ELC bis
Contents
Description
The AMX ELC bis (1961) is a rank IV French tank destroyer with a battle rating of 6.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Wind of Change".
General info
Survivability and armour
The AMX ELC BIS's armour is only sufficient to protect against small arms fire, and the 2-man crew means there is little chance of survival if shot at. In particular, while the front hull armour and parts of the front turret armour are sufficient to protect against .50 cals, there are weak spots on the front turret with an effective thickness as low as 13 mm, notably around the driver, making any encounter with vehicles equipped with .50 cals potentially deadly, even at up to 1500 m. The ELC can survive low shots however, as both the engine and transmission sit in the front of tank, and thus can absorb most of the damage if directly hit.
Armour type:
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 40 mm (79°) Top
40 mm (43°) Bottom |
___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom |
___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Turret | ___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet |
___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Cupola | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm |
Notes:
Mobility
The AMX ELC BIS has a formidable top speed of 87 km/h (AB) and 80 km/h (RB/SB). However, it suffers from poor acceleration and speed retention through turns, which is particularly noticeable in RB/SB, where the ELC will in practice only reach 60 km/h at most even when fully upgraded. Thus, its mobility on the battlefield is comparable to the American M50 and M56, that both stand at the same BR, and is vastly inferior to the AML-90. The reverse speed is only of 10 km/h, too slow to escape dangerous encounters, which is something players must keep in mind when engaging enemies. In contrast, the ELC has a particularly good power-to-weight ratio, even when compared to other light vehicles of the same BR range.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 87 | 38 | 8.9 | _,___ | 343 | __.__ | 38.54 |
| Realistic | 81 | 35 | _,___ | 180 | __.__ | 20.22 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
The 90 mm D915 cannon is unremarkable, it is extremely similar to the 90 mm found on the AML-90 or the Ratel 90, and is unsuited for long range due to the poor ballistics of the HEAT-FS, and fails to make up for it in close quarters due to the average reload. In addition, stabilizing the gun after stopping takes a few seconds, making snapshots impossible.
| 90 mm D915 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 36 | -7°/+13° | ±20° | N/A | __._ | __._ | __._ | 49.1 | __._ | 8.7 | 7.7 | 7.1 | 6.7 |
| Realistic | __._ | __._ | __._ | 28.2 | __._ | ||||||||
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 | ||
| OCC 60-62 | HEATFS | 320 | 320 | 320 | 320 | 320 | 320 |
| OE 90 F1 | HE | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile Mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| OCC 60-62 | HEATFS | 750 | 8.95 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 877.7 | 65° | 72° | 77° |
| OE 90 F1 | HE | 640 | 10.45 | __ | 0.1 | 945 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| Smoke shell characteristics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile Mass (kg) |
Screen radius (m) |
Screen deploy time (s) |
Screen hold time (s) |
Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
| OFUM PH90-F2 | 640 | 10.2 | 13 | 5 | 20 | 50 |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|
| 36 | 0 (+36) | No |
The AMX ELC BIS has only one ammo rack, located at the rear of the tank, just before the fuel tank. As such, there is no real survivability decrease by taking a full ammo load. Due to the low velocity of the HEAT-FS rounds, it is therefore optimal to take a full load when using the ELC at long range.
Machine guns
The machine gun can only clear light obstacles, its primary use is to clear fences or other elements that would otherwise make your main gun shells detonate before reaching the target. Vehicles with exposed crew aren't particularly common at the ELC's battle rating, the main vehicles the ELC encounters where the machine gun can prove useful against are the American M56 and M42.
| 7.5 mm MAC 31 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| 4800 (150) | 551 shots/min | (coaxial, same as gun) | (coaxial, same as gun) | |
Usage in battles
Despite looking like one, it is important to remember that the AMX ELC BIS is not a light tank. It is strictly a tank destroyer, a fact highlighted by the absence of the scouting ability. The ELC is mobile but is generally slower than other light vehicles of the same BR, thus it is not really able to capture points early-on. The ELC excels in camouflage and in taking spots normally unattainable, and the gameplay generally revolves around this. The ELC is best unseen, .50 cals, which are common at the BR, can penetrate weak spots on the front turret and immediately kill the crew. In addition, the reload speed being simply average makes engaging multiple enemies not desirable; But in RB and SB, that is where the ELC's top-notch camouflaging ability comes into play, as the ELC can take the time to choose its targets carefully and patiently wait for the right time to strike. The slow reverse speed can be deadly if an engagement turns out dangerous, but this can be alleviated with a promptly-timed usage of the smoke grenades.
HEAT-FS being the ELC's only available shell, large tanks can be hard to deal with, but in particular, extra care is required against the Centurion Mk.5 AVRE, as its ERA armour is extremely efficient against HEAT-FS.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Mobile
- HEAT-FS rounds with 320 mm of penetration, making enemy armour not a concern
- Incredibly small profile, can hide in places that are simply impossible for other vehicles
- Formidable top speed of 80 km/h
Cons:
- Cannot fully traverse the turret 360 degrees
- Only 2 crew members, both sitting in a small turret: hits on the turret are nearly always fatal
- Low muzzle velocity on the HEAT-FS shells - not suited as a sniper
- Low gun elevation
- Rarely reaches its top speed in RB and SB
- Reverse speed is underwhelming for a light tank
- Front turret weak spots make the ELC vulnerable to .50 cals even from the front
- Weak top armour: 20 mm cannons found on aircraft rip right through, and .50 cals can easily kill the crew as well
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
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
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
| France tank destroyers | |
|---|---|
| Lorraine 40t derivatives | CA Lorraine · Lorraine 155 Mle.50 |
| ATGM | MEPHISTO · AMX-10M |
| Other | AMR.35 ZT3 · Lorraine 37L · SAu 40 · ARL-44 · ELC bis · AMX-50 Foch · AuF1 |
| USA | ▄M10 GMC · ▄M36B2 |
