Dec 1, 2017

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

This month in our Branch of the Month series is dedicated to the American Main Battle Tanks. The Americans have a long and proud tank tradition.

They started a bit slow in the Second World War, armed with obsolete light tanks, the oldest of which went back to the closing days of the First World War. That wasn’t, however, something unusual – in fact, by 1939-1940, many countries, including the French themselves, were still armed with large numbers of the legendary Renault FT Light Tank. When the Great War ended, this tiny tank was one of the most advanced weapons on the battlefield, pioneering the entire concept of manned traversable turret with engine in the back, but by the beginning of the Second World War, it was hopelessly obsolete with its small 37mm gun unable to penetrate the armor of modern German war machines. The Americans adopted it under the name of M1917 and still kept it in service two decades later along with other generally obsolete vehicles.

Then came the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and everything changed – America started doing what America does best to this day: produce and innovate. Fifty thousand Sherman tanks and two nuclear drops later, it was clear that a true superpower was born and it was here to stay. During the four wartime years, the United States tank fleet saw the same progress as the wartime armies of Europe. Where the Soviet Union upgraded from the tiny, old T-26 tanks (interwar Vickers copies) to the mighty T-34 and IS-2 tanks, the Americans switched from such vehicles as the obsolete T2 Light Tank over the M3 Medium tanks (commonly known as “Lee” or “Grant” in their British version) to the legendary M4 Sherman, arguable the best tank of the Second World War.

The Sherman was one of those tanks that weren’t the best in the world in anything. It wasn’t the most armored tank, it didn’t have the biggest gun, nor was it the fastest. What it did have was the best combination of firepower, armor, mobility and crew comfort. Contrary to popular belief, even its 75mm gun was sufficient against practically anything the Germans could muster, including the dreaded Tiger tank. Its protection was also solid, practically on the Tiger level thanks to its armor sloping. Unfortunately, the Sherman received some bad post-war reputation due to inaccurate books like the infamous Death Traps by Belton Cooper, but in reality, it was a great tank that was widely exported during and after the war.

But, as with all things, even the Sherman grew somewhat obsolete by the end of the war despite several upgrades such as the long American 76mm gun that surpassed its famous German 75mm Panther counterpart in many aspects. A new tank was needed to serve during what became known as the Cold War – a stand-off with the Soviet Union accompanied by a number of proxy wars. The Sherman continued to live on but the Americans themselves needed something better.

During the closing days of the Second World War, the new American M26 Pershing tank came in service. Armed with a powerful 90mm gun, it could take on practically anything it encountered. It was built with the American tradition in mind – it was big, loud and powerful. Initially, it was even designated as a Heavy Tank for morale purposes, but it really wasn’t in the same weight class as the 70-ton Tiger II. Its armament was, however, on par with the heavies.

Speaking of the heavies, the Americans produced a number of Heavy Tank prototypes during the war but, unlike the Germans and the Soviets, they were never really happy with them and didn’t actively deploy them. Heavy Tanks were always situational in their eyes. They weren’t really “required” for anything per se (the fear of breaking through the Siegfried line crumbled along with the remnants of the German forces), they only represented logistical difficulties and the American Medium Tanks along with artillery and combined arms tactics in general could take out any German forces anyway, so why bother. The American Heavy Tanks ended with the M103 in the 1950s.

Back to the American Medium Tank post-war history – the launch of the M26 Pershing was important because it represented the start of a line of development of a tank that lasted in service over four decades – the M47/M48/M60 Patton series.

Where the American post-war tank forces are often represented by an image of the Abrams MBT, it was the Patton that was the real American workhorse. Unlike the Abrams, the Patton tanks were widely exported to NATO countries and beyond, effectively becoming the western equivalent of the Soviet T-55 and T-72 series (although they were not produced in such numbers). All the Patton tanks and their M26 Pershing predecessor shared some basic similarities:

They carried a NATO caliber gun (90mm and later 105mm)
Their armor was steel only (composite armor only came with the M1 Abrams)
They had a crew of four men (the gun was always manually loaded)
They were initially powered by petrol engines, only switching to diesels later on

All in all, around 30 thousand M47/M48/M60 Patton tanks were built. They were solid vehicles, fully capable of defeating the Soviet tanks (and they did, especially in the Israeli hands), but they also had drawbacks. They were tall, the petrol versions were fuel-thirsty and, starting from the mid-1960s, their all-steel armor was inferior to the composites used by the Soviet MBTs. The Pattons were also vulnerable to guided missiles and, despite the development of explosive reactive armor, they were never really able to catch up to modern Soviet designs.

The Americans did realize this and felt the need for a new Main Battle Tank to replace the aging Patton series. It was decided to co-develop this new tank together with West Germany. The goal was to produce a cutting edge tank that would beat anything on the battlefield. It was to be ready for the 1970s, which is why it was called MBT-70 by the Americans and Kampfpanzer-70 by the Germans.

It was a total disaster. Three hundred million dollars and a decade of development later, the program was cancelled in 1969. The MBT-70 prototypes featured many experimental technologies and were not only unreliable, but way too expensive to be practical. The Germans had quite enough of that program and decided to develop the Leopard 2 instead, while the Americans stuck around with it for two more years (the XM803 tank) only to finally cancel it in 1971.

The MBT-70 was an important, if costly lesson that convinced the Americans that cramming the future tank with all the experimental tech they could get their hands on was not exactly the best idea ever and that a standard Main Battle Tank that would use modern technologies (just not TOO modern) but, most importantly, would be affordable. The result of this line of thought was one of the most iconic American vehicles ever produced, the M1 Abrams series.

The first prototypes of the XM1 (previously XM815) were delivered by Chrysler Defense and General Motors in 1976. Both were armed with a M68 105mm rifled cannon. However, the General Motors vehicle was powered by a diesel engine, while the Chrysler Defense prototype was powered by a newly-developed turbine engine. Chrysler had a lot of experience designing turbines, ever since the 1950s, and was confident in the superior abilities of this new propulsion type. Turbine-propelled tanks were nothing new, some of the first attempts date back to World War Two, but the Abrams and the T-80 were the first tanks to use the turbine on a mass-produced scale.

Following comparative trials with a special Leopard 2 variant (Leopard 2AV), Chrysler's XM1 was selected as the future U.S. Army Main Battle Tank. It was named after General Creighton Abrams, who commanded American armored forces in both World War Two and the Vietnam War. Production ran from 1979 and around 10 thousand Abrams Main Battle Tanks of various versions have been built to date.

The M1 Abrams is a classic Main Battle Tank with a 4-man crew (commander, gunner, loader, and driver). Its weight ranges from 54 tons for the original M1 to 62 tons for the up-armored M1A2. The tank is 9.77 meters in length with the gun facing forward, 3.66 meters in width and 2.44 meters in height.

Its Chobham-type armor is a major upgrade over the steel of its predecessor. American development of this type of armor goes back to 1973 when representatives from both Chrysler and General Motors visited the United Kingdom to witness its manufacturing process. This experience led to major changes in the design of both prototypes. Steven Zaloga, a U.S. military historian, estimates that the frontal armor protection of the basic Abrams is equal to 350mm RHAe versus kinetic rounds and 700mm RHAe versus HEAT rounds, but Soviet sources estimated that the protection was even higher. In the later Abrams versions, the already considerable Chobham protection was further enhanced by the introduction of depleted uranium armor elements, starting in 1988 with the M1A1. This increased its protection to as much as 600mm RHAe versus kinetic rounds and 1300mm RHAe versus HEAT rounds. There are Abrams variants both with and without the depleted uranium elements and the export Abrams tanks typically lack it. The newest protection addition includes Explosive Reactive Armor sets as part of the Tank Urban Survival Kit (TUSK) with the purpose of making the vehicle more durable in urban environments versus RPG-type weapons.

The Abrams can also be equipped with a soft-kill active protection system (AN/VLQ-6 Missile Countermeasure Device) that interferes with the guidance system of certain guided missile types by emitting a strong infra-red signal that can confuse the IR-seekers. The Abrams' internal design ensures maximum crew safety by containing the blasts in uninhabited areas protected by armor. The crew can thus survive even catastrophic damage that would mean certain death in other, less-protected, vehicles. For example, during ammunition cook off the force of the explosion is directed outside thanks to the blowout panels implemented in the ammo compartment design. The Abrams is also equipped with a halon automated fire-extinguishing system.

The first version of the Abrams was armed with a 105mm M68 rifled gun. While an effective weapon, the need to increase firepower when facing advanced Soviet designs led to its replacement in the late 1980s with the German designed 120mm L/44 Rheinmetall smoothbore. In the Abrams, the gun was designated as M256 and it remains the current main armament of the vehicle to this day. Just like the M68, the M256 gun is manually loaded by the loader, retrieving shells from the rear of the turret. It can fire both kinetic (APFSDS) and multi-purpose HEAT rounds that can also be used against soft targets due to their explosive charge.

In addition to the main gun, the Abrams is equipped with three machine guns – the Browning M2 .50 caliber on the top of the turret in front of the commander's hatch, the 7.62mm M240 at the loader's hatch and a coaxial 7.62mm M240. Another CROWS system remotely-controlled heavy machine gun can be added to the turret as part of the TUSK kit.

The Abrams is powered by a 1500hp Honeywell AGT-1500 multi-fuel gas turbine and a six speed (4F/2R) Allison X-1100-3B Hydro-Kinetic automatic transmission. This engine enables the Abrams to go as fast as 72 km/h on hard surface or 48 km/h cross-country, but higher speeds have been reached by removing the speed governor. The turbine can run on multiple types of fuels including kerosene, diesel or gasoline – this ability was implemented to simplify logistic requirements. The most commonly used fuel in the U.S. Army is the JP-8 jet fuel, while Australian Abrams tanks run on diesel. The engine emits a distinctive whistling sound and is less noisy than the older variants of tank diesel engines, which earned the Abrams its popular "Whispering Death" nickname during its first REFORGER exercise. Unfortunately, this type of engine does have its drawbacks with fuel consumption being somewhat higher compared to diesel engines of equal power. However, this issue is far less prevalent than the criticism of it would suggest.

There are three major variants of the Abrams:

The original M1 Abrams
M1A1 Abrams (4976 built for the U.S. Army, 221 for USMC, 755 for Egypt, 59 M1A1 AIM SA sold to Australia), with several upgrades including optional depleted uranium and a M256 120mm gun
M1A2 Abrams (most of these were actually upgraded M1/M1A1 tanks, the differences being more advanced fire control systems and second generation depleted uranium armor)

Each of these variants has a large number of sub-variants with the most advanced M1A2 version being upgraded to several System Enhancement Package standards and with a TUSK armor kit.

The Abrams became one of the most famous tanks in the world, following its stunning performance during Operation Desert Storm and the Iraq War. Around 2000 Abrams tanks were deployed to Iraq during the Gulf War and the Abrams outperformed all its Soviet-made opponents. While the stunning success in Iraq was the result of combined arms tactics and not the vehicle alone, the speed with which possibly the strongest military of the region was crushed by the Americans deeply shocked both Russia and China, leading (amongst other things) to the development of the next generation of Main Battle Tanks. That is not to say that the Americans did not consider switching the Abrams for something different, including a brand new Main Battle Tank. In the 1980s, a number of interesting projects was developed, such as the “Thumper” or the CATTB, an automatic loading mechanism for the Abrams or even a massive 140mm gun. These development programs were, however, mostly cancelled with the end of the Cold War as the perceived threat of a future Soviet Main Battle tank ended.

And so, the Abrams continues to soldier on. Recently, a new version of the Abrams (named SEP V3) was introduced to public and the development of a replacement for the existing Abrams tank variants (commonly known as the M1A3) is scheduled to start around 2020-2025.

From December 1 to December 31 2017, the following American MBTs will be available for lower price than usual:

M60 Tier 3 MBT – the M60 was the attempt to upgrade the M48 Patton to carry more firepower. It was accepted in service in March 1959. The vehicle still resembled the older M48 series with its round turret, but featured a number of improvements, the chief amongst them being the 105mm M68 rifled gun. Over 2200 were built and deployed in Europe from 1960, but none of them saw combat. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

Discount: 35%

M60A1 Tier 4 MBT – the M60A1 was an upgraded M60 Main Battle Tank. It’s visually distinctive from its predecessor by its new, narrow turret with enhanced protection. Introduced in 1961, it became the main American MBT model until the introduction of the M60A3 and the Abrams, participating in multiple conflicts, most famously in Operation Desert Storm in USMC hands. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

Discount: 35%

M60A2 Tier 5 MBT – the M60A2, sometimes unofficially called “Starship” was an attempt to upgrade the Patton series with what had been perceived as the future of tank combat: a combination of large caliber but short gun-launcher and guided missiles. It wasn’t a successful design – its complexity and reliability issues led to it quickly being phased out. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

Discount: 35%

M60A3 Tier 5 MBT – the M60A3 was the final mass-produced variant of the M60 series. It was basically a M60A1 with a new fire control system and other smaller upgrades. This variant stayed in American service until it was eventually completely replaced by the Abrams in 1997. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

Discount: 35%

M1 Abrams Tier 6 MBT – this is the initial version of the iconic American Abrams tank series. The Abrams was initially armed with the older 105mm M68 gun. A potent, fast and superbly armored tank, its only real drawback was its fuel consumption. Over 3000 were built between 1979 and 1985.

Discount: 35%

M1A1 Abrams Tier 7 MBT – in 1985, the Abrams was upgraded with, amongst other things, the 120mm M256 smoothbore cannon. Over 5000 were produced until 1992. This tank participated in Operation Desert Storm, which forged its legendary reputation.

Discount: 25%

M1A2 Abrams Tier 8 MBT – entering service in 1992, this new variant was upgraded from the older Abrams tanks by introducing new generation of depleted uranium armor, independent thermal optics for the commander and other improvements to the design. With an upgrade kit called System Enhancement Package, this is the most modern Main Battle Tank of the U.S. Army.

Discount: 25%

M1A2 SEP V3 Tier 9 MBT – this is the latest, cutting edge version of the Abrams, featuring even more upgrades to its electronics as well as a remotely-operated machinegun turret in a single comprehensive package, prolonging the life of the aging design by another decade or two. Its deployment is scheduled to start at the end of the decade. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

Discount: 20%

XM1A3 Tier 10 MBT – this is the vision of Armored Warfare developers of how the experimental new generation Abrams could look like. It consists of multiple upgrades that were developed in real life, such as the Fastdraw automatic loading mechanism or the massive 140mm cannon, developed for the next generation of American Main Battle Tanks. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

Discount: 15%

In Armored Warfare, American tanks are the baseline of the Armored Warfare MBT class. They are the jack-of-all-trades of MBTs but also masters of none. Their armor is average and so is their firepower in the form of standard NATO tank 105mm rifled and 120mm smoothbore cannons. The iconic Abrams tanks offer solid protection and maneuverability but can be outgunned by the Leopards and outmaneuvered by the high-Tier Russian vehicles. They do not have any significant drawbacks, although the low-Tier vehicles (M48 and M60 series) lack composite armor (unlike the Soviets) and are therefore more vulnerable to HEAT rounds and guided missiles. The protection level only becomes good with the M1 Abrams. One outlier that’s worth mentioning is the M60A2 Starship, offering excellent firepower in the form of its 152mm cannon as well as the ability to fire guided missiles on its tier, but slow reload times and mediocre protection.

American generally use manually loaded guns – with full crew training, they can fire faster than automatically loaded guns, but with untrained crews they do lag behind. Due to this fact, the American vehicles have crews of four men.

The XM1A3 offers a unique choice between a powerful automatically loaded 120mm M256 FASTDRAW cannon (2 shots in quick succession) and a 140mm cannon with high damage per shot and penetration but slower reload.

Firepower-wise, the American vehicles have several advantages over the other nationalities. For one, they have better gun stabilization than other MBT branches – in other words, they can fire more accurately on the move, regardless of whether they are turning or just going forward.

Secondly, unlike other MBTs, the American tanks (specifically the Abrams series) generally lack High-Explosive ammunition and gun-launched missiles. This can be a downside during certain situation, but the high-Tier Abrams tanks have a special type of ammunition instead – the HEAT-MP, a round that works both like a HEAT and a HE round.

The American MBTs are ideal for you if you are still deciding what play style you prefer or are a new player. They are quite forgiving to mistakes and at the same time capable of excellent results, although experienced players will ultimately perform better in specialized vehicles.

We’ll see you on the battlefield!

Dec 1, 2017

Branch of the Month – American MBTs

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

This month in our Branch of the Month series is dedicated to the American Main Battle Tanks. The Americans have a long and proud tank tradition.

They carried a NATO caliber gun (90mm and later 105mm)
Their armor was steel only (composite armor only came with the M1 Abrams)
They had a crew of four men (the gun was always manually loaded)
They were initially powered by petrol engines, only switching to diesels later on

The original M1 Abrams
M1A1 Abrams (4976 built for the U.S. Army, 221 for USMC, 755 for Egypt, 59 M1A1 AIM SA sold to Australia), with several upgrades including optional depleted uranium and a M256 120mm gun
M1A2 Abrams (most of these were actually upgraded M1/M1A1 tanks, the differences being more advanced fire control systems and second generation depleted uranium armor)

Discount: 35%

Discount: 35%

Discount: 35%

Discount: 35%

Discount: 35%

Discount: 25%

Discount: 25%

Discount: 20%

Discount: 15%

Nov 30, 2017

Developer Diary: Ammo Rack Changes

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Commanders!

Update 0.22 brought a number of interesting features, including an update to the way Ammo Rack explosions and fires work. In today’s Developer Diary, we’ll take a closer look at the mechanism.

An ammo rack is the part of your vehicle where your ammunition is stored. Hitting it causes, just like in real life, a fire that can potentially destroy your vehicle, making ammo racks essential to protect. In the past – especially during the Second World War, but also during the decades that followed, ammo rack explosions often resulted in a quick and violent death. Tank battles in popular culture and on war photos often show tanks with ripped-off turrets – those are the results of ammunition explosions.

A number of ways was devised to give vehicle crews a chance to bail out in case of internal fire, from wet stowage (slowing the burn and giving the crew the time it needs to get out of the vehicle) to separate ammunition compartments.

Modern ammo racks are usually protected by several means – either by hiding them in the most armored parts of the vehicle, or by removing them from the inhabited parts of vehicles together, for example to turret bustle. Bustle ammo racks, while not as well protected as those located in the main hull behind thick slabs of armor, have other defensive measures in place, such as the blow-out panels. The principle is rather simple – in case of catastrophic ammunition explosion, the turret features thin panels on top that get (as their name suggests) blown out, directing the blast outside rather than inside the crew compartment.

To model these situations better and to introduce more gameplay diversity, we’ve decided to introduce the following changes to the ammo rack mechanism. Before Update 0.22, ammo rack damage could lead to devastating internal fires. Here’s how it works in Update 0.22.

If an ammo rack is destroyed, it starts a destructive fire. The fire causes damage worth 7.5% of vehicle’s maximum hitpoints each 1.5 seconds, but in addition to that, there’s a chance for the ammo rack to detonate, causing massive damage to the vehicle. Additionally, vehicle with damaged ammo rack has a 15% penalty to reload time.

There are now generally three types of ammo racks.

First are standard ammunition racks without any specific protection. These are present on most vehicles, practically on all non-MBTs and most MBTs, especially the older ones. In such vehicles, the ammunition is stored in various ways, but without specific advanced anti-detonation measures. These ammo racks have the following properties:

15% chance to detonate each fire damage cycle (each 1.5 seconds)
Massive explosion damage (turret gets ripped off, impossible to survive)
Maximum fire length is 4.5 seconds (3 cycles)

Second are ammunition racks with blow-out panels. As described above, modern Main Battle Tanks have ammunition stored in separate compartments with blow-out panels directing the explosion outward. The best known tanks with this feature are the Abrams MBTs, but there are more vehicles with extra anti-explosion measures. In the game, apart from the Abrams series, these include the following vehicles: T-14 Armata, T-90MS, Leopard 2 turret ammo stowage, WPB Anders, PL-01 and B1 DRACO. The properties are as follows:

15% chance to detonate each fire damage cycle (each 1.5 seconds)
Explosive damage (30% of vehicle maximum hitpoints, possible to survive)
Maximum fire length is 4.5 seconds (3 cycles)

The third type is rare and is currently restricted only to the Challenger tanks (with more advanced tanks such as the Merkava 4 planned for the future). These advanced ammo racks consist of special fire-resistant containers filled with fire retardant gel or other compound acting as an extinguisher in case of fire. Additionally, the ammunition bins are armored. In Armored Warfare, it works as such:

15% chance to detonate each fire damage cycle (each 1.5 seconds)
Explosive damage (30% of vehicle maximum hitpoints, possible to survive)
Maximum fire length is 3 seconds (2 cycles)

Some vehicles are more susceptible to ammunition rack damage than others due to their ammunition placing (which reflects their real life positions). Fortunately, there are several options available in the game to mitigate the issue:

Loader’s skill Secured Ammunition reduces the reload time penalty when the ammo rack is damaged
Reinforced Ammo Rack retrofit increases ammunition rack hitpoints by 25% (50% for v2) and reduces detonation chance for each cycle by 25% (50% for v2)
Improved Fire Extinguisher consumable has a passive bonus reducing the fire duration and fire probability by half

By introducing these changes, we’d like for the ammo rack protection to matter more and to introduce a serious player choice for each vehicle. Getting to know your vehicle’s vulnerabilities will play a major role in the future as we introduce more diversity, making each vehicle truly unique.

Stay tuned and we’ll see you on the battlefield!

Nov 30, 2017

Developer Diary: Ammo Rack Changes

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

15% chance to detonate each fire damage cycle (each 1.5 seconds)
Massive explosion damage (turret gets ripped off, impossible to survive)
Maximum fire length is 4.5 seconds (3 cycles)

15% chance to detonate each fire damage cycle (each 1.5 seconds)
Explosive damage (30% of vehicle maximum hitpoints, possible to survive)
Maximum fire length is 4.5 seconds (3 cycles)

15% chance to detonate each fire damage cycle (each 1.5 seconds)
Explosive damage (30% of vehicle maximum hitpoints, possible to survive)
Maximum fire length is 3 seconds (2 cycles)

Loader’s skill Secured Ammunition reduces the reload time penalty when the ammo rack is damaged
Reinforced Ammo Rack retrofit increases ammunition rack hitpoints by 25% (50% for v2) and reduces detonation chance for each cycle by 25% (50% for v2)
Improved Fire Extinguisher consumable has a passive bonus reducing the fire duration and fire probability by half

Nov 29, 2017

Vehicles in Focus: Palmaria

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Podobnie jak OF-40, który był pierwszym zaprojektowanym i produkowanym masowo po wojnie we Włoszech czołgiem, działo samobieżne Palmaria było pierwszym zmechanizowanym działem artyleryjskim. Obie konstrukcje mają wiele wspólnego.

Po pierwsze, powstały z grubsza w tym samym czasie z przeznaczeniem na eksport. W latach 70. XX wieku przedsiębiorstwa OTO Melara i Fiat, produkujące na licencji dla Włoch niemiecki czołg Leopard 1, obrosły w doświadczenie i miały chrapkę na więcej zysków, płynących z włoskiego budżetu wojskowego. Jeśli Włosi mieliby do zaoferowania lepszy czołg, dlaczego Włochy miałyby dać zarabiać Niemcom? Owocem tego rozwoju był „Lion” alias po włosku „Leopardino”, zademonstrowany włoskim władzom w okolicach roku 1975 lub 1976. Źródła nie są w tej sprawie wprawdzie zgodne, ale wiele wskazuje na to, że ów wczesny projekt pozostawiał wiele do życzenia i nie wzbudził zainteresowania Włochów.

Niezrażone fiaskiem przedsiębiorstwo OTO skorygowało swoje założenie i w dalszym ciągu pracowało nad czołgiem, tym razem z myślą o eksporcie. W następstwie powstało kilka modeli, z których ostatni prototyp zasłynął jako OF-40 i został przedstawiony na całym świecie potencjalnym nabywcom. Kontrakt podpisały w końcu Zjednoczone Emiraty Arabskie, którym w 1981 dostarczono 18 OF-40.

Nie był to może oszałamiający sukces na miarę kupowanych masowo amerykańskich i radzieckich czołgów, ale zawsze coś. Dyrektorzy OTO, którzy nie byli w ciemię bitymi biznesmenami, zdecydowali się uatrakcyjnić swoją ofertę, wzbogacając ją o opancerzone działo samobieżne. Bo jeśli ma się już na wyposażeniu czołgi, bez wątpienia przydadzą się również działa samobieżne, zwłaszcza, jeśli wykorzystują te same komponenty – konserwacja od zawsze zaliczała się do krytycznych czynników. Innym ważnym czynnikiem jest kaliber: W obliczu faktu, że świat dzielił się zasadniczo na radziecki kaliber 152 mm i natowski 155 mm, Włosi postawili na ten ostatni. Mieli już bowiem broń tego kalibru i tym samym sporo doświadczenia. No a jeśli klient miał zapotrzebowanie na tego rodzaju amunicję, nic nie stoi na przeszkodzie długoterminowym, korzystnym dla biznesu kontraktom.

Rezultatem przedsięwzięcia było działo samobieżne Palmaria. Rozwój pojazdu przebiegał częściowo równolegle z rozwojem czołgu podstawowego OF-40. Prototyp był gotowy w 1981 roku, kiedy produkcja OF-40 właśnie się zakończyła. Nazwa pochodzi od wyspy Palmaria, położonej w zatoce La Spezia (La Spezia była siedzibą OTO Melara).

Palmaria składała się ze zmodyfikowanego kadłuba OF-40 i wieży OTOBREDA, uzbrojonej w długą haubicę OTO Melara 155 mm Obice da 155/39 (długość lufy wynosiła 39 kalibrów, aczkolwiek niektóre źródła podają 41 kalibrów). Wieża była w pełni obrotowa (napęd był niezależny i hydrauliczny), depresja działa wynosiła -4, zaś elewacja 70 stopni. Maksymalny zasięg działa (strzelającego standardową amunicją odłamkowo-burzącą) wynosił 24,7 kilometra, przy czym można go było zwiększyć z pomocą pocisków rakietowych. W rachubę wchodziły też pociski oświetlające i dymne. Armata była automatycznie ładowania, jej przeciętna intensywna szybkostrzelność wynosiła 4 pociski na minutę, przy czym według niektórych źródeł strzelała seriami, składającymi się z trzech pocisków. Średnia trwała szybkostrzelność wynosiła 3 pociski na minutę.

Pojazd przewoził 30 pocisków, z czego 23 znajdowały się w magazynku, mieszczącym się w wieży. Standardowe pociski ważyły 11,7 kilograma, rakietowe 8 kilogramów.

Załoga liczyła pięć osób. Pusty pojazd ważył 43 tony, zaś masa bojowej konfiguracji wynosiła 46 ton. Zasilał go niemiecki 8-cylindrowy silnik Diesla MTU MB 837 Ea-500 o mocy 750 KM, umożliwiający rozwinięcie prędkości na utwardzanych powierzchniach do nawet 60 km/h. Zważywszy współczynnik mocy do masy, wynoszący 16,3 KM/t, nie była to może najszybsza czy najbardziej zwrotna konstrukcja artyleryjska, ale jej mobilność była co najmniej zadowalająca. Pojazd przewoził 800 litrów paliwa i z pełnym zbiornikiem paliwa jego maksymalny zasięg wynosił 600 kilometrów.

Jak się można spodziewać, miał za to niski poziom ochrony balistycznej. Wykonany ze stali kadłub był wprawdzie dość odporny, ale nie można było tego powiedzieć o wykonanej z uwagi na wymóg masy cienkiej, aluminiowej wieży. Dokładnie rzecz biorąc opancerzenie chroniło tylko przed ostrzałem z broni ręcznej i małymi oraz średnimi odłamkami artyleryjskimi. Większe pociski wchodziły w stromy przód i boki pojazdu jak w masło. Jedynym lepiej chronionym członkiem załogi był kierowca, który zajmował stanowisko w stalowym kadłubie. Na szczęście załoga miała do dyspozycji podwójną wyrzutnię pocisków dymnych i w razie potrzeby mogła się schować za zasłoną dymną. Pojazd wyposażono ponadto w system ochrony przed bronią masowego rażenia i automatyczną gaśnicę.

Prototyp zaprezentowano najpierw przedstawicielstwu Zjednoczonych Emiratów Arabskich, które nie okazało jednak zainteresowania. Oficjalna przyczyna jest jest znana, prawdopodobnie Arabowie nie byli do końca zadowoleni z OF-40 (co doprowadziło w końcu do modernizacji OF-40 Mk.2) i w związku z tym nie byli skłonni przyjąć kolejnego produktu „włoskiej jakości”. Znaleźli się jednak inny chętni. W 1982 roku pojawiło się dwóch klientów – Libia i Nigeria.

Libia już wtedy była krajem „na indeksie” i właściwie nie jest jasne, w jakich sposób siły zbrojne pułkownika Kaddafi weszły w posiadanie tych pojazdów. W 1982 roku Libia zamówiła około 200 egzemplarzy (niektóre źródła mówią o 210), przy czym szczegółów tej umowy nie ujawniono do dzisiaj. 160 wykorzystanych operacyjnie maszyn uległo zniszczeniu w 2007 roku podczas wojny domowej w Libii, która doprowadziła do śmierci Kaddafiego i pogrążyła kraj w chaosie. Nie wiadomo, czy zachowały się jakieś egzemplarze; prawdopodobnie większość została zniszczona przez zachodnie samoloty lub ogółem podczas wojny, kilka jednakże pewnie ciągle jest na wyposażeniu wojsk (czyich - to osobne pytanie). W 1982 roku Nigeria zamówiła 25 pojazdów, które nadal są w eksploatacji. Armia Nigerii i Libii mają wiele wspólnego, między innymi niski poziom przeszkolenia oraz kiepskie wyposażenie, zakupione od tego, kto był gotów je sprzedać. To wszystko przemawia za tym, że włoska artyleria była atrakcyjną opcją.

Ostatnim nabywcą pojazdu była Argentyna w 1986 roku, która zamówiła jednakże tylko wieże, a następnie zamontowała je na zmodyfikowanych kadłubach czołgów TAM. Tym sposobem powstała dość niepowtarzalna wersja Palmarii. I na tym sprzedaż Palmarii się skończyła. Pojazd był oferowany przez długie lata aż do początku XXI wieku, ale nie znalazł żadnych nabywców, więc ostatecznie wyprodukowano tylko około 200 pojazdów. Na ironię losu wyprodukowano 10 razy więcej egzemplarzy tego pojazdu niż czołgu podstawowego OF-40, którego miał być jego uzupełnieniem.

W Armored Warfare Palmaria jest działem samobieżnym 7 poziomu. Obecnie występuje tylko w trybie PvE. Jest to ciekawy i stosunkowo mobilny pojazd. Choć nie może strzelać seriami, ma dość celną i śmiercionośną broń, która pozwoli graczom osiągnąć dobre wyniki w szybkich bitwach.

Do zobaczenia na polu bitwy!

Nov 29, 2017

Vehicles in Focus: Palmaria

Armored Warfare - Silentstalker

Much like the OF-40 was the first post-war tank designed and mass-produced in Italy, the Palmaria self-propelled gun was the first mechanized artillery piece. They both have a lot in common in fact.

For one, both were developed roughly in parallel and for export. In the 1970s, OTO Melara and Fiat, gathering experience by license-producing the German Leopard 1 tank for Italy, wanted a bigger piece of the Italian miltary budget pie. After all, why should Italy pay to the Germans when the Italians could offer them a better tank? The result of this development was called “Lion” or “Leopardino” and was shown to the Italian authorities around 1975 or 1976. Sources vary, but apparently this early project left a lot to be desired for and the Italians were not exactly interested.

Undeterred, OTO switched their focus and decided to further develop this tank for export. After a few attempts, they produced a prototype of a tank that became known as the OF-40 and offered it around the world to potential customers. The United Arab Emirates decided to take them up on the offer and 18 OF-40s were eventually produced and delivered by 1981.

It wasn’t exactly a stunning success compared to the hundreds of American and Soviet tanks that the third world nations were buying in bulk, but it was at least something. The OTO directors, being competent businessmen they were, decided to improve their offer by adding an armored, self-propelled gun to it. After all, if you already have tanks, you surely could use self-propelled guns, especially those that used similar components – maintenance is always one of the critical factors. Another is gun caliber – with the world basically split between Soviet 152mm and NATO 155mm, the Italians chose the latter because they already had guns of that caliber developed and a lot of experience in it – and if the customer happened to need that kind of ammunition, long-term contracts are always good for business.

The result of this endeavor was the Palmaria self-propelled gun. It was partially developed alongside the OF-40 MBT with its prototype finished in 1981, by the time the OF-40 production run was ending. The name came from the island of Palmaria, located in the La Spezia gulf (La Spezia was the seat of OTO Melara).

The Palmaria consisted of a modified OF-40 hull with a new OTOBREDA turret, armed with a long OTO Melara 155mm Obice da 155/39 howitzer (barrel length was 39 calibers, although some sources state 41 calibers). The turret was fully traversable (the drive was hydraulic with its own independent propulsion), the gun could depress to -4 degrees and elevate to +70 degrees. Its maximum range (using standard high-explosive ammunition) was 24.7 kilometers, but it could be augmented by using rocket-assisted projectiles. Other shells fired included illumination rounds and smoke rounds. The gun was automatically loaded and the average rate of fire was 4 rounds per minute during intensive but was, according to some sources, capable of firing three round bursts. Average sustainable rate of fire was 3 rounds per minute.

30 rounds were available inside the vehicle, of which 23 were stored in ready racks in the turret. The standard rounds weighed 11.7 kg, the rocket-assisted rounds weighed 8 kg.

The vehicle had a crew of five. Empty, it weighed 43 tons but its combat weight was 46 tons. It was powered by the German 750hp MTU MB 837 Ea-500 turbocharged 8-cylinder diesel engine, allowing it to go as fast as 60 km/h on hard surfaces. With its power-to-weight ratio of 16.3 hp/t, it wasn’t the most agile or fastest artillery piece around, but its mobility was more than sufficient. The vehicle could carry 800 liters of fuel and its maximum range with full fuel tank was 600 km.

Its protection levels were – as one might expect – quite low. The hull was quite durable and was made of steel, but the turret was made of quite thin aluminum to keep the weight low. The vehicle was essentially only protected against small arms bullets and small-to-mid caliber artillery shrapnel, but anything heavier went through its unsloped turret front and sides. The only crew member who was protected better was the driver in the steel hull. Luckily, the crew could use the twin smoke grenade launchers to provide some cover as the vehicle bailed out. The vehicle was also equipped with an NBC protection system and an automatic fire extinguisher.

The prototype was first shown to the representatives of the United Arab Emirates, but they weren’t quite interested. The reason for that is not officially known, although it’s suspected that the Arabs weren’t exactly happy with the OF-40 (which led to the eventual upgrade to OF-40 Mk.2) and weren’t keen on adopting another Italian “quality product.” Someone else, however, was. Two customers appeared in 1982 – Libya and Nigeria.

Libya was a pariah country back then and it’s generally unclear how did Colonel Kaddafi’s forces get their hands on those vehicles. In 1982, around 200 were ordered (some source claim 210), but the details of that deal remain unclear to this day. 160 were reported operational by 2007 and they participated in the Libyan Civil War that led to Kaddafi’s death and the plunge of the country into chaos. It’s unknown whether any remain operational; most are believed to have been destroyed by western airplanes or during the war in general, but some are believed to still be in service (in service to who is another question).

Nigeria ordered 25 vehicles in 1982 and they are also still in service. Both Nigerian and Libyan armies had many things in common, such as poor levels of training and motley equipment acquired from whoever was willing to sell, making the Italian artillery an odd choice indeed.

The final customer of sorts was Argentina in 1986 – they ordered turrets only and had them installed on modified TAM tank chassis to produce a rather unique version of the Palmaria. And that was the end of Palmaria sales. The vehicle was offered for years until the early 2000s, but no other customer was interested and the final production reached estimated 200 vehicles in total, which is ironically 10 times more than the OF-40 MBT it was supposed to complement.

In Armored Warfare, the Palmaria is a Tier 7 Self-Propelled Gun. As such, it is currently restricted to the PvE mode. It’s an interesting and relatively mobile vehicle – while it cannot fire in bursts, its gun is quite accurate and deadly, allowing the players to score well in fast-paced matches.

We’ll see you on the battlefield!