M8 LAC

M8 LAC

M8 LAC

USA

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.0	1.0	1.0

Class:

PREMIUM

Light tank

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

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This page is about the American gift light tank M8 LAC. For other uses, see M8 (Disambiguation). For other vehicles of the family, see M8 Greyhound (Family).

Description

File:GarageImage M8 LAC.jpg

420px

The Light Armored Car M8 is a gift rank I American light tank with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update 1.73 "Vive la France" as part of a vehicle giveaway on War Thunder's 5th anniversary.

General info

Survivability and armour

The M8 Greyhound has next to no armour protection. Its armour can stop rifle-calibre machine gun fire, but nothing more. Even then, the vehicle's turret has an open roof and very thin armour on the sides and the rear, so it is still possible for a few unlucky machine gun bullets to find their way inside. The Greyhound also has hull-break, however, generally speaking, losing all your crew members is a greater concern especially given that most vehicles at its battle rating do not have very powerful cannons. In addition, the modules are lined up and the crew is close together when looking straight at the front of the vehicle. From the side, however, this is not the case - there is a small area behind the two crew members in the turret but in front of the fuel tank with no modules in it and an even larger area of empty space between the turret crew and the driver/machine gunner.

Thanks to the thin armour, it is very possible for rounds to over-penetrate and passes through without dealing any significant damage. The vehicles size, or lack thereof, should also be taken into account. The M8 Greyhound is very small and short, making it easy to exploit hiding spots and hills for protection. It can stay out of sight and use stealth to its advantage with little trouble. The .50 calibre machine gun on the roof is raised up, but there are no critical modules surrounding it and it is relatively small so it can be used to shoot over obstacles without risking damage to the armoured car. While the raw armour and protection on the M8 Greyhound are lacking, where it shines is in its ability to hide and use its good top speed to get around quickly and avoid being hit.

Armor Composition:

• Rolled Homogeneous Armor
• Cast Homogeneous Armor
• Structural Steel - Fenders, Cannon breech
• Gun Steel - Main Gun, MGs
• Wheels
• Structural Steel of Chassis - Suspension

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	12.7 mm (59) Upper Glacis 15.9 mm (29) Lower Glacis 19.1 mm (44) Upper Plate	9.5 mm	5 - 9.5 mm	6.35 mm
Turret	19.1 mm Turret front 25.4 mm Gun mantlet 19 mm (Additional to Mantlet) Gun Aperture	19.1 mm	19.1 mm	0 - 6.35

Notes:

• The turret is mostly open-topped, but the very front portion is covered by 6.35 mm
• Wheels - 10 mm
• Suspension - 5 mm
• Gun Sheath - 16 mm
• Gun Breech - 150 mm
• Cannon - 10 mm
• MG - 5 mm
• 4 mm fenders cover most of the hull sides in addition to the base 9.5 mm

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	101	15	7.9	129	210	16.33	26.58
Realistic	91	13		97	110	12.28	13.92

While it has poor armour and survivability, the M8 LAC excels in terms of mobility. As a wheeled vehicle it reaches 60 km/h on road in arcade with stock modules and 40 km/h off road.

In realistic it reaches 38 km/h off road, and 55 km/h on road with 7 gears, it also has -12 km/h reverse speed on two reverse gears.

Armaments

Main armament

The M8 LAC is armed with an 37 mm M6 cannon as its main armament. This is a small calibre fast-firing gun with a maximum penetration of 84 mm at 100 m (M51B1/B2 shell), being able to penetrate almost all the opponents it will ever face. While it lacks the post-penetration damage to one-shot most enemy vehicles, it can quickly finish them off with its fast reload. The penetration and trajectory drop significantly beyond 500 m. Note that the gun has a vertical stabiliser, giving the player a huge advantage in some cases, but keep in mind that the stabiliser only works when the tank is slower than 10 km/h.

37 mm M6					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	80	-10°/+20°	±180°	Vertical	19.0	26.4	32.0	35.4	37.6	3.7	3.3	3.0	2.9
Realistic					11.0	14.0	17.0	18.8	20.0

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
M51B1/B2	APCBC	87	84	73	60	50	41
M63 shell	HE	3	3	3	3	3	3
M74B1	AP	78	76	65	54	45	37

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Normalisation at 30° from horizontal	Ricochet
								0%	50%	100%
M51B1/B2	APCBC	883	0.87	N/A	N/A	N/A	+4.0°	48°	63°	71°
M63 shell	HE	807	0.73	0.1	0.5	38	+0.0°	79°	80°	81°
M74B1	AP	883	0.87	N/A	N/A	N/A	-1.0°	47°	60°	65°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the M8 LAC

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
80	73 (+7)	65 (+15)	33 (+47)	1 (+79)	No

Notes:

• Turret empty of shells (racks 1 & 2 emptied): 65 (+15).
• As they are modeled by rows of 4, shells disappear from the rack only after you've fired all shells in the row.

Machine guns

The two machine guns on the M8 LAC are the good old .50 cal M2HB and the 7.62 mm M1919A4. The roof-mounted .50 cal can traverse 360 degrees and has great depression & elevation, posting a big threat to any plane that is flying too close to the M8. It has an unbelievable penetration of 31mm at 10m, meaning it can easily penetrate plenty of lightly armoured vehicles and even the side of some medium tanks. The 7.62mm, on the other hand, can only efficiently damage exposed crews due to its low penetration.

12.7 mm M2HB
Mount	Capacity (Belt capacity)	Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
Commander pintle	400 (200)	576	-10°/+40°	±180°

7.62 mm M1919A4
Mount	Capacity (Belt capacity)	Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
Coaxial	1,500 (250)	500	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

When using this vehicle keep in mind that you are virtually naked to every main gun, that means you should not expose yourself unnecessarily and not give the opponents a chance to shoot at you, coupled with the fact that the main gun can penetrate every other vehicle in its rank. Its excellent mobility gives this vehicle a very viable hit-and-run tactic. Ambush your opponent on your terms. After you destroy him, change your position again, find concealment or cover, use your fast reverse speed to your advantage, avoid one on one fights, and fair fights.

At the start of the match, the M8 is best used for a point-capping vehicle. Find a road connecting to a point to unleash its scary 90 km/h on-road top speed, and it is likely to get to the point before the enemy can. Once the point is capped, quickly move away as there are likely to be artillery strikes, which can critically damage the M8.

After capping a point, there are two good options (just examples, the player is free to play in their way). One is to hide at the side of the point, waiting for the enemy to re-cap it. Use its small profile to set up a good ambush, and flank the enemy unexpectedly. The fast-firing gun will genuinely shine when attacking several enemies from the side or rear, allowing the player to knock out a surprising amount of enemies. Once the enemies are wiped out, quickly re-cap the point and ambush again. Note that the player might want to change their position as some enemies might try and revenge.

Another playstyle is the hit-n-run tactic, thanks to its great mobility and small profile. If careful enough, it can travel between points like a ghost without being noticed and flank the enemies. The stabilizer will help a lot as it gives the player the ability to fire first. If the first shell missed or didn't penetrate, it can even finish off the enemy with the .50 cal alone!

Enemies worth noting:

LVT series (mixed battle/against Chinese LVT):

These amphibious tanks are well known for their huge hull size. Indeed, there is a huge space between the driving compartment and the fighting compartment that will absorb almost any incoming shells, and unfortunately, the M8's solid AP can't cope with this. If an M8 doesn't know where are the crew is located on an LVT, they will die due to not being able to knock out the crew effectively. Remember their crew location, and the M8 can easily take them out.

The driver is at the foremost part of the hull. Behind him, there is absolutely nothing, so you must avoid shooting there. Behind the empty space, the turret houses 2-3 crew. Shoot there to disable its gun. And don't forget, at the very rear of the LVT, the two exposed machine gunners can be taken out with the .50 cal. Memorize those three main locations of the crew, and you can effectively destroy any LVT out there with your rapid reload. Also, if the angle isn't too large, the .50 can penetrate the LVT's weak armour.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tires		Parts	Horizontal Drive	M51B1/B2
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism
IV	Transmission	Engine		Artillery Support
This is a premium vehicle: all modifications are unlocked on purchase

Pros and cons

Pros:

• The M51 shell has 84 mm penetration at 100 m, enough to penetrate common opponents like the Pz.II, Pz.III B or Ha-Go, and the fast reload helps to precisely knock out the crew one by one
• Pintle mounted heavy machine gun is very lethal against other similarly armoured vehicles (eg. AS 42, L3/33) and slow biplanes
• One of the fastest vehicles on road with a max speed of 90 km/h allows it to get to positions quickly
• Reverse speed of 12 km/h allows it to retreat from danger quickly
• Small profile makes ambushing/hiding easy

Cons:

• Wheeled vehicle, performs poorly off-road and cannot turn in place, and especially slow in desert maps like Sinai and snowy maps like Frozen Pass
• Virtually no armor, tight crew and open top make this vehicle very vulnerable to rapid-firing tanks like the Pz.II, M13 or strafing planes
• M6 cannon requires precision shots, as post penetration effects are weak especially against the LVT(A) series which are super spacious
• Turret traverse is rather sluggish, might not get the gun on target sometimes
• Looks very similar to the Chinese M8 LAC, the lighter coloured camouflage can be hard to distinguish in Simulator Battles

History

The M8 replaced the M3A1 Scout Car and M2 Halftrack as the main armoured vehicle of the US mechanized cavalry starting in late 1943. 8,500 were built. The vehicle's lightweight and 6x6 drive gave it the excellent speed and cross-country mobility. It was well-liked by the crews but was still thin-skinned and under-gunned when compared to the opposition.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the M8 LAC from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

M8 LAC Tank Review - NUSensei

Best armored cars discusses the M8 LAC at 0:32 - War Thunder Official Channel

See also

Vehicles equipped with the same chassis

• M8 LAC (China)

Other vehicles of similar configuration and role

• Daimler Mk II
• AB 41
• AMD.35

External links

• [Development] M8 Light Armoured Car: Long Legged Canine
• Wikipedia - M8 Greyhound

Ford Motor Company
Armoured cars	M8 Greyhound
SPAAGs	M247 Sergeant York
Export	␗M8 LAC