AuF1
Contents
Description
The AMX-30 AuF1 Canon Automoteur de 155 GCT is the first variant of the AMX-30 AuF1 self-propelled guns family. Although it is an entirely new family, it is closely related to the AMX-30 main battle tank family, particularly the AMX-30B and AMX-30B2 variants. The vehicle was built on the AMX-30 main battle tank chassis to offer tactical artillery support to units in the French Army, who designated it the AMX-30 AuF1. The vehicle is mounted with a 155 mm CN 155 AuF1 howitzer and an autoloader, with a maximum range of 30 kilometres and a rate of fire of eight rounds per minute. The vehicle is equipped with 42 rounds of ammunition in combustible cartridge casings. The decision to develop a self-propelled howitzer dates back to 1969, with the first prototype produced in 1972. By 1979, seven prototypes and six pre-series vehicles had been built, followed by the manufacture of 110 vehicles. This order was later raised to a total of 190 units.
Introduced in Update "La Royale", the AMX-30 AuF1 is a robust and powerful vehicle with extremely effective shells, but it is not without cost. Owing to its low muzzle velocity, this vehicle excels in close and medium-range engagements but struggles with long-range targets. Furthermore, due to its incredibly thin armour, even heavy machine guns can destroy it, thus it is important that players have keen tactical awareness when playing such a vehicle. When utilized appropriately, this vehicle can instantly knock out even the most strongly armoured targets, and its proximity fuse shell has the potential to take out a lightly armoured vehicle even behind the cover.
General info
Survivability and armour
The AMX-30 AuF1 has very thin armour that offers little protection against anti-tank weapons. It can only resist small arms fire such as 7.62 mm machine guns and shrapnel. The turret armour is only 20 mm thick, which makes it vulnerable to heavy machine gun fire that can easily knock out the gunner and other crew members. The engine in the rear of the hull may sometimes absorb some shots, but it is not a reliable defence.
On the other hand, the AuF1's weak armour may sometimes survive solid shot shells such as AP, APCR and APDS, but be careful - these shells may damage the vertical aiming drive even if they don't knock out the gunner, making the tank unable to fire back. Therefore, avoid getting hit and use the tank's excellent mobility to disengage.
Armour type:
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 30+8 mm (68°-76°) Upper 30 mm (45°) Lower |
20+4-20 mm Top 30 mm Bottom |
30 mm | 10 - 15 mm |
| Turret | 20 mm (35°) Turret front 20-30 mm Gun mantlet |
20 mm | 20 mm | 20 mm (79°-90°) |
| Cupola | 20 mm | 20 mm | 20 mm | 20 mm |
Notes:
Mobility
The AuF1 is a fast tank for its battle rating, based on the AMX-30 chassis. It has a great reverse gearbox that helps it escape from danger, and it can use smoke grenades to cover its retreat. However, it is not as fast as light tanks, and it does not accelerate as well as a Leopard or STB-1. Therefore, it is not a good idea to rush to capture points at the beginning of the map.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 71 | 71 | 43.5 | 1,022 | 1,297 | 23.49 | 29.82 |
| Realistic | 66 | 66 | 637 | 680 | 14.64 | 15.63 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Armaments
Main armament
The AMX-30 AuF1 is a self-propelled howitzer that features the 155 mm CN 155 AUF1 gun, which has a high rate of fire and a long range, but lacks some options. The gun can fire three types of rounds in-game, namely:
- OE 155 56 - A standard high-explosive shell
- M107 (PF) - A high-explosive shell with a proximity fuse
- M110 - A smoke shell
The gun is mounted on a fully traversable turret with an autoloader, which enables the AMX-30 AuF1 to fire 8 rounds per minute.
The howitzer performs well, with the second fastest reload time among the cannons of its calibre and a decent muzzle velocity, faster than both the Type 75 SPH and the 2S3M. However, the main HE shell is slower than both the G6 'Rhino' and Bkan 1C, and also has less explosive filler. It can still destroy any lightly armoured vehicle with a direct hit and severely damage or destroy heavily armoured vehicles with proper aiming. For heavy targets, remember to aim at exposed positions such as the cupola or the turret cheek to destroy the tank, and if at the side, aim at the roadwheels of a the tank to finish it off.
The AuF1 also has access to the M107 (PF) shell, which is a high-explosive shell that detonates automatically when it gets close to a tank or plane, creating an explosion above the roof of the enemy vehicle, similar to a top attack missile. However, it will also detonate on any terrain feature, such as a rock, a hill, or even the ground. This, along with its 3 m trigger radius, makes it ineffective against vehicles hiding behind cover, but effective against planes. The proximity fuse only works past 300 m, so against closer targets, the shell acts like a standard HE shell, but with more explosives and a lower velocity. In these situations, it might be better to use the HE-VT shells to ensure destruction.
| 155 mm GCT F1 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Autoloader |
| Arcade | 42 | -4°/+66° | ±180° | - | 8.8 | 12.2 | 14.8 | 16.4 | 17.4 | 7.50 |
| Realistic | 6.0 | 7.0 | 8.5 | 9.4 | 10.0 | |||||
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 | ||
| OE 155 56 | HE | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 54 |
| M107 (PF) | HE-VT | 61 | 61 | 61 | 61 | 61 | 61 |
| 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% | ||||||||||
| OE 155 56 | HE | 810 | 43.75 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 6.8 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Proximity-fused shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Arming distance (m) |
Trigger radius (m) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| M107 (PF) | HE-VT | 580 | 43.1 | 0 | 0 | 300 | 3 | 9.14 | 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) |
| M110 | 563 | 40.8 | 25 | 5 | 30 | 50 |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|
| 42 | 1 (+41) | No |
Machine guns
| 12.7 mm M2HB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 800 (200) | 575 | -10°/+45° | ±41° |
Usage in battles
This vehicle is quite versatile and powerful with its high explosive and fuze shells, however it comes at a cost. The AuF1 is the very definition of a glass cannon: this vehicle is incredible at close and medium range engagements, but has troubles sniping long distances on account for its subpar muzzle velocity. Awareness of the battlefield is required while playing this vehicle, as it has such little armour that heavy machine guns can easily penetrate. Used right, this vehicle can be a significant asset to the battlefield as a well aimed shot can instantly take down even the most armoured of targets, and its proximity fuze shell has a chance of taking out a lightly armoured vehicle even behind cover.
On the chance that its HE shell does not incapacitate the enemy target, the fast reload speed of 7.5 seconds allows you to lob another shell to finish them off, and your speedy reverse allows you to disengage if the enemy tank starts to target you.
It is highly recommended to become familiar with large maps, as at this tank's battle rating they become far more common. Experiment on large maps using some landmarks to help with long distance aiming, and do not forget to make use of your rangefinder. However, remember that the tank possesses a subpar depression of -4 degrees, which reduces your capability to fight in hilly maps and means that you will have to expose a significant portion of your tank before you can engage an enemy.
The AuF1 has an almost unique ability to annihilate lightly armoured tanks that are hiding behind cover completely, which is usually something only an ATGM carrier can do. The HE-VT can explode over the light vehicle thanks to its proximity fuze, if it is more than 3 m above the ground and it does not detonate on a rock or other feature of the map. Additionally, the shell must still fly at least 300 m away from your tank to activate, so it will not work at close range. Additionally, these proximity fuze shells can also be used to take down aircraft in conjunction with your 12.7 mm machine gun, meaning you are not helpless against aerial threats.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Speedy 7.5 s auto-loader, reloads faster than all Soviet that you will encounter such as the T44-100 and T54 and most other tanks
- Unlimited ready rack, the total ammo load (42 shells) is part of the first-stage auto-loaded ammo stowage
- Relatively great mobility for an SPH with the same forward and reverse speed, thanks to a reversible gearbox
- Possess modern smoke grenades that explode in the air, allowing to disengage a sticky situation quickly
- Crew is relatively spaced out
- High-explosive shell usually one shots any tank regardless of armour
Cons:
- Very large target, you will likely be targeted first
- The whole back end of the turret is an ammo rack
- Horizontal and vertical drives are very often knocked out
- Slow targeting speeds for the turret/gun
- High-explosive shell can be sometimes inconsistent, careful aiming is required at weak spots such as cupola
History
The AMX-30 AuF1 is a French self-propelled gun that was developed in 1969 by Giat Industries (now Nexter) and entered service in the late 1970s. It is based on the AMX-30 main battle tank chassis, and was originally designed as a replacement for the ageing Mk F3 155 mm, which lacked features such as a traversable turret and NBC protection for its crew. Additionally, the Mk F3 155 mm could also carry only two of the four crew members needed to operate it, while the other two had to be transported in support vehicles, qualities the French Government deemed unsuitable by the 1960s.
After a 9-year development period, the AMX-30 AuF1 was first delivered to the Saudi Arabian Army in 1978, which used it in the Iran–Iraq War. The French Army received its first units later, in 1980, and deployed them in regiments of 18 guns each. The AMX-30 AuF1 also saw combat with the Iraqi Army, which acquired some variants from France in July 1979.
The AMX-30 AuF1 has been upgraded several times, with improvements such as a new engine, a new transmission, and a new kinetic energy penetrator. The latest version, the AuF2, has a longer 52-calibre gun and a thermal sight.
Media
- Skins
- Videos
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 |
