Vickers Valiant Mk-4 105mm

[JAZZ]

In 1976 it was annouced that the UK had developed a new armour - Chobam. Vickers as a private venture sought to take advntage and develop a tank that would use the armour and meet the needs of countries unable to operate Leopar-2, Mi and FV4030-3's.

The Valiant was completed in 1979, hull was aluminium to which Chobham armour could be added, turrret was steel, with a layer of applique Chobham on the front and sides, and fitted with a 105mm L7A3 tank gun. Rolls Royce CV12 TCA deisel developing 915bhp was used. The tank had an all up weight of 43,600kg.

 

[goose]

Love this tank! Are there any more pictures of it out there-I can't find any on the internet.

 

[CostasTT]

Here are some I found in my computer.

 

[John21]

I guess this fell through because Chobham was/is never really offered for export except for NATO or strategic partners?

 

[Creative]

Thanks for sharing these, never seen the last two before.

 

[CostasTT]

You are welcome. I recently came across them myself.

 

[xiaofan]

Two more photos.

 

[CostasTT]

Nice! These two photos, like the first one in my post, show the 120mm armed prototype.

 

[goose]

Thanks a million for the pictures-I haven't see these before either. From what I have read the project failed because the hull was made from aluminium. The idea was to maximise the weight of armor that the tank could carry by minimising the hull weight. What killed the project was that the hull suffered from stress corrosion. This is surprising as Britian has experience in alloy AFVs-Scorpion series-but I surpose a 45 ton MBT is a different beast to an 8 ton light tank-sorry 'Combat Vehicle Recconasonce'!

 

[goose]

Just a short observation, do you think that the first road wheel is too far back?

 

[Jemiba]

Just a short observation, do you think that the first road wheel is too far back?

You're right, I think, that it is further back, than in other tanks. But "too far" would mean, that it
would degrade performance. I think, if weight distribution allows, this arrangement can improve
the ability to overstep obstacles or trenches ?
(drawings used from http://www.mainbattletanks.czweb.org/indexeng.htm, http://dayerses.com/photos/giat-amx-30/09/,
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m60.htm, http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/cv/tank/Leopard2.html )

 

[A Tentative Fleet Plan]

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