love affair with the
Chimera, as they were surprisingly effective at taking out armor and smashing
fortifications, while also having an excellent survivability credit.
Some Chimera crews took to calling their vehicle the Goliath, or, seeing
the resemblance to the Jagdpanzer Kanone, christened it with the name
“JagdChieftain.”
Vehicle |
Price |
Fuel Type |
Load |
Veh Wt |
Crew |
Mnt |
Night Vision |
Radiological |
Chimera (750hp Engine) |
$576,265 |
D, G, AvG, A |
694 kg |
57.89 tons |
4 |
43 |
Passive IR (D), Image Intensification (G, C), Thermal Imaging (G, C) |
Shielded |
Chimera (1200hp Engine) |
$587,041 |
D, G, AvG, A |
714 kg |
57.89 tons |
4 |
43 |
Passive IR (D), Image Intensification (G, C), Thermal Imaging (G, C) |
Shielded |
Chimera (1500 hp Engine) |
$588,462 |
D, G, AvG, A |
727 kg |
57.89 tons |
4 |
43 |
Passive IR (D), Image Intensification (G, C), Thermal Imaging (G, C) |
Shielded |
Vehicle |
Tr Mov |
Com Mov |
Fuel Cap |
Fuel Cons |
Config |
Susp |
Armor |
Chimera (750hp Engine) |
115/80 |
32/22 |
950 |
278 |
Stnd |
T6 |
HF90Cp HS27Sp
HR10 |
Chimera (1200hp Engine) |
159/111 |
44/31 |
950 |
446 |
Stnd |
T6 |
HF90Cp HS27Sp
HR10 |
Chimera (1500 hp Engine) |
188/132 |
52/37 |
950 |
558 |
Stnd |
T6 |
HF90Cp HS27Sp
HR10 |
Vehicle |
Fire Control |
Stabilization |
Armament |
Ammunition |
Chimera |
+3 |
Basic |
120mm L11 Rifled Gun, L7A2, M2HB (OHWS) |
70x120mm, 600x.50, 9000x7.62mm |
BSTT
Excalibur
Notes:
Another Cold War prototypical design, the Excalibur predates the Chimera by
about ten years. The aim was to
produce a tank destroyer which would be amphibious and air-droppable (from the
Blackburn B-101 Beverley, a transport of the time a little larger than the
C-130). and offer as low a profile as possible.
The vehicle was also to have excellent agility, mount a weapon capable of
destroying any Soviet tank of the period (early 1960s).
It was also expected to be able to mass in formations to plug holes in
the mass of tanks that would be on the East/West German border.
The BSTT decided
to go with an unusual configuration – a casemated gun, but with the gun in the
front of the hull in a “semi-turret”, able to traverse up to 45 degrees in
either direction, so that the Excalibur was less dependent on track pivoting to
aim its main gun or coaxial machinegun. The gun also sat higher in the casemate
than most casemated designs, allowing it a little better of a hull-down
position. The gun was a 105mm
low-pressure gun that, while it didn’t function so well with the saboted
penetrators which were new issue at the time, but armed with HEAT, HESH, or AP
could put up a credible attack against the Soviet tanks of the 1960s.
Unfortunately, the low-pressure gun also meant less range then the (also
then-new) 105mm L7-type gun. The
main gun was also short-barreled, to fit inside aircraft.
The result was a gun, though seemingly adequate, was little more
effective than an M40 106mm recoilless rifle. The gun was also not stabilized
and getting a hit on the move would be largely a matter of luck. In addition to
the main gun, the Excalibur was also meant to be able to mount eight Swingfire
missiles. These were mounted on four staggered boxes on either side of the
vehicle. (The gun was to be made specifically for the Excalibur, and I have
given it a fictional designation below.
The gun I used was modified from the French Modele F-1.)
To further
lighten the Excalibur, the armor was primarily composed of aluminum alloy armor,
with a thin steel backing (as Kevlar was not in military use at the time, the
steel layer was supposed to be an antispalling layer). The steel backing plate
was only 5 millimeters in thickness, and the armor was otherwise not much to
write home about. The glacis and
side armor was spaced in addition with simple air spaces in the aluminum armor.
The Excalibur was not meant to stop an ATGM or a tank main gun round; the
armor was designed to stop 14.5mm rounds from the front, 12.7mm rounds from the
sides, and assault rifle rounds from the rear. The glacis is sharply raked, and
the sides have a moderate slope.
The commander
had, on a pintle mount, an M2HB heavy machinegun. The loader had a hatch on the
left superstructure, and the gunner used the loader’s hatch.
The driver was on the front left behind the glacis plate. However, the
driver doubled up as the gunner, as the Excalibur was meant to fight from
prepared firing positions, and a separate gunner and driver would not be needed,
and because the commander could also function as a gunner.
The crew has a vehicular NBC system, with an external scrubber on the
rear face.
Power was to be
provided by a Leyland L50 multifuel engine developing 580 horsepower.
It was envisioned that the vehicle’s primary fuel would be diesel, with
other fuels used if no diesel was available.
The engine was coupled to an Allison XTG 411-3 automatic transmission.
The Excalibur was amphibious without preparation, propelled in the water
by two waterjets. Suspension is by
torsion bars.
In the end, the
British Army was not interested in a casemated-gun tank destroyer with a limited
gun, and they rejected the Excalibur.
Price |
Fuel Type |
Load |
Veh Wt |
Crew |
Mnt |
Night Vision |
Radiological |
$392,628 |
D, G, AvG, A |
533 kg |
30 tons |
3 |
21 |
Passive IR (D, G) |
Shielded |
Tr Mov |
Com Mov |
Fuel Cap |
Fuel Cons |
Config |
Susp |
Armor |
139/97 |
39/27/5 |
700 |
172 |
CiH |
T4 |
TF24Sp TS8Sp HF20Sp HS8Sp HR3* |
Fire Control |
Stabilization |
Armament |
Ammunition |
+1 |
None |
105mm L8A2 Low-Pressure Gun, 8xSwingfire Missile Launchers, L7A2, M2HB
(C) |
70x105mm, 600x.50, 9000x7.62mm, 8xSwingfire ATGM |
*The
turret is in fact a semi-casemated installation.
Hits on the TR are not possible; treat these as misses.
Hagglunds Ikv-93
Country of
Origin: Sweden
Notes: The
Ikv-93 is a version of the Ikv-91 armed with a 105mm gun, produced only as an
experiment to increase the Ikv-91's firepower and allow it to continue on in its
role as a tank destroyer. It was decided that a new vehicle was needed instead
and the Ikv-93 project shelved. The commander, loader, and gunner exit
through hatches in the turret deck, while the driver has a hatch on the deck on
the front left side. The commander and gunner have periscopes that are the
equivalent of binoculars as well as night vision devices. Like the Ikv-91, the
Ikv-93 is designed for operations in northern Sweden, and is sure-footed on
difficult terrain. The engine has a preheater to ensure that it starts in cold
weather. The commander can control the gun as well as the gunner, but the
commander has no access to the fire control computer, and his shots are at +2 at
best.
Twilight 2000
Notes: A number of conversions from Ikv-91s were made to the Ikv-93 standard
before the Twilight War; some more were made afterwards, and there was even a
tiny amount produced as new vehicles. About 50 were available for the
Twilight War.
Merc 2000 Notes:
The Ikv-93 was never produced in any large numbers.
Price |
Fuel Type |
Load |
Veh Wt |
Crew |
Mnt |
Night Vision |
Radiological |
$193,201 |
D, A |
600 kg |
16.2 tons |
4 |
14 |
Active/Passive IR |
Shielded |
Tr Mov |
Com Mov |
Fuel Cap |
Fuel Cons |
Config |
Susp |
Armor |
131/92 |
31/21/3 |
400 |
114 |
Trtd |
T4 |
TF8 TS7 TR6 HF10 HS6 HR4 |
Fire Control |
Stabilization |
Armament |
Ammunition |
+3 |
Fair |
105mm L-7 gun, Ksp m/39, Ksp m/39 (C) |
39x105mm, 4250x7.62mm |
Hagglunds Ikv-2000
Country of
Origin: Sweden
Notes: This
vehicle was never developed beyond several reduced-scale models in real life.
Twilight 2000
Notes: This odd-looking vehicle was designed before the Twilight War to produce
a capable tank destroyer that could be used on deep snow and rough terrain of
the northern reaches of Sweden and in the mountains. It is based on the chassis
of the Bv-206 all-terrain vehicle, much upgraded with armor, night vision, and a
120mm stabilized gun. The gun and crew are carried in the front section, while
the ammunition is carried in the rear, connected to the gun by a conduit. This
is a very rare vehicle, which began production only in mid-1997.
Price |
Fuel Type |
Load |
Veh Wt |
Crew |
Mnt |
Night Vision |
Radiological |
$297,804 |
D, A |
500 kg |
25 tons |
3 |
20 |
Thermal Imaging, Passive IR |
Shielded |
Tr Mov |
Com Mov |
Fuel Cap |
Fuel Cons |
Config |
Susp |
Armor |
156/104 |
36/26 |
680 |
213 |
CiH |
T4 |
TF19Cp TS12 TR8 HF24Cp HS10Sp HR6 |
Fire Control |
Stabilization |
Armament |
Ammunition |
+3 |
Fair |
120mm Rheinmetal gun, Ksp m/39 |
36x120mm, 2400x7.62mm |
Henschel Marder-105
Country of
Origin: Germany
Notes: The
Marder-105 is the result of an experimental tank destroyer program of the 1980s.
They were never actually produced beyond the prototype stage.
Twilight 2000
Notes: When deliveries of the Vextra 105 from France stopped due to the
hostilities between the two countries, the Germans were in need of another light
vehicle to take the Vextra 105s place. To that end, they mounted a casemated
105mm gun, mounted in a turret with reasonably heavy armor. These vehicles first
went into action against Polish troops in late 1997, and gave a good accounting
of themselves. Through a combination of good luck and camouflage, the factory
producing these vehicles was not destroyed until nearly New Years of 2000, and
thus numbers of this vehicle were surprisingly high, surpassing the numbers of
Vextra 105s in German service. They gave a good accounting themselves in combat,
especially when fighting from hull down positions.
Price |
Fuel Type |
Load |
Veh Wt |
Crew |
Mnt |
Night Vision |
Radiological |
$342,250 |
D, A |
800 kg |
29 tons |
3 |
24 |
Thermal Imaging, Passive IR |
Shielded |
Tr Mov |
Com Mov |
Fuel Cap |
Fuel Cons |
Config |
Susp |
Armor |
133/93 |
31/23 |
650 |
203 |
CiH |
T4 |
TF11Cp TS7 TR6 HF27 HS12 HR8 |
Fire Control |
Stabilization |
Armament |
Ammunition |
+4 |
Good |
105mm L-7 gun, MG-3 |
36x105mm, 2400x7.62mm |
M113/TS 90
Notes: This is an M113 modification offered as an upgrade to customers around
the world, but without success. It
was also trialed in the US for use as an infantry support vehicle. It is an M113
(which may be an A1, A2, or A3) fitted out with the TS 90 turret, as found on
many French-designed armored vehicles.
The turret turns the M113 into a light tank destroyer and support
vehicle. In this role, the M113's
passenger compartment is taken up with the turret and ammunition, and the rear
deck hatches and commander's cupola are removed; the fuel tanks, if the base
vehicle is an A1 or A2, are moved to the rear.
The
engine of the M113A1 is the General Motors 6V53, which develops 212 horsepower.
The steering system used is by differential tillers; the vehicle is steered by
pulling on the tillers and braked by pulling them both sharply to the rear and
put into parking brake by locking them to the rear. The M113A1 has a crew
heater, which actually works quite well. The M113A2 is similar, but uses the
updated 6V53T engine with an upgraded transmission that has an additional
forward speed. The ground clearance is raised by 25mm, due to a beefed-up and
more shock-absorbing suspension. The M113A2 has a rather unreliable and
accident-prone pivot steering system; this system is usually disabled to prevent
thrown tracks. The smoke-grenade system of the M113A2 is replaced by the smoke
grenade launchers mounted on the TS 90 turret.
The
M113A3 uses a modification of the 6V53T called the RISE package.
This version of the 6V53 develops 275 horsepower.
The differential steering controls are replaced by a conventional driving
yoke and brake pedal. An improved neutral steering system is fitted, restoring
the pivot steer capability. Kevlar anti-spalling liners were fitted to increase
protection for the occupants. The
M113A3-based version of the TS 90-equipped vehicle is absolutely not amphibious,
even with flotation cells.
Vehicle |
Price |
Fuel Type |
Load |
Veh Wt |
Crew |
Mnt |
Night Vision |
Radiological |
M113A1/TS 90 |
$373,269 |
D, A |
558 kg |
13 tons |
3 |
9 |
Passive IR (D, G), Image Intensification (G) |
Shielded |
M113A2/TS 90 |
$373,269 |
D, A |
603 kg |
13.4 tons |
3 |
9 |
Passive IR (D, G), Image Intensification (G) |
Shielded |
M113A3/TS 90 |
$381,069 |
D, A |
616 kg |
14.3 tons |
3 |
9 |
Thermal Imaging (D), Passive IR (G), Image Intensification (G) |
Shielded |
Vehicle |
Tr Mov |
Com Mov |
Fuel Cap |
Fuel Cons |
Config |
Susp |
Armor |
M113A1/TS 90 |
133/93 |
37/26/4 |
360 |
124 |
Trtd |
T2 |
TF6 TS7
TR6 HF6
HS4 HR4 |
M113A2/TS 90 |
131/92 |
36/25/4 |
360 |
124 |
Trtd |
T2 |
TF6 TS7
TR6 HF6
HS4 HR4 |
M113A3/TS 90 |
150/105 |
43/29 |
360 |
136 |
Trtd |
T2 |
TF6 TS7
TR6 HF6
HS5 HR4 |
Fire Control |
Stabilization |
Armament |
Ammunition |
+1 |
Fair |
90mm CN 90 F2 Gun, MAG, MAG (C) |
45x90mm, 2200x7.62mm |
Nuffield A39 Tortoise Heavy Assault Tank
Country of
Origin: Britain
Seen In: British
preparations for the invasion of France in Operation Overlord.
Notes: The
Tortoise was essentially an assault gun (though the British designated it a
Heavy Assault Tank, it was also known as the Special Vehicle, Assault),
conceived of in early 1943 in preparation for the Operation Overlord landings in
France. It’s job was to destroy
heavy fortifications, and especially the Siegfried Line fortifications, which
intelligence said was being used by the Nazis (the intelligence was largely
wrong, however). The Tortoise was
designed to have a powerful gun (for the time) coupled with heavy frontal armor
(again, for the time; the glacis had 228mm of armor, sharply sloped; even the
top had 33 millimeters of armor.
Only a few prototypes were produced by the end of World War 2, and none took
part in any action. It’s size,
simply, made it almost impossible to deploy with the methods available at the
time. After the war, six were
produced and sent to the BAOR for field trials, but proved to be too heavy for
any sort of agility. Only two Tortoises survive today, one as The Tank Museum in
Bovington in the UK; this one is kept in perfect running order, despite being
only rarely displayed. The other is
in the Kirkcudbright Military Training Area in Scotland, and the MoD has
declared it a Site of Scientific Special Interest.
This greatly complicates the ongoing effort to bring the Tortoise back to
running order, as the vehicle cannot be recovered without the M0Ds approval,
which they never seem to give.
The weight
quickly grew to extreme proportions; at 78 tons, it was much heavier than an
M1A2 or a Challenger 2. This is
despite the fact that it has only a casemated gun, and not a true turret.
The armor of the casemate is, in fact continuous with the armor of the
vehicle, especially in the front of the vehicle. The gun could be traversed 40
degrees to either side of the front.
The main itself was an Ordnance QF 32-pounder (94mm) high-velocity gun,
along with two Besa 7.92mm machineguns in ball mounts on the right side of the
glacis, and another in a ball mount to the left of the main gun’s ball mount
The Tortoise had
a large crew – the driver, commander, assistant driver, gunner, machinegunner
and two loaders. The driver and the assistant driver operated the two
glacis-mounted machineguns, while the machinegunner operated the casemate’s
machinegun. The long main gun
length meant that a travel lock was necessary, and this was electrically
operated. The Tortoise also had
three clusters of 76mm grenades, a cluster of three on each side of the hull,
and a three-round cluster was to the right of the casemate’s machinegun ball
mount. A third weapon was a 2-Inch
smoke and ILLUM launching mortar, mounted in the rear of the casemate.
Atop the casemate were two hatches for the commander and one for everyone
else. The Tortoise also had an
azimuth indicator, another advanced feature for the time.
However, the
Tortoise was not blessed with agility, being equipped with an engine of only 600
horsepower. Though weak for the
Tortoise’s weight, it one of the most powerful engines available for armored
vehicles of the time, and was based on the Spitfire’s Merlin engine.
The Tortoise was difficult to deploy, even disassembled, and could not
cross most European bridges, nor could it cross a Bailey Bridge. Also not
helping were the tracks, as they were an astounding 90 centimeters wide.
The Tortoise was
fitted with experimental night vision gear (advanced for the time).
Price |
Fuel Type |
Load |
Veh Wt |
Crew |
Mnt |
Night Vision |
Radiological |
$396,738 |
G, A |
800 kg |
78 tons |
7 |
40 |
Active IR (G) |
Enclosed |
Tr Mov |
Com Mov |
Fuel Cap |
Fuel Cons |
Config |
Susp |
Armor |
73/51 |
20/14 |
720 |
266 |
Stnd |
T6 |
HF116 HS44
HR15 |
Fire Control |
Stabilization |
Armament |
Ammunition |
+1 |
None |
Ordnance QF 32-Pounder (94mm) Gun, 3xBesa Machineguns |
60x94mm, 4500x7.92mm |