Back in 2023, I visited the U.S. Army Armor and Cavalry Collection at Fort Benning, Georgia (now Fort Moore) for the first time. One of the vehicles that piqued my interest was the MBT-70 and XM-803. I have enjoyed both vehicles in War Thunder, and seeing them in person was a great experience. In this post, I included a short history of each vehicle and some pictures I snapped while there.
Photo from The U.S. Army Armor & Cavalry Collection’s Facebook page.
MBT-70
In 1959, the US Army Armor School’s Combat Developments Group released a sobering report evaluating the ability of US forces to fight the USSR. One of the major points raised was that besides having numerical superiority, the Soviet Union had an advantage in tank development lead time. In response, the US looked to develop a new generation of tanks that was so advanced that it would negate these shortcomings.
In 1963, the US and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) agreed to jointly develop a new tank by 1970 to share costs and ease logistics. Differences immediately hampered the MBT-70 (German KPz-70) program in tank design philosophy and doctrinal requirements between the two militaries. The US requested features such as an adjustable hydropneumatic suspension, television cameras, a gyrostabilized driver station in the turret to centralize the crew in radiation shielding, a 20 mm autocannon in a remote-operated weapons station for air defense, and an auto 152 mm gun-launcher system for firing both conventional rounds and the Shillelagh missile.
Many of these features caused developmental issues and disagreements between the US and FRG Joint Engineering Agencies. With continuing problems and escalating costs, the program was cancelled in 1970. The FRG went on to develop the Leopard 2 while the US continued to look at making an advanced tank design.
XM-803
With the failure of the joint US-German MBT/KPz-70, the US design team looked to salvage the overly complicated project and still meet the requirements for a new American main battle tank. The MBT-70s design was reconfigured to reduce cost. This was initially referred to as the “MBT-70 Austere” before being designated as the XM-803.
First, the XM-803 eliminated all foreign-built components from its design. Several other features were cut as well, including the 20mm autocannon and the television cameras. The hydropneumatic suspension and fire control system were also simplified. The 152mm Gun-Launcher weapon system was carried over as designers thought the conventional tank gun was going to be rendered obsolete by modern tank armor. This was fed by a 24-round General Motors autoloader, with an additional 26 rounds of ammunition stored in the turret for refilling the autoloader in mid-operation.
Ultimately, the XM-803 suffered from many of the same issues as the MBT-70. Its remaining complex systems, especially the gun-launcher, proved troublesome to make work while costs continued to rise. On 30 June 1972, the XM-803 program was officially closed with only this single prototype built.
XM-803 “Pigg”
There was also a 3rd tank located outside and it’s known as the XM-803 “Pigg” and is named after Colonel Jimmy Pigg, who modified it with parts from an M60 and M88 to make a much cheaper XM-803 surrogate. It has the MBT-70 turret but a torsion bar suspension and was used briefly in the XM-1 development cycle before being abandoned, it is the only one of its kind.
