AMX-50 Surblinde
| This page is about the French heavy tank AMX-50 Surblinde. For other versions, see AMX-50 (Family). |
Contents
Description
At the end of WWII, France found itself dependant on foreign military aid, and rushed to develop its military with domestic aircraft, tanks, and other weaponry. One of these systems was a heavy tank comparable to existing tanks such as the Tiger II and IS-2, but with greater mobility and more reliability. The AMX-50 Surblindé was thus presented in 1955, a variant of the AMX-50 with increased armour. The project however was abandoned due to lack of funding and cooperation with the United States and West Germany, as well as the accelerated development of deadlier anti-tank weaponry.
It was introduced in Update 1.89 "Imperial Navy" as a reward for the World War Season 1: Recon under fire. As a member of the French AMX-50 family of tanks, it is very similar to the AMX-50 Surbaissé. Compared to the Surbaissé, it is lower, has a much better protected turret and hull, and a 20 mm MG 151 cannon on top, which is very efficient against aircraft and lightly armoured vehicles. It is also heavier and doesn't have smoke grenade launchers compared to the Surbaissé. The tank has an armour layout comparable to that of the IS-3, and features a very powerful cannon and decent mobility for a heavy tank, however it does not have access to APHE shells which are common in most tanks around its BR.
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour (hull, suspended part of the turret, turret roof)
- Cast homogeneous armour (turret base and front, gun mantlet, driver's hatch, cupola, exhaust pipe cover)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 110 mm (48°) Front glacis 50 mm (71°) Driver's hatch 100 mm (59°) Lower glacis 100 mm (40°) Front cheeks |
75 mm (12°) Top 60 mm Bottom |
60 mm (1°) Upper plate 60 mm (31°) Lower glacis |
30 mm 5 mm Radiator vents |
| Turret | 85 mm (47-52°) Turret front 100 mm (cylindrical) Turret base 300 mm Barrel base |
100 mm (cylindrical) Turret base 85 mm (cylindrical) Barrel base 60 mm Turret pivot link 40 mm (cylindrical) Turret pivot underside 40 mm Suspended part 30 mm (72°) Suspended part underside |
20 mm (1-34°) Suspended part 40 mm (cylindrical) Turret pivot underside 30 mm (78°) Suspended part underside |
20 mm |
| Commander cupola | 110 mm (cylindrical) Base 40 mm (spherical) Dome |
40 mm (7-12°) | 40 mm (11-20°) 40 mm (spherical) Dome | |
| MG cupola | 40 mm (58-61°) | 40 mm (spherical) | 40 mm (2-32°) | |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 30 mm thick. Suspension wheels are interleaved and thus overlap in some areas.
- Hull undersides above tracks are 20 mm thick.
Mobility
| 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 | 70 | 1,291 | 1,908 | 18.44 | 27.26 |
| Realistic | 52 | 6 | 884 | 1,000 | 12.63 | 14.29 | |
The AMX-50 Surblinde has a very good speed (around 40 km/h on flat land when fully upgraded) for a super heavy tank, which allows a fast deployment on the battlefield aside medium and modern tanks. The manoeuvrability is also good and allows the player to drive easily in an urban environment.
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 120 mm SA46 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Autoloader |
| Arcade | 50 | -6°/+10° | ±180° | N/A | 19.4 | 26.9 | 32.6 | 36.1 | 38.4 | 6.00 |
| Realistic | 14.3 | 16.8 | 20.4 | 22.6 | 24.0 | |||||
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 de rupture | APBC | 301 | 298 | 286 | 272 | 258 | 245 |
| 120 mm Obus explosif | HE | 39 | 39 | 39 | 39 | 39 | 39 |
| 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 de rupture | APBC | 1,067 | 23.1 | - | - | - | 47° | 60° | 65° | |||
| 120 mm Obus explosif | HE | 762 | 22.84 | 0 | 0.1 | 4.65 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
7th rack empty |
8th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 47 (+3) | 43 (+7) | 39 (+11) | 34 (+16) | 29 (+21) | 23 (+27) | 19 (+31) | 1 (+49) | Yes |
Notes:
- Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
- The visual discrepancy concerns the crossed out shell: it is modeled but can't be fired.
- Rack 8 (autoloader magazine) is a first stage ammo rack. It totals 18 shells.
- This rack gets filled first when loading up the tank and is also emptied first.
- As the AMX-50 Surblinde 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 7 into rack 8. Firing will interrupt the restocking of the ready racks.
- The depletion order at full capacity is: 8 - 1 - 2 up to 7.
Machine guns
| 20 mm MG 151 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 500 (250) | 700 | -5°/+80° | ±180° |
| 7.5 mm MAC 31 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 3,000 (150) | 551 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Powerful 120 mm gun, a shot can penetrate a target protected by 300 mm of armour
- Loading time is short and steady, thanks to the autoloader
- Very mobile for a super-heavy tank, being able to reach to 51 km/h on flat terrain
- 20 mm cannon to ward off low-flying aircraft
Cons:
- One shot in the turret can make the tank explode: up to 18 shells are stored at the back of the turret
- No smoke grenades
- Shells lack explosive filler, one-hit knock-outs from the side are rare
History
Start of the project
In July 1945, in the aftermath of liberation, the general staff of the French armed forces expressed the need for a heavy tank of national design. In view of the rise of tensions with the USSR and with the balance sheets drawn from the last world conflict, the French Army presented a precise specification of what was to be the future main tank of the army. The tank was to be comparable on several points to already existing machines. Indeed, it was requested armament of a minimum power equivalent to the gun of 88 mm German Tiger II. It was also asked for a shield equivalent to that of the Panther and mobility close to that of the T-34.
The AMX-50 Surblindé
In 1955, an AMX 50 Surblindé (over-armoured) is produced, able to measure itself against the most powerful machines then in service. A variant of the AMX-50 Surbaissé with a reinforced armour, the front armour shape is inspired by Soviet tanks IS-3 or T10. The weight of this prototype reached about 60 tons.
Abandonment of the project
The tests carried out indicated a tank superior to its American and Soviet counterparts that were M26 Pershing and IS-3 respectively. But the Americans did not want to finance a project that would not be adopted. It was, therefore, necessary that the two countries, France and West Germany, adopt the tank so that its development continues. If France seemed ready to accept the project, it was not the case of West Germany which was inspired by the doctrines of the former general Heinz Guderian, a supporter of lighter and faster tanks. In addition, the development of new technologies and capabilities in the field of missiles and hollow-shell shells would render the massive tank armour obsolete and unsuitable for future large-scale conflict.
Media
- Skins
See also
- Related development
External links
| 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 |
