AMX-40

AMX-40

AMX-32

Leopard 2A4NL

AMX-40

AMX-32

Leopard 2A4NL

France

VII Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
9.7	9.7	9.7

Class:

Medium tank

Research:260 000

Purchase:710 000

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Description

The AMX-40 is a rank VII French medium tank with a battle rating of 9.7 (AB/RB/SB). This tank was introduced in Update 1.79 "Project X".

The AMX 40 represents a massive shift in the French tank tree, with the addition of a stabilizer, whereas all other vehicles, with the exception of the American vehicles (Sherman M4A1, Jumbo.) have no actual stabilizer. Many players might find themselves hesitating to fire a shot as soon as a target is seen because there is usually time to think before the gun is stabilized, but at this rank, French players might find themselves having a hard time shooting before their enemy.

General info

Survivability and armour

The frontal armour of the AMX-40 consists mainly of a composite armour section at the front of the hull with a 35 mm thick (Rolled Homogeneous Armor) upper glacis plate and spaced turret armour. Despite the presence of both spaced and composite armour throughout the front of the vehicle, the vehicle struggles to resist the ammunition fired at it from its BR contemporaries save for the occasional bounce from the steep armour angles present on the upper glacis plate and the roof of the turret. The AMX-40 contains 4 crew members where half are seated on the left half of the vehicle and the other two are situated on the right half. This provides a moderate level of survivability since shots that connect too far left or right of the centre of the tank will likely only knock out two of the four crew, potentially granting the driver another opportunity. The vehicle's cannon breech is also quite large which grants it more survivability in its ability to absorb shrapnel. In addition to this, the AMX-40 features a blow-out panel for the rear turret ammunition, which is capable of storing up to 19 rounds. This grants the tank increased survivability, as side shots that explode the blow-out ammunition generally do not destroy the vehicle upon detonation.

Overall the armour of the AMX-40 is for the most part, sufficient at protecting it from auto-cannon and SPAAG fire. Besides that, drivers of the AMX-40 will quickly find that its armour is inadequate at protecting it from its contemporaries and it is suggested that drivers instead make use of the above average mobility of the vehicle to ensure a degree of survivability.

Mobility

This tank has very good speed, both forward and reverse with all options.

Armaments

Main armament

120 mm GIAT CN120-25 G1
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
40			-7°/+20°	±180°	Two-plane
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__
Realistic	__.__	__.__	__.__	23.5	__.__
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
__.__	__.__	7.1	__.__

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
OCC 120 G1	HEATFS	600	600	600	600	600	600
OFL 120 G1	APFSDS	488	486	480	473	469	466

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
OCC 120 G1	HEATFS	1,050	14	0.0	0.1	1,640	°	65°	72°	75°
OFL 120 G1	APFSDS	1,650	3.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	°	78°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the AMX-40.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
40	20 (20+)	(+)	(+)	(+)	(+)	(+)	no

Machine guns

20 mm M693
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
800 (500)				740	-0°/+20°	N/A

7.62 mm AAN-F1
Pintle mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
2,000 (100)				900	-10°/+45°	±120°

Usage in battles

Mobility is your advantage during battle as you can turn yourself easily with this tank's powerful engine during close combat. It is important to utilise this vehicle's smoke screens and its ability to snipe from just about any place on a map.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• GIAT 120 mm gun is a big improvement over the AMX-30's 105 mm gun
• Good mobility; about the same as on the AMX-30, with great forward and reverse acceleration and speed
• Sports a 20 mm coaxial cannon for use against lightly armoured targets
• Decent frontal armour
• Composite armour allows for a more balanced survivability

Cons:

• Overall armour can still be penetrated by the majority of the guns at its rank
• Turret turn speed is slower than most of the top rank VI tanks, close combat can turn deadly quickly for the AMX-40

History

Development of the AMX-40 began as a private venture of the French GIAT company in the early 1980s, with the aim to create a new export vehicle, in anticipation of increased demand for military equipment from middle eastern countries. GIAT engineers decided to base the new vehicle off the AMX-32, which itself was an improved export version of the successful AMX-30 main battle tank. However, compared to his predecessors, the AMX-40 was to feature vastly improved firepower, mobility and protection. As a true first in the French postwar tank development history, the AMX-40 would receive a two-plane stabilizer for its 120mm smoothbore cannon. Although the tank’s turret and cannon were mostly adopted from the AMX-32, increases in weight from new components led to the fact that the hull of the vehicle had to be redesigned from scratch.

The work on the first prototype was nearing completion in 1983 and the vehicle was first shown off at the Eurosatory exhibition in the same year. Following testing in 1984, two further prototypes were constructed, featuring a number of improvements over the first one. By now, the French Ministry of Defense had started to back the promising project and GIAT soon afterwards transferred all three prototypes for comprehensive troop assessments. A final, fourth prototype was constructed in 1985. Each prototype was unique, featuring a number of external and internal differences with the main one usually concerning powerplant options.

In the late 1980s, the vehicle’s development stagnated as active development was largely replaced with an active marketing campaign, in an effort to find a potential buyer for the new vehicle. Despite France’s best efforts to market the vehicle, even going as far as showing off some of the prototypes in a competition in summer of 1986 in Saudi Arabia, a buyer couldn’t be found. Spain was the only country showing some interest in potentially buying the AMX-40, but in the end, nothing came out of it either. By failing to find a buyer, domestic interest in the AMX-40 also faded and eventually resulted in the project being closed in 1990. Ultimately, the four constructed prototypes of the AMX-40 can only be considered as transitional designs, bridging the gap between the old second generation French MBTs, like the AMX-30 and the upcoming modern designs, such as the Leclerc.

- From Devblog

Media

Skins and camouflages for the AMX-40 from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] AMX-40: Fire and Forget