AMX-50 Surbaisse

This page is about the French heavy tank AMX-50 Surbaisse. For other versions, see AMX-50 (Family).

AMX-50 Surbaissé

AMX-50 (TOA100)

AMX-32 (105)

AMX-50 Surbaissé

AMX-50 (TOA100)

AMX-32 (105)

France

V Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
7.7	7.7	7.7

Class:

Heavy tank

Research:120 000

Purchase:340 000

Show in game

Description

In the early 1950s, France started the development of a 120 mm-armed AMX-50 in response to the perceived Soviet threat of heavy tanks like the IS-3 and T-10. The vehicles was heavily armoured, with armour increased to 90 mm in the front, and equipped with a 120 mm gun. The project faced challenges with weight and mechanical reliability, leading to adjustments in design (from 59.2 metric tons to 57.8 metric tons). Additionally, a tank destroyer variant named AMX-50 Foch was developed. The project eventually resulted in the construction of five complete AMX 50 prototypes. Recognizing the weight issues, a parallel medium tank project called Lorraine 40t was started in 1952. The same 120 mm cannon was later used in the development of the AMX-50 Foch, a heavy tank destroyer intended to support the medium tanks from long ranges.

It was introduced in Update 1.75 "La Résistance". On the battlefield, the vehicle is very easy to recognize due to its shape which simply cannot be mistaken for another French tank. The AMX-50 Surbaissé differs from every heavy tank in its general playstyle. Since it has rather thin armour which will not protect it against incoming enemy fire, you have to use its medium tank-like mobility to perform deadly flank attacks which will often prove very catastrophic for the enemy team. Indeed, since you can keep up with most medium tanks and even outpace some, especially the British medium tanks, many enemies will find themselves completely caught off guard and at the mercy of your autoloading 120 mm gun which will allow you to fire one shot every 6 seconds. The tank is also a great long-range sniper (1,500 m and beyond) as it comes equipped with a rangefinder that will allow you to quickly range very distant targets and deliver accurate shots upon them. At such distances, your armour will start to become difficult to penetrate for most lower rank guns you'll encounter. Overall this tank, while being a heavy tank, is not meant to be played like one. You must use your mobility and your accurate fast-firing armament to prove effective against the enemies you'll come across.

General info

Survivability and armour

Smoke grenades

Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle

Armourfront / side / back

Hull60 / 30 / 30

Turret90 / 60 / 40

Crew4 people

Visibility167 %

Armour type:

• Cast homogeneous armour
• Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull sides, Hull rear, Hull roof)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	60 mm (30-85°) Front glacis 100 mm (8-57°) Joint plate 60 mm (21-74°) Bottom glacis	30-60 mm (0-23°) Top 30 mm Bottom	30 mm (0-50°)	20 mm
Turret	-	60 mm Turret 40-60 mm (0-12°) Turret base	40 mm (0-30°) Turret bustle 20 mm (21-31°) Pivot ball 10 mm (69-76°) Turret underside	20 mm
Cupola	60 mm	60 mm	60 mm	20 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 30 mm thick.
• Wheels are interleaved to offer stacked protection values.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB55 / 7 km/h

RB and SB52 / 6 km/h

Number of gears5 forward

1 back

Weight57.8 t

Engine power

AB1 622 hp

RB and SB850 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB28.1 hp/t

RB and SB14.7 hp/t

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	55	7	57.8	1,097	1,622	18.98	28.06
Realistic	52	6		752	850	13.01	14.71

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB5 468 → 7 234

RB5 791 → 7 661

SB9 215 → 12 191

Total cost of modifications97 400

163 400

Talisman cost2 200

Crew training98 000

Experts340 000

Aces1 300

Research Aces780 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

150 / 210 / 250 %

202 / 202 / 202 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Research: 6 800 Cost: 11 000 230 Suspension Research: 5 700 Cost: 9 100 190 Brake System Research: 5 700 Cost: 9 100 190 Filters Research: 6 400 Cost: 10 000 210 Transmission Research: 11 000 Cost: 18 000 360 Engine Research: 11 000 Cost: 18 000 360	Improved Parts Research: 4 400 Cost: 11 000 230 Improved FPE Research: 3 700 Cost: 9 100 190 Crew Replenishment Research: 6 400 Cost: 10 000 210	Horizontal Drive Research: 6 800 Cost: 11 000 230 Adjustment of Fire Research: 5 700 Cost: 9 100 190 Elevation Mechanism Research: 6 400 Cost: 10 000 210 Smoke grenade Research: 6 400 Cost: 10 000 210 Rangefinder Research: 11 000 Cost: 18 000 360

Armaments

Main armament

120 mm SA46 cannon

Autoloader

Automatically feeds projectiles into the breech. The speed does not depend on the skills of the loader

Ammunition46 rounds

First-order19 rounds

Reload6.0 s

Vertical guidance-8° / 14°

120 mm SA46					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Autoloader
Arcade	38	-8°/+14°	±180°	N/A	24.3	33.6	40.8	45.1	48.0	6.00
Realistic					17.9	21.0	25.5	28.2	30.0

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
120 mm Obus explosif	HE	39	39	39	39	39	39
120 mm Obus de rupture	APBC	301	298	286	272	258	245

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
120 mm Obus explosif	HE	762	22.84	0	0.1	4.65	79°	80°	81°
120 mm Obus de rupture	APBC	1,067	23.1	-	-	-	47°	60°	65°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the AMX-50 Surbaisse

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	7th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
38	36 (+2)	34 (+4)	32 (+6)	30 (+8)	25 (+13)	20 (+18)	1 (+37)	Yes

Notes:

• Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
• The visual discrepancy concerns the crossed out racks: they are modeled but always empty.
• Rack 7 (autoloader magazine) is a first stage ammo rack. It totals 19 shells.
  • This rack gets filled first when loading up the tank and is also emptied first.
  • As the AMX-50 Surbaisse is equipped with an autoloader, manual reloading of the gun is not possible.
  • Once the autoloader magazines have been depleted, you can't shoot until the loader has restocked the autoloader. The restocking time is longer than the normal reload time of the gun. Take this into account when playing.
  • Simply not firing when the gun is loaded will move ammo from racks 1 to 6 into rack 7. Firing will interrupt the restocking of the ready racks.
  • The depletion order at full capacity is: 7 - 1 - 2 up to 6.

Machine guns

7.5 mm AAT-52 machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition3 000 rounds

Belt capacity200 rounds

Reload5.0 s

Fire rate900 shots/min

7.5 mm AAT-52
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	3,000 (200)	900	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

Playing the AMX 50 Surbaissé requires 2 things:

• Good map knowledge
• Gunnery discipline

As mentioned previously, the AMX 50 Surbaissé is not heavy, that probably is something you'll learn the hard way while playing your first matches in this tank. You have to play it like a medium tank and you always should try to look for a good flanking route that will eventually get you to a spot where you'll be able to decimate several tanks of the enemy team from the side of from behind. As a result, this tank requires a lot of forethinking before deciding which way to go and this decision must be taken in accordance with the map but also in accordance with what nation you face. The tank can also be used as a very effective long-range sniper especially in down tiers. The combination of fast-firing 120 mm gun and rangefinder can prove very effective especially at a range over 1,500 m where your armour will start to matter especially against a lower-ranked opponent such as Tiger IIs. To turn this vehicle into a deadly sniping machine, it is very much advised to bind rangefinding keys and sight adjustment that are intuitive to you. In this way you will be able to range targets and adjust the gun very accurately in such a way that, with practice and discipline will grant you the ability to deliver shots in a "Point aimed, Point hit" fashion.

Every enemy you can encounter which do not result from deliberate up tiers from the enemy can and will easily get through your armour. The tank's armour cannot withstand guns that are more powerful than the German 7.5 cm KwK 42 or the US 90 mm M3 gun

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Powerful 120 mm gun
• Reload of just 6 seconds
• Large autoloader magazine (19 shots)
• Very good AP round with high penetration power
• Extremely fast turret rotation speed when upgraded, especially for a heavy tank (characteristic of oscillating turrets)
• Good acceleration
• Average top speed of about 48 km/h
• 4 Smoke Grenades

Cons:

• Gun elevation & depression angles are poor
• Ammunition rack in the back of the turret is a weak spot from any angle
• Armour values are inadequate against expected opponents
• Smoke grenades will often leave a gap in the smoke screen

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the AMX-50 Surbaisse from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

The Shooting Range #126 - Metal Beasts section at 00:32 discusses the AMX-50 Surbaissé.

See also

Related development

• AMX-50 (Family)

External links

• [Vehicles] AMX-50 Surbaissé

Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (AMX)
Light tanks
AMX-13	AMX-13-M24 · AMX-13 (FL11) · AMX-13 · AMX-13 (SS.11) · AMX-13-90 · AMX-13 (HOT)
Armoured cars	AMX-10RC
Medium tanks	AMX M4 · AMX-50 (TOA100)
MBTs
AMX-30	AMX-30 · AMX-30 ACRA · AMX-30 (1972) · AMX-30B2 · AMX-30B2 BRENUS · AMX-30 Super
AMX-32/40	AMX-32 (105) · AMX-32 · AMX-40
Heavy tanks	AMX-50 Surbaissé · AMX-50 Surblindé
Tank destroyers	ELC bis · AMX-50 Foch
SPAAGs	AMX-13 DCA 40 · AMX-30 S DCA
Export	AMX-13

France heavy tanks
B1	B1 bis · B1 ter
2C	2C · 2C bis
ARL-44	ARL-44 (ACL-1)
AMX-50	Somua SM · AMX-50 Surbaissé · AMX-50 Surblindé
USA	▄M4A3E2