MARS 15
Contents
Description
The MARS 15 is a rank VI French light tank with a battle rating of 8.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Ixwa Strike".
General info
Survivability and armour
The MARS 15 does not have any armor to talk about, it's only protected againt 7.7mm bullets but anything bigger than that will go through the vehicle with ease even at range.
Armour type:
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 15 mm | ___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom |
___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Turret | ___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet |
___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Cupola | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm |
Notes:
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 | 84 | 84 | 16 | _,___ | 763 | __.__ | 47.69 |
| Realistic | 76 | 76 | _,___ | 400 | __.__ | 25 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Armaments
Main armament
Give the reader information about the characteristics of the main gun. Assess its effectiveness in a battle based on the reloading speed, ballistics and the power of shells. Do not forget about the flexibility of the fire, that is how quickly the cannon can be aimed at the target, open fire on it and aim at another enemy. Add a link to the main article on the gun: {{main|Name of the weapon}}. Describe in general terms the ammunition available for the main gun. Give advice on how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage.
| 90 mm CN90 F4 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 30 | -8°/+18° | ±180° | N/A | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ |
| Realistic | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | ||||||||
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 90 F2 | HEATFS | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ |
| OE 90 F1 | HE | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ |
| OFL 90 F1 | APFSDS | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ |
| 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 90 F2 | HEATFS | ___ | _.__ | __ | _._ | ___ | __° | __° | __° |
| OE 90 F1 | HE | ___ | _.__ | __ | _._ | ___ | __° | __° | __° |
| OFL 90 F1 | APFSDS | ___ | _.__ | __ | _._ | ___ | __° | __° | __° |
| 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 90 F1 | ___ | ____ | __ | __ | __ | ___ |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ |
Machine guns
Offensive and anti-aircraft machine guns not only allow you to fight some aircraft but also are effective against lightly armoured vehicles. Evaluate machine guns and give recommendations on its use.
| 7.62 mm A-A-F1N | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| ___ (___) | ___ | __° | __° | |
Usage in battles
The MARS 15, like all light tanks, relies heavily on early positionning to perform. It is advised at the beginning of the game to reach for an advanced position and provide intel to your team by spotting ennemy targets. Mid-game, thanks to its combination of good mobility, good firepower and good rate of fire, it can be a very effective flanker or a sniper. Indeed, the MARS 15 thanks to its APFSDS ammunition does not have to engage the ennemy from the sides if it want to penetrate their armor and is not as limited asx previous French light tanks in this regard. Its APFSDS shot will go through most ennemies with ease even at range bar few notable ones such as : Maus, IS4, IS7, Object 279, T55 AM1, T62 M1, Conqueror Mk 2, other vehicle will be easily penetrated on their hulls and turret even if some turrets can be tricky like the ones found on the Cheiftain or soviets heavy tanks. The way you will play the vehicle will heavily depends on the map as well as the situation on the battelfield but thanks to its mobilty and firepower it can adapt and be useful in most situations. That being said, keep in mind that you are not a brawler and that anything will penetrate your armor so you are very much advised to plan your movements quite ahead and most importantly try to not be spotted as it'll almost always result in a rapid death.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Low profile
- Good mobility
- Very good RoF of 12 shots per minutes when aced
- Powerful APFSDS rounds which allow the tank to also act as a sniper with the laser rangefinder
Cons:
- No gun stabilization
- Very light protection
- No night vision devices
History
The MARS 15 was private venture undertaken by Creusot-Loire Industrie (Property of GIAT Industries now NEXTER) in the late 80's whose purpose was to propose already existing customer of the AMX 13 a new generation of low cost/high efficiency modular platform that could mound a wide array of weapons system as well as be assigned to several purposes ranging from anti-air, infantry fighting vehicle and light tanks. 3 prototypes were built; one using the GIAT TS 90 turret housing the CN 90 F4 90 mm gun, one using the two-axis stabilized DRAGAR turret ( DRAGAR turret is the early development and version of the TARASK turret found on the VBCI IFV vehicle) housing a 25mm chain gun and one using the TML turret housing a CN 105 G2 105mm gun. The platform as well as its various equipment options were proposed on the export market for few years without attracting any potential buyers. Indeed, already existing customers of the AMX 13 preferred to modernize it rather than ordering a whole new vehicle they were not familiar with and the French Army had a huge (and still has) preference for wheeled vehicles for its light reconnaissance units due to tracked vehicle being more expansive both to operate and maintain and was not interested as a result. Seeing the vehicle failing to attract foreign customers as well as not receiving any interest from the French Army, GIAT definitely shut down the project in the early 90's
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
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| France light tanks | |
|---|---|
| AMC.34/35 | AMC.34 YR · AMC.35 (ACG.1) |
| H.35/39 | H.35 · H.39 · H.39 "Cambronne" |
| AMX-13 | AMX-13 (FL11) · AMX-13-M24 · AMX-13 · AMX-13 (SS.11) · AMX-13-90 · AMX-13 (HOT) |
| Wheeled | AML-90 · AMX-10RC · Vextra 105 |
| AMD.35 | AMD.35 · AMD.35 (SA35) |
| E.B.R. | E.B.R. (1951) · E.B.R. (1954) · E.B.R. (1963) |
| Other | FCM.36 · R.35 (SA38) · Char 25t · MARS 15 · VBCI-2 (MCT30) |
| Austria | SK-105A2 |
| Great Britain | ▄Crusader Mk.II |
| Netherlands | CV 9035NL |
| USA | LVT-4/40 · ▄M3A3 Stuart |
