Alternative History Armoured Fighting Vehicles Part 3
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The Leopard VT 1-5 and 1-6 (what we typically call the 1A6 even though that designation wasn't official), the Belgian MEXAS armor testbed and the Canadian MEXAS tanks typically reached 46.7 to 48 tonnes or so. Since most of the addon armor was at the front, it was very difficult to deal with the moment of imbalance, and for example you absolutely needed 1A5's improved turret drives to cope with it, and even then this was too much for the VTs (Belgian one didn't get improved turret drives which is why MEXAS was not adopted). Overall, unless a proper counterweight is applied and the turret drives are massively modernized, reaching even the 47-48t limit will be difficult. Beyond that you may run into structural problems which would require reinforcing ribs (like done for Leopard 2s beyond 60t), so overall the absolute practical weight limit for a Leo 1 is 50t.
Nonetheless, if that armor package is successfully applied, the tank becomes highly resistant to 125mm steel APFSDS (so any rounds older than 1983) and immune to 100mm and most 115mm rounds frontally, plus a lot of shaped charges. ERA would have the advantage of being little heavier or no heavier than the 900kg steel addon applied to most Leopards without any modifications to the turret drives, while offering much greater protection, so is probably the best compromise.
That said, while armor upgrades are limited due to weight, most other parameters can be brought to a level close to more modern tanks. 1A5 already pushed the electronics to the level of Leo 2 and using even more modern ones is even easier. The panoramic commander's sight (with thermals or not) was tested on one of the VTs so completely achievable here too. Electric turret traverse can be useful to apply even if you do not put several tons of extra armor (safer than electro-hydraulic). The 120mm is easy of course.
Mobility can also be pushed much further. The existing engine was offered at 950-1000hp by replacing the superchargers with turbos, and any engine of comparable size can be put here too. The proposed "leistungsgesteigert Leopard" only increased length by 50mm to install the 1250hp MB-872 and a reinforced gearbox (not even a modern one which would be quite easy to add), so that gives the ballpark for the power we can achieve in a Leo 1 before running into size limitations. Suspension was already upgraded with new torsion bars in 1A5, but more could probably be done. Btw, that proposed Leopard weighed 44.5t.
So basically, Leo 1 can be brought to a similar level to tanks fielded in the 80s in pretty much every way but armor, and even that could have been pushed further.
Nonetheless, if that armor package is successfully applied, the tank becomes highly resistant to 125mm steel APFSDS (so any rounds older than 1983) and immune to 100mm and most 115mm rounds frontally, plus a lot of shaped charges. ERA would have the advantage of being little heavier or no heavier than the 900kg steel addon applied to most Leopards without any modifications to the turret drives, while offering much greater protection, so is probably the best compromise.
That said, while armor upgrades are limited due to weight, most other parameters can be brought to a level close to more modern tanks. 1A5 already pushed the electronics to the level of Leo 2 and using even more modern ones is even easier. The panoramic commander's sight (with thermals or not) was tested on one of the VTs so completely achievable here too. Electric turret traverse can be useful to apply even if you do not put several tons of extra armor (safer than electro-hydraulic). The 120mm is easy of course.
Mobility can also be pushed much further. The existing engine was offered at 950-1000hp by replacing the superchargers with turbos, and any engine of comparable size can be put here too. The proposed "leistungsgesteigert Leopard" only increased length by 50mm to install the 1250hp MB-872 and a reinforced gearbox (not even a modern one which would be quite easy to add), so that gives the ballpark for the power we can achieve in a Leo 1 before running into size limitations. Suspension was already upgraded with new torsion bars in 1A5, but more could probably be done. Btw, that proposed Leopard weighed 44.5t.
So basically, Leo 1 can be brought to a similar level to tanks fielded in the 80s in pretty much every way but armor, and even that could have been pushed further.
At least its not KV-1 levels of bad where you need a hammer to shift.
It looks very reminiscent of Dicker Max.
I like the contrast with the T18, which is trying to do the same kind of thing.
I know that the T18 wasn't practical but my god that's an aesthetically pleasing spg.
What would be smart is take a Merkava approach. Truncate the infantry compartment-stretch the vehicle to accomodate the turret, use the remaining infantry compartment left for more ammo capacity. I think such a vehicle might want wider tracks and a more powerful engine to maintain good mobility.
T18 seems like the US counterpart to the Semovente. Also the term "KinderStuG(a)" springs to mind.
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Better to just design a new vehicle from the ground up, which what I think the Sovs did do.
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