MBT-70

This is the US MBT-70, I will post West Germany's Kampfpanzer 70 shortly.

Project worth of 5 months of working (procrastinating included) finally finished. Frustration, struggles, errors, glitches, almost non-existent FPS, etc. finally worth it.

Origins

During 60's, Soviet Union developed an MBT as the successor for their successful T-54/T-55, the T-62 (and later T-64). T-62 was the first operational tank equipped smoothbore cannon (the first tank equipped with smoothbore was the T95 Medium Tank). T-62's smoothbore gun were no match to 105 mm M68 and L7 gun on US M60 and West Germany's Leopard 1, respectively. T-62's armor also improved over T-54/55's, making the 105 mm gun even less effective. To address this, US and West Germany decided to work together to creating a futuristic tank for its time, which is called MBT-70 in US (if it was operational its designation will be the M70) and Kampfpanzer 70 in West Germany. Altough many disagreements, such as politics, budget, using metric or imperial system, armament and engine, they created a design that is really impressive to this day.

Design

Armament

XM150E5

MBT-70 had XM150E5 152 mm cannon/missile launcher, a way bigger caliber than the 105 mm cannon on M60 and Leopard 1. The shell used caseless type shells, which is smaller than shells with case, thus easier to store, easier to store means it had a "small" autoloader. Speaking of autoloader, the autoloader was placed in the turret bustle. The MBT-70 could store 26 rounds using General Motors autoloader. Along with 10 shells on the rear bulkhead and 12 behind driver. 6 of the 12 shells stored behind the driver were MGM-51 Shillelagh ATGM; in total of 46 rounds. The infamous Shillelagh was developed for MBT-70 in mind, but in the development of the MBT-70, the army decided to also used it on M551 Sheridan and M60A2 Starship. The gun could elevate to +20 and -10 angle.

M73

The M73 .30 cal gun was used as co-axial machine gun. It was located on the starboard of the XM150E5 cannon. Nothing really special about it. The machine gun was used for tank use, such as M48 Patton, M60, Sheridan and the MBT-70.

Mk-20 Rh-202

Another futuristic feature of the MBT-70, the Mk-20 Rh-202 20 mm autocannon. The cannon itself wasn't the point for the "futuristic" feature. Instead it was the mount. To keep the tank's squashed profile, the designers had an idea to store it inside the tank. When needed, it could pop up and then could be used. The autocannon was placed on the port of the vehicle, between autoloader and driver. The gun could traverse 360° and had elevation of -15 and +75.

Mobility

Engine

The MBT-70's powerplant was a Continental Motors AVCR-1100 diesel engine, producing 1,475 hp (1,100 kW). It's top speed was around 45-64 kph (sources conflicted). The transmission was reverse gearbox, meaning its reverse speed was the same as forward. If the tank was put into service, the engine meant to be replaced by AGT-1500 gas turbine engine; the same engine as the M1 Abrams.

Chassis

Now its the chassis, we already know what will come. The tank used hydropneumatic suspension. The design was to have 45 cm of ground clearance, if the suspension adjusted, the ground clearance could be lowered down to 10 cm. Not only that, the suspension could also be adjusted the tank's elevation angle (Like the Type 74 and Stridsvagn 103).

Crews

Commander

The commander sat in the starboard of the gun. He had access to 6 periscopes, a panoramic view camera, a retractable NVD camera and 20 mm autocannon. He could also take control for the gunner.

Gunner

The gunner sat infront of the commander. He had access to the gun sight, a range finder, turret rotation, co-axial machine gun, ATGM transmitter for the Shillelagh and search light.

Driver

The driver sat in the turret (he was located in the turret because of easier NBC protection and to keep the tank's low sillhouete), infront of the turret basket ammo rack, on the port of the gun. He sat in a rotating capsule with he, driving instrument and his cupola. This is because the driver need to always keep looking forward while the turret was rotating which drivers reported they had motion sickness because of this. He had access to 3 periscopes on his cupola, hull control and transmission. Some test and pilot vehicles also had camera mounted on frontal hull to help him viewing what's infront of the vehicle

Protection

Armor

The MBT-70's armor was spaced armor at the turret and hull front, also on turret and hull sides. It was meant to protect the tank against chemical and kinetic rounds more efficiently than conventional armor. Rear of the turret, roof and engine compartment was standard rolled homogenous armor. Engine compartment floor and engine access door was aluminium to save weight.

Smoke

MBT-70 had 4 smoke grenade launchers on each side. And contains 2 grenades each launcher, in total of 16 smoke grenades. The tank also had smoke shells for more protection.

Mobility and profile

Due to small profile and good mobility, the MBT-70 could sneak past behind enemy and flanking them, thus protecting the vehicle by using mobility because the enemy couldn't see you first. Its suspension could also help even more in various situation, such as hull down, increasing concealment for flanking and avoiding enemy in squashed mode or better mobility on various terrains in normal mode.

In-game features, systems and controls

Picture and diagram of interior of the turret is scarce, so the interior is barely had anything in it.

The driver also able to rotate indepedently from the turret and maintaining the angle of him and the hull.

I just realized that I accidentally added 4 additional rounds on the rear bulkhead (instead of 8 and 2 rounds infront of driver), I will fix this on the Kampfpanzer 70.

Controls

JOYSTICK
• Pitch for forward and reverse
• Roll for turning left and right
• Yaw for turret and roof autocannon rotation
• Throttle for suspension height adjustment

SLIDER
• Slider 1 for gun elevation
• Slider 2 for suspension angle (the suspension has higher priority than throttle, so if you want to reduce the height of the ground clearance, make sure set this slider to 0)
• Slider 3 for autocannon elevation

ACTIVATION GROUPS
• AG 1 Engine
•AG 2 Hatches
•AG 3 Mk-20 Rh-202 Autocannon
•AG 4 Searchlight
•AG 5 Optics (cannon sight, NVD camera and ATGM transmitter)
•AG 6 Headlights

Thank you for everyone that helped me for this project in JSC and a Fox hater that provided me war thunder x-ray of MBT-70

FOR MORE EXPLANATIONS, HELPS AND/OR INFOS COMMENT DOWN BELOW