I had never really investigated the French AMX-30 before. A little research revealed just what
un vrai chien de char the AMX-30 really was! The lightest of armour of any MBT; wholly unreliable drivetrain; non-standard main gun; ...
The only positives I could find were a relatively light weight - 500 kg lighter than the
Leo 1 (mostly by sacrificing armour protection) - and a correspondingly low ground pressure. Can anyone think of any other pluses for this mutt of an MBT?
Having jumped the gun of processing an AMX-30 image, I was stuck trying to imagine improvements to this vehicle. Up-armour? Nope, already underpowered for the 750 hp available power (when working). Re-engining? Why waste a EuroPowerPack (or similar) on an AMX when you could refurb more plentiful
Leopard 1s instead?
So, I defaulted to a pair of my old hobby horses - direct fire-support vehicles and 'diesel armour'. My AMX-30/CR60 (
char de reconnaissance) is a rebuild based on the AMX-30B2 with a Renault-Mack E9 V8 - producing the same 750 hp as the dreadful original HS 110 V12 but much more reliable. The CN 105 F1 gun is replaced by a 60 mm CN60-70 B1 SMHV - this
canon de soutien moyen à haute vélocité being an HVMS 60/70 gun licensed from OTO-Melara.
After the BRENUS ERA system was rejected (due to its adding 1.7 metric tons of weight), the Swedish solution of adding
jerrican 'diesel armour' was adopted. When full, this 'diesel armour' added about 500 kg to loaded weight (~435 kg of that being fuel). However, that was balanced by the armament change (which saved 1,470 kg in gun weight - although the AMX-30/CR60 generally carried a heavier ammunition load than an AMX-30B2.) Rubber dust skirts were applied beneath the 'diesel armour'. Turret protection was also improved with add-on armour applied to the frontal arc.
The idea here is that 60 mm APDSFS-T would be ideal for plinking IFVs while HE-T fragmentation would serve in the anti-infantry role. Probably 'lipstick on a pig' but any thoughts?
__________________________
BTW: This image is based on a photo of a preserved AMX-30 marked as 'CDT BOSSUT' -
Commandant Bossut having been killed in his Schneider tank during the assault on Juvincourt on 16 April 1917. I've named my AMX-30/CR60 'MdL DUIF' - the
Maréchal des Logis having been killed just prior to Bossut.