Author Topic: HSTV-L, Stingray, M8 Buford and other cool light tanks  (Read 11112 times)


Offline Old Wombat

  • "We'll see when I've finished whether I'm showing off or simply embarrassing myself."
  • "Define 'interesting'?"
Re: HSTV-L, Stingray, M8 Buford and other cool light tanks
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2014, 08:32:32 PM »
Found this in one of those links for something different;

Here: http://www.zona-militar.com/foros/threads/los-tanques-que-no-fueron.24765/page-3

I don't speak, read, write or understand, in any way or form, Spanish - so I have no idea what they're talking about.
« Last Edit: June 16, 2014, 09:01:50 PM by Old Wombat »
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Offline Rickshaw

  • "Of course, I could be talking out of my hat"
Re: HSTV-L, Stingray, M8 Buford and other cool light tanks
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2014, 08:54:07 PM »
One of the two alternative designs produced for the German MBT 3 project.  Here is the other one:




This was an earlier development vehicle





Similar to the Swedish S Tank.  Initially tried with 105mm and then 120mm guns, and relied on turning the tank for aiming, although, unlike the S Tank, they were elevatable, independent from the tank chassis. 

Offline Volkodav

  • Counts rivits with his abacus...
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Re: HSTV-L, Stingray, M8 Buford and other cool light tanks
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2014, 09:26:48 PM »
Why two guns though?

I have seen those photos before but never understood the idea of two guns verses one larger calibre or perhaps a 120mm with an auto loader and a higher rate of fire.

Offline Rickshaw

  • "Of course, I could be talking out of my hat"
Re: HSTV-L, Stingray, M8 Buford and other cool light tanks
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2014, 09:50:36 PM »
They had autoloaders.  As to why dual guns, doubles the rate of fire of course.

Offline Kerick

  • Reportedly finished with a stripper...
Re: HSTV-L, Stingray, M8 Buford and other cool light tanks
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2014, 11:44:33 PM »
Looks like someone took wargame miniatures up to full size!

Offline Volkodav

  • Counts rivits with his abacus...
  • Much older now...but procrastinating about it
Re: HSTV-L, Stingray, M8 Buford and other cool light tanks
« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2014, 12:25:14 AM »
Still looks like a poor trade off in terms of weight and complexity verses a single gun design.
The design just doesn't make sense and I am curious as to the thinking and requirements behind it.

Offline jcf

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Re: HSTV-L, Stingray, M8 Buford and other cool light tanks
« Reply #7 on: June 17, 2014, 12:47:56 AM »
Hull down and hiding to stop the invading Sov-Pac hordes.  :-\

“Conspiracy theory’s got to be simple.
Sense doesn’t come into it. People are
more scared of how complicated shit
actually is than they ever are about
whatever’s supposed to be behind the
conspiracy.”
-The Peripheral, William Gibson 2014

Offline Rickshaw

  • "Of course, I could be talking out of my hat"
Re: HSTV-L, Stingray, M8 Buford and other cool light tanks
« Reply #8 on: June 17, 2014, 07:43:25 AM »
Still looks like a poor trade off in terms of weight and complexity verses a single gun design.
The design just doesn't make sense and I am curious as to the thinking and requirements behind it.


It was a research project that went essentially no where.  Tactical thinking changed and what was to become MBT 3 (aka Leopard 3) was an improved Leopard 2 with a new, higher power, smaller engine (which allowed a shorter hull and increased armour) and a 140mm gun with autoloader but that is getting ahead of the story.  It wasn't built either, with the end of the Cold War.  These casemented tanks were, as JCF suggested, designed to stop the hordes of Warsaw Pact tanks on the North German Plain.  They were essentially the result of defensive thinking and of course, such thinking was tossed out the window when Leopard 2 came along and showed how useful a fully rotating turret was with full stabilisation.   These vehicles really aren't light tanks, either, they're MBTs.   The MBT 3 project was just one effort at follow on to Leopard 2 while Leopard 2 was being developed.   At the time, in the mid-late-70s there was considerable interest in the S Tank concept, with the British building the Contentious tech demonstrator on a Comet chassis and the Jagdchieftain vehicle.

Contentious


Jadgchieftain