Hello WOTers!
The 1B Concept is the first of its kind in World of Tanks for small projection turrets. The turret is elongated and narrow, almost as wide as the gun shield, greatly reducing the chance of being hit head-on. In addition to it, such as the Bofors TRV and the Shire 75 are loyal fans of this design concept. In fact, there are other tanks in the game, although they are now equipped with traditional turrets, but there are plans to replace small projection turrets in history, so please follow the editor to find out!
M60A2 Starship
M60 + compact turret + 152 mm M162 launcher
Among the many small projection turret schemes, the M60A2 Starship is probably the only model to be put into mass production. During the development phase (then known as the XM66), a compact C-turret was chosen, with a frontal projection that was about 40% smaller than that of the M60A1. Its main armament is a two-way stabilized 152 mm M162 dual-purpose launcher with a barrel extraction device, which can fire grenades, armor-piercing shells and MGM-51 "Oak Stick" missiles. The commander is located directly behind the gun and has an all-round view, the gunner and loader are in the turret basket under the gun side, and the driver is in the center of the front of the hull.
The M60A2 was put into production in 1973, and there were plans to upgrade all M60 tanks in service to the A2 standard, but only 540 units were eventually received, the main reasons include a series of inherent defects of the "Oak Stick" weapon system, including insufficient combustion of combustible cartridges, inability to shoot on the move, weak multi-target engagement capabilities, excessive minimum range, etc., and the most important is the development of composite armor technology, which has greatly reduced the effectiveness of anti-tank relying solely on armor-piercing warheads. Coupled with a series of high-tech equipment piled up on the tank, the cost of the single vehicle was high, and eventually the production of the M60A2 was discontinued in 1975 and was retired from active service in 1981.
M60 LPT-105
M60+LPT-105炮塔+105毫米M68A1炮
▲ Comparison of the frontal projection of the M60 LPT and the M60A3
In addition to the well-known "starship", the American company Telleda Technology also designed a new upgrade module for the M60 tank in the mid-80s, that is, the LPT (low-profile turret) scheme, the core of which is an unmanned turret with a very small frontal projection, in which a self-loading 105mm M68A1 rifled gun is installed. All 47 rounds were located in the middle of the hull, nine of which were in the automatic loader of the cartridge type, and the other 38 rounds were in ammunition racks on both sides, with a theoretical rate of fire of up to 10 rounds per minute. The commander and gunner were moved down into the hull and viewed through periscopes in the hatches.
▲ M60 LPT upgrade scheme in other regions
In addition to the turret, the M60 LPT-105's planned upgrades include additional armor on the nose of the hull, independent hydraulic suspension, and a new engine and transmission. In addition, the LPT-105 can also be adapted to other combat platforms, such as the Centurion, T-54/55 series, etc., which can effectively reduce the probability of the tank being hit in the 60-degree sector of the front, while significantly reducing the weight of the vehicle and improving mobility. Although the project did not gain traction with any users, the experience gained during its development was later applied to the M1128 MGS mobile artillery system.
▲ LPT turret mounted on the body of the modified Centurion
EACH
M551" 谢里登"+75毫米ARES XM247炮
In 1978, the U.S. Army and Marine Corps jointly launched the ARVAL (Advanced Anti-Tank Combat Vehicle Review) to replace the obsolete M551, with the aim of developing a fire support vehicle with firepower comparable to that of front-line tanks and improving survivability by minimizing its profile. The first stage was the ELKE (High Kinetic Weapon Vehicle) with an overhead gun, which could be fired in a completely hidden position by rotating the rocker arm to raise the gun's line of fire. The system was initially installed on the M551 for testing, and later developed HIMAG-B, HSTV-L, etc.
▲ 75mm ARES XM274 rapid-fire smoothbore gun in towed state
The ELKE system uses a 75mm XM247 ARES rapid-fire smoothbore gun as a weapon (i.e., the main gun of the M5YE2 "Thunder" in "Infinite Fire" mode), which is a remote-controlled towed anti-tank gun that can be carried by helicopter, and is automatically reloaded by a 6-round drum on the right side of the gun hull (a 40-round drum can also be replaced), with a sustained rate of fire of 60 rounds per minute and a pitch angle of -10/+55 degrees. The gun can fire a large number of APFSDS shells at the target in a short time, which is said to be effective against composite armor. However, the development of the gun was eventually halted due to its lack of power to penetrate the Warsaw Pact T-64/T-72 series head-on.
▲ It can be seen that ELKE has good terrain adaptability
COMRES 75
A34 "Comet" + 20-pounder gun Type B
The COMRES 75 was a prototype tank built by the British Armored Vehicle Design Bureau (FVRDE) in 1968 and was the first tank in NATO countries to use an overhead stand-alone gun and an automatic loader. The tank was based on the A34 Comet tank, and the main gun was changed to a 20-pounder gun with a B-barrel (some say that the caliber was not 83.4, but 83.8 mm). The 12 rounds of artillery shells are placed in tubular ammunition racks diagonally above both sides of the artillery, and are loaded by automatic loading equipment, and the armor shell provides protection against small and medium-caliber bullets and shell fragments.
In order to improve the survivability of the COMRES 75, engineers also added two sets of 6 smoke grenade launchers on both sides of the barrel. The specific results of the tests are currently under wraps, except for a brief mention in a magazine in 1984 of "valuable experience for such a completely new layout". Although the COMRES 75 was only in the prototype stage, its design ideas still had a profound impact on the design of later generations of tanks, such as the KPz 80, which was designed by Britain and Germany in the late 70s.
The above is all the content of this issue, do you think, if these tanks in the game have undergone similar modifications, will their gameplay undergo subversive changes, and can their combat effectiveness be significantly improved?