This less 'inspiration' and more of a question. I'm hoping to gets some clarity on the
Centurion Low Profile Turret update proposal - especially on dating.
Waaay back in Reply #87, Greg mentioned that Teledyne converted a
Centurion Mk.5 hull as a
Centurion LPT demonstrator prototype:
https://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=42d418e91f1017d0a2a793ffb112a01f&topic=178.msg104413#msg104413According to some sources, Teledyne approached Canada with this
Centurion update proposal. That proposal involved installation of a Teledyne Continental powerplant, an applique-armour package for the hull, and the Low-Profile Turret. I'm not sure of the date of this proposal but the LPT comes from the early-to-mid 1980s. And there is the problem with this proposal.
Krauss-Maffei handed over the first
Leopard C1s in June 1978. So why was Teledyne proposing a
Centurion update to DND when the
Leopard C1 had already replaced Canada's
Cents (at least half a decade prior)? It doesn't make any sense.
As an aside, once Canada fielded
Leopard 1s - first Bundeswehr loaners, then
Leopard C1s - the 'worn-out'
Centurions were sold off to Israel. There, the IDF ugraded some of them to
Sho't Kal standards. Ironically, this included installing the same Teledyne Continental Motors (TCM) AVDS-1790-2A diesel engine [1] proposed for the
Centurion LPT conversion. However, this engine made more sense for Israel - partially for commonality for their M60/
Magach fleet, partially to encourage the US Congress to fund the upgrade through foreign aid.
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[1] Although the IDF uses an Allison CD 850-6 transmission, not the originally proposed 'TCM 304' automatic transmission (which, in reality, was just a Teledyne rebranding of the German Renk RK 304S).