AMX-30B2

AMX-30B2

AMX-30 (1972)

AMX-30B2 BRENUS

AMX-30B2

AMX-30 (1972)

AMX-30B2 BRENUS

France

VI Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
8.7	8.7	8.7

Class:

Medium tank

Research:160 000

Purchase:450 000

Show in game

Description

The AMX-30B2 is a Rank VI French medium tank with a battle rating of 8.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.75 "La Résistance".

The vehicle follows the conventional western tank design of the mid Cold War with four crew members and a 105 mm gun. It has good armour on the UFP that can bounce some weaker shells but the sides, rear and top are very weak, making the vehicle highly vulnerable to air attacks and SPAA fire even from a distance. It has good acceleration, mobility, and firepower. Its turret resembles that of the T-54 series from the sides due to its rounded shape, so be careful in SB and check twice before firing at this tank because you may kill your ally if you do not pay enough attention... This can prove both to be an up and a downside depending on who's actually making the mistake.

This vehicle has the particularity to throw the usual 7.62 or .50 co-axial MG away for a powerful rapid firing 20 mm autocanon that can be elevated up to 40° that fires HEIT and APIT projectiles with a penetration up to 40 mm at close range and against straight armor. This weapon is very useful to deal with light ennemy tanks that are rushing you since this gun will simply wreck them, especially if they show their flanks. This gun is also very effective at taking down attacking aircraft that would be crazy enough to rush straight at you or pass you by at low altitude and low speed. At last, this gun can destroy walls, trees and every obstacles you may encounter. The AMX-30B2 also has an unmatched firepower at it's BR. Its 105 mm gun fires both the OCC 105 G1 shell found on the first AMX-30, but also the dreaded and powerful OFL 105 F1 which is nothing less than the most powerful APFSDS shell in the BR bracket. This shell and the lack of a stabilizer simply tells you all about this tank, just like in real life where it used it's superior detection and acquisition devices to engage and destroy targets from afar, you should simply do the same in the game by staying back and supporting your team from afar using your laser rangefinder and your powerful APFSDS to outrange and delete enemies from a distance.

Note : It's interesting to note that the AMX 30B2 is currently the only tank that can penetrate the IS-7 on it's whole frontal profile reliably and thus even at long ranges.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

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

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	79 mm (57-68°), 50 mm (52-76°) Front glacis 79 mm (0-57°), 30 mm (75°) Lower glacis	35-57 mm (0-35) 30 mm Bottom 25 mm (70°) Belly	30 mm (10°) Top 30 mm Center 25 mm (70°) Bottom	15 mm 8 mm Engine grille
Turret	30-150 mm (0-79°) Gun mantlet 30 mm (61-75°) Turret front top	41.5 mm (19-47°)	30 mm (1-64°) 20 mm (54-64°) Turret underside	20 mm
Armour	Sides	Roof
Cupola	60 mm	20 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 20 mm thick.

Mobility

Mobility characteristic
Weight (tons)	Add-on Armour weight (tons)	Max speed (km/h)
37.0	N/A	72 (AB)
		65 (RB/SB)
Engine power (horsepower)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	1,054	_,___
Realistic/Simulator	601	680
Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	28.49	__.__
Realistic/Simulator	16.24	18.38

Armaments

Main armament

105 mm CN-105-F1
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
47			-8°/+20°	±180°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	17.9	24.7	28.9	33.2	35.3
Realistic	17.9	22.1	25.7	28.4	30.0
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
8.7	7.7	7.1	6.7

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
OCC 105 F1	HEAT	400	400	400	400	400	400
OE 105 F1 Mle.60	HE	25	25	25	25	25	25
OFL 105 F1	APFSDS	348	346	342	340	332	326

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 105 F1	HEAT	1,000	11	0.0	0.1	1,020	+0°	62°	69°	73°
OE 105 F1 Mle.60	HE	700	12	0.1	0.1	2,000	+0°	79°	80°	81°
OFL 105 F1	APFSDS	1,525	3.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	°	78°	80°	81°

Smoke characteristic
Ammunition	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Screen radius in m	Screen time in s	Screen hold time in s:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):
OFPH 105 F1	700	11	20	5	25	50

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the AMX-30B2.

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

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
1,000 (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 the battles

French AMX-30B2 needs to be played more carefully than its other NATO counterparts such as the M60A1 (A0S) or the Leopard A1A1 due to the lack of a stabilizer, hence making firing on the move and/or after short stop more risky than if you were playing a T-62 in the case of a sudden frontal encounter. As a result the French AMX-30B2 is the best played as a second line support tank, a long range sniper or a flanker. You cannot expect to drive straight into battle and come out victorious in this tank.

This tank is, above everything, a sniper tank. The lack of a stabilizer will restrict your playstyle on most city or clustered maps. In these kinds of environment, you will have to play much more slowly and carefully than the other tanks because most tanks amongst other nations come with a stabilizer such as the Cheiftain, the T-62 or the T-10M. Just advance slowly and try to be as much aware of your surroundings as you can be because this will prove to be a real life saver in this kind of environment. You can also simply lay ambushes to your enemy by patiently waiting for someone to come in front of your gun, kill this enemy and quickly relocate using the tank's good mobility.

On big maps however, this tank can unleash all of its potential as the lack of a stabilizer won't be a problem on big maps, find a good location with a clear line-of-sight of commonly used routes to the capture zones and use the binoculars as well as the laser rangefinder to snipe your enemies from long distance, they simply wont be able to return fire soon or well enough before a final blow (if it's not done already) achieved through a AMX-30B2's perfectly ranged and aimed shot.

To sum it short, this tank plays very differently than other MBTS from all nations. It's not as versatile or flexible as other vehicles, but is extremely good at what it does the best due to top notch gun and ammunition as well as range-finding device.

In terms of enemies: every stabilized tank can prove extremely dangerous to you in CQC. Also due to your lack of armour, any tank you can encounter in your BR bracket can and will penetrate you frontally if they lay their gun on you. The best method is often to avoid direct combat or, if you have to do it, make sure that you will do it where you'll have the advantage also known as range.

German cannon CAS is also the bane of this tank due to its very thin roof armour. If a player decides to hop into their Me 262 A1/U4 for a payback, it'd be very wise to find a hard cover or a very dense forest in the next 30 seconds because 30 and/or 30 mm canons loaded with AP shells will be on their way with the AMX-30B2 as a priority target.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Very powerful 105 mm APFSDS.
• Fast turret traverse system.
• Big ready rack allowing a good sustained RoF of 9 shots per minute
• Coaxial 20 mm autocannon with 40° of elevation to deal with thinly armoured vehicles and CAS aircrafts.
• Good survivability when being hit in the turret front as the massive 105 breech and the 20 mm breech will absorb a lot of damages.
• Smoke shells and grenades are available.
• Average -8 degree gun depression.
• Laser rangefinder being a great help to snipe over long distances accurately.

Cons:

• No stabilizers, which restricts the playstyle of the vehicle.
• Inadequate hull armour against other Rank VI vehicles.
• 15-20 mm roof armour can be exploited by aerial attacks.
• high cupola that can be exploited by enemies when behind a cover.

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ground vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/historical reference" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/Name-vehicles/historical reference) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to include links to sources at the end of the article.

Media

Skins and camouflages for the AMX-30B2 from live.warthunder.com.