AMX Levavasseur
| AMX Levavasseur | |
|---|---|
| File:Tru futu tank.png | |
| Type | Main battle tank |
| Place of origin | Sieuxerr |
| Service history | |
| In service | 2009-Present |
| Used by | Sieuxerr |
| Production history | |
| Designer | GIAT Industries |
| Designed | 2001 |
| Manufacturer | GIAT Industries |
| Unit cost | $12,000,000 USD |
| Produced | 2009- |
| No. built | 1,000 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 45.2 tonnes (Basic) 54.9 tonnes (Combat) |
| Length | 6.88 m (w/o gun) 9.94 m (w/ gun) |
| Width | 3.6 m |
| Height | 2.31 m |
| Crew | 3 (Commander, gunner, driver) |
| Armor | Laminated steel/ceramic/composite mixture along with modular armor packages |
Main armament | GIAT CN145/45 (43 rounds) |
Secondary armament | M26-T coaxial (1,500 rounds) |
| Engine | 8-cylinder diesel engine 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW) |
| Power/weight | 27.3 hp/t (20.3 kW/t) |
| Transmission | Automatic SESM ESM500 |
| Suspension | hydropneumatic |
| Fuel capacity | 1,300 ℓ (1,700 ℓ with fuel drums) |
Operational range | 600 km (700 km with fuel drums) |
| Speed | 70 km/h |
The AMX Levavasseur is main battle tank designed and produced by Sieuxerr. It began development in the early 2000s after the AMX Napoleon had been accepted into service. It was designed to deal with threats posed by brand new armored vehicles that were coming about towards the end of the Cold War. It was developed around the Austrasien PzK M-85 145mm gun, which maintains the capability to engage and eliminate any armored vehicle at ranges exceeding the effective range of the GIAT 120/52 guns found on the Napoleon and the AMX-45.
Its namesake comes from Captain Levavasseur, who pioneered the concept of armored fighting vehicles with his Levavasseur Project, which would become the first tracked fighting vehicle in the world to reach operational service in the Fifth Esto-Sieuxerrian War. It has been given the popular nickname of "Va Va Voom", after a popular Renault advertisement.
Development
Design
Armament
Primary
The primary weapon system of the Levavasseur is the Austrasien 14.5cm PzK M-85 L/45, which was licensed as the GIAT CN145/45. The gun is capable of successfully engaging armored targets at effective ranges of over 3 kilometers using conventional ammunition. The gun was selected over a gun-launched 155mm or a high-pressure 120mm gun launching ATGMs due to a series of studies done in the mid-1990s on the possibility of the ATGM replacing the APFSDS and possibly even obsoleting the concept of the main battle tank.
What was found was that using high-cost, complex ATGM systems as a primary means of engagement by main battle tanks in a high-intensity conflict could not possibly be done so over a lengthened period of sustained conflict. The production capabilities could not meet the suspected consumption that modern armored forces would need to sustain themselves. Additionally, as was found by the Austrasien Panzerwaffe, tank crews could fire thousands of training and live rounds year, against limited live and simulator rounds when using ATGMs. This held a lopsided balance of training between the crews, while both crews could successfully demonstrate their systems in a controlled environment, when in the field and faced with different scenarios and events, the tank cannon crew was found to be much more effective than the ATGM crew.
Secondary
The secondary weapon is the M26-T, the vehicle mounted variant of the M26 Lightweight Infantry Autocannon. The M26-T fires the 12.7x99mm machine gun round. While the SA 37E can deal with most threats, the M26-T is used to engage foot-mobile infantry units. It has a ready-magazine of 1,500 rounds of ammunition.
Protection
Turret Protection
As there is no longer the need to protect the crew, the protection of the turret was reduced accordingly. Without any additional protection, the turret is resistant to 40mm APFSDS at 300 meters (190mm RHA) and can resist the PG-7VL warhead, which is roughly equivalent to 500mm of RHA. Additional ERA add-on armor is available.
Hull Protection
Surprise its a Leclerc hull :o