AMX-30 - Background

Background

Although the occupation of France during World War II temporarily interrupted French development of armoured fighting vehicles, clandestine research allowed the French to quickly recover lost ground after its liberation in mid-1944. During the occupation, the French had secretly worked on an armour program that was in 1944 taken over by the state workshop Atelier de Construction de Rueil (ARL), resulting in the design and production of the ARL 44, which was produced from 1946. The tank was powered by a Maybach HL-230 575 horsepower (429 kW) engine, and armed with a 90-millimetre (3.5 in) tank gun. Although the 48-metric-ton (53-short-ton) vehicle was comparable to contemporary battle tanks in firepower and engine power, it suffered from distinct disadvantages, including an antiquated track design. While 600 were planned, only 60 were ultimately produced by 1950. These were that year issued to the 503rd Tank Regiment, of the French Army. Given that the ARL 44 was considered only a stop-gap vehicle for the French Army's armoured forces since the beginning of its inception, work on a new tank had begun as early as March 1945.

Development of the new tank was offered to five separate manufacturers, including Atelier de Construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (AMX), Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée (FCM), Renault, Societe Lorraine de Dietrich (SLD-Lorraine) and Societé d'Outillage Mécanique et d'Usinage d'Artillerie (SOMUA). The new vehicle was based on the new post-war requirement for a single battle tank. The new vehicle was designated the AMX 50, and its hull and suspension were similar to that of the German Panther tank, which had been used by the French Army in the immediate post-war. The French government's specifications for the new tank were strongly influenced by both the Panther tank and the heavier Tiger I; specifically the French Army was looking for a tank with the protection of the former and the firepower of the latter. Although the design borrowed from German tanks, including the Maybach 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) engine, based on an earlier model, and the torsion bar sprung road wheels, the AMX 50 also included a number of unique features. For example, it included an oscillating turret, mounted on trunnions, which was a first of its kind. The oscillating turret consisted of two parts, one of which was mounted on the trunnions of the lower part, attached to the turret ring. The main gun was attached to the upper part, facilitating gun elevation and depression, as well as simplifying the fire control equipment and the installation of the automatic loading system. Of the three contractors, Renault withdrew from the program, while in early 1946 the French government selected AMX and SOMUA to continue the development. The prototypes were designated M4s, and AMX completed its prototype in 1949, while SOMUA would not be finished until 1956. AMX's first prototype was armed with a 90-millimeter (3.5 in) cannon, although a second prototype was fitted with a larger 100-millimetre (3.9 in) gun in July 1950 Although it was intended to put the AMX 50 into production as the standard medium tank of the Western European Union, financial reasons and the arrival of military aid from the United States in the form of 856 M47 Patton tanks caused the original program to be abandoned. In 1951 it was decided to turn the program into a heavy tank project with an even larger 120-millimetre (4.7 in) tank gun; though three prototypes were built, this too was abandoned in 1956, mainly due to a failure to design a powerful enough engine.

With the demise of the 100-millimeter (3.9 in) AMX 50 program in 1951, France temporarily officially abandoned the thought of producing a medium tank. It was expected that West Germany would soon be allowed to rearm, and the Germans had appeared to entertain the concept of equipping their forces with a host of low-cost light, but relatively powerfully armed tanks, their quantity compensating for a lack of full armament parity with the latest medium tanks. The prospect of delivering many thousands of these to the Germans induced the French to adopt the idea and plan to create light tank "Type 67" armoured divisions, for which the AMX-13/105 was specially designed. A private enterprise design aimed at fulfilling the same requirement was the somewhat larger Char Batignolles-Châtillon. A derived medium tank prototype of the latter, made in 1955, proved that it was possible to produce a tank with a first-rate gun and frontally protected with 80-millimeter (3.1 in) steel equivalence within a weight constraint of 30 metric tons (33 short tons). This revived interest in the medium tank concept.

In 1956 the WEU defence workgroup FINBEL (named after France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg), founded in 1953 and consisting of representatives of the various General Staffs, drafted a set of specifications for a new medium tank to eventually replace their American and British tanks. That same year, Germany joined the workgroup, turning it into FINABEL (the added "A" standing for Allemagne, "Germany" in French) and on 27 October 1956 at Colomb-Béchar a bilateral agreement was concluded between France and Germany to collaborate in building a tank. Though the other FINABEL nations did not formally participate, the type was called Europa-Panzer to indicate its common European nature, and experts from all countries were involved in the design process. The specifications (FINABEL 3A5) for the new tank called for a lightweight and mobile battle tank, setting the weight limit to 30 metric tons (33 short tons) and compromising the ability to heavily armour the vehicle. French and German engineers, during a conference in Bonn on 12 February 1957, defined the requirements for the future tank. This included a maximum width of 3.15 metres (10.3 ft), a height of 2.15 metres (7.1 ft) and a 105-millimetre (4.1 in) tank gun, to be developed by the Franco-German military research institute at Saint Louis. The new tank would have an air-cooled, petrol engine, a torsion bar suspension with hydraulic shocks, a power-to-weight ratio of at least 30 horsepower (22 kW)/metric ton and a road range of at least 350 kilometres (220 mi). In May, Italy joined the project, though only nominally, without any material contribution, because after the war it had no tank design bureaus. That same year, on 28 November, the French and German ministries of defence in Paris agreed upon a contract which would allow both countries to produce two prototypes separately. The next year however, the project suffered a first setback when Charles de Gaulle took power in France, creating the Fifth Republic: the Paris treaty had as its main point developing a common nuclear weapon and on 17 June 1958 de Gaulle decided to refuse Germany and Italy the atomic bomb, to avoid antagonizing the USA and United Kingdom. This made Germany lose much interest in a common tank project also.

The French prototypes were developed and produced by the Atelier de Construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux, under the direction of General Joseph Molinié of the Direction des Études et Fabrications d'Armements (DEFA, the later Direction Technique des Armements Terrestres) and AMX head engineer Heissler, and the first prototype was completed in September 1960 and tested from February 1961, the second, with an improved range finder and track, in July 1961. These first vehicles had a very rounded turret, in a deliberate imitation of the Soviet T-54, and Sofam petrol engines. Another seven, with an improved sleeker turret cast, were manufactured between 1961 and 1963. Work on the German prototypes was carried out by two teams, including Team A composed of Porsche, Maschinenbau Kiel and Luther & Jung. Team B was made up by Ruhrstahl, Rheinstahl-HANOMAG and Henschel. Wood mock-ups were completed in 1959, while the first two prototypes were finished by 1961 (completed by Team A).