Centurion chassis as a SAM launcher

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kyuzoaoi

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I was thinking if it is plausible to get a mobile launcher for either Thunderbird or Bloodhound missiles on a Centurion tank chassis.
 
kyuzoaoi said:
I was thinking if it is plausible to get a mobile launcher for either Thunderbird or Bloodhound missiles on a Centurion tank chassis.
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The Soviet SA4 Ganef always looked as if a couple of Thunderbirds or Bloodhounds had been plonked on a tracked chassis so the Russians certainly thought so.
That said, the Brits were more interested in having lightweight launchers and radars that could be flown in and out of airbases. Thunderbird and its various infrastructure could be towed around by Bedford trucks or flown somewhere in RAF transports.
I have never seen any attempts to put Bloodhound or Thunderbird on tracked vehicles even in fan art.
The RAF and Army would probably have preferred more modernised missiles and support equipment like radars and C3 to a costly tracked launcher.
 
kyuzoaoi said:
I was thinking if it is plausible to get a mobile launcher for either Thunderbird or Bloodhound missiles on a Centurion tank chassis.
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly, there is a drawing of a vehicle in Chris Gibson's "British Secret Projects: Hypersonics Ramjets and Missiles" of a proposed system which had the Tigercat missile system and its guiding equipment in a large turret mounted on a Centurion chassis
 
A couple of years back, shopping at a big DIY store, I noticed a very unusual 'Landy', a six-wheeler.
It was not obviously a 'hack', it looked 'right'. And, yes, stirred my pack-rat memory...

I stuck around, managed to quiz the owner as he loaded a remarkable amount of material onto its hyper-extended bed.

Yes, it was MOD surplus. It had been part of a mobile SAM system, for which it had a trailer etc.

And, yes, he was delighted that some-one had thought to ask, rather than just dismissing it as a 'hack'...
 
kyuzoaoi said:
I was thinking if it is plausible to get a mobile launcher for either Thunderbird or Bloodhound missiles on a Centurion tank chassis.
Click to expand...
Technically not impossible, but it would still be a semi-mobile system, because launchers needed to be connected by cables with control station.
 
Dilandu said:
Technically not impossible, but it would still be a semi-mobile system, because launchers needed to be connected by cables with control station.
Click to expand...
I agree, certainly between the Launch Control Point and radar vehicles, later Bloodhounds had an antenna on the back of the launcher to receive launch signals from the Launch Control Point. I think you'd want a twin mount a la Ganef, but how the second missile (or the tank crew) would react to four Goslings firing is worrying.

Chris
 
Wyvern said:
kyuzoaoi said:
I was thinking if it is plausible to get a mobile launcher for either Thunderbird or Bloodhound missiles on a Centurion tank chassis.
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly, there is a drawing of a vehicle in Chris Gibson's "British Secret Projects: Hypersonics Ramjets and Missiles" of a proposed system which had the Tigercat missile system and its guiding equipment in a large turret mounted on a Centurion chassis
Click to expand...
 

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