T30 Heavy Tank

The T30 Heavy Tank was a World War II American tank project developed to counter new German tanks. The T30 was designed at same time as the T29 Heavy Tank. Pilot models were started in April 1945 and were delivered in 1947. The 155 mm gun fired two-piece (shell and charge) ammunition. The loader was helped by a powered rammer. The T30 had fitted on it one of the largest guns ever put on an American tank. The turret with its rounded edges gave it a unusually high profile (but necessary). It would carry 34 of either AP (Armored Piercing) or HE (high-explosive) but it could carry a mix of both.

A variant designated T30E1 had an additional hatch at the back of the turret for ejecting the shell casings. Another variant of the tank was the T30E2. The weight of the T30 shell was 43 kg and the charge 18 kg, a total of 61 kg for the whole ammunition, which made it difficult to handle.

A post-war era variant designated T58 had the conventional turret replaced with an oscillating version that allowed the fitting of an automated loader.

T30
Type	Heavy tank
Place of origin	United States
Production history
Produced	1947
Specifications
Weight	68.7 metric tons (T30) (145,000 lbs) 59.9 metric tons (T58) (132,000 lbs)
Length	11.57 m (with the gun) (T30) 10.82 m (with the gun) (T58)
Width	3.80 m (T30) 3.63 m (T58)
Height	3.20 m (T30) 3.17 m (T58)
Crew	6 (T30) 4 (T58)
Armor	280 mm (maximum) (T30) 127 mm (maximum) (T58)
Main armament	155 mm T7 gun L/40 (T30) (34 rounds) 155 mm T7E1 gun L/40 (T30E1) 155 mm T180 rifled gun L/40 (T58) (32 rounds)
Secondary armament	coaxially M2 HB .50 cal and M1919A4 .30 cal bow-mounted
Engine	Continental AV1790-3 aircooled 704 hp (525 kW) (net) (T30) 810 hp (600 kW) (T58)
Power/weight	10 hp/tonne
Suspension	torsion-bar
Speed	26.5 km/h (16.5 mph) (T30) 35.2 km/h (21.9 mph) (T58)

ARL 44 Heavy Tank

The ARL 44 was a French heavy tank produced just after World War II. Only sixty of these tanks were ever manufactured and the type was quickly phased out.

The ARL 44 clearly shows that it is based on earlier French heavy tank design. The hull is long, over nine metres, but relatively narrow, just as a vehicle meant to cross wide trenches. The covered suspension, with its many small road wheels, that had already been outdated in the thirties, is the most obvious sign of its basic Char B1 ancestry; it is in essence identical to that of the Char B1 ter. The type has often been compared to the many "Super Char B" projects from before the war. Its speed is likewise limited, the lowest of any fifty ton tank built after the war. This was also partly due to the lack of a sufficiently strong engine; it had originally been intended to compensate for this by using a more efficient petro-electrical transmission. This kind of transmission has as a major drawback that it very easily overheats and the ARL 44 as a result was fitted with an impressive and complex array of ventilators and cooling ducts; the engine deck was made to extend behind the track to accommodate them all. The hull glacis plate is 120 mm thick and reclined at about 45°, giving a line-of-sight thickness in the horizontal plane of about 170 mm. This made the ARL 44 the most heavily armoured French tank until the Leclerc. Within the glacis, low on the right side, a 7.5 mm machine-gun is fitted in a fixed position.

The turret was the most modern looking part; it's also an obvious makeshift solution, somewhat crudely welded together, made necessary by the simple fact Schneider as yet couldn't produce complete cast turrets large enough to hold a 90 mm gun. The turret front was a cast section though. As the turret was positioned near the middle of the tank, even when pointing to the back the gun would have a large overhang; to facilitate transport it was therefore made retractable into the turret. The turret was rotated by a Simca 5 engine.

In all, the ARL 44 was an unsatisfactory interim design, afterwards often called the "Transitional Tank", which main function was to provide experience in building heavier vehicles. The main lesson learned was for many engineers that it was unwise to construct too heavy types and this opinion was reinforced by the failure of the tank project that the ARL 44 formed the transition to: the much more ambitious heavy AMX 50. Only after a gap of sixteen years France would in 1966 again build a main battle tank, the AMX 30.

ARL 44
Type	Heavy tank
Place of origin	France
Specifications
Weight	50 metric tons
Length	10.53 m (35.5 feet)
Width	3.40 m (11.6 feet)
Height	3.20 m (10.5 feet)
Crew	5
Armor	120 mm
Main armament	90 mm DCA45
Secondary armament	2 × 7.5 mm MAC31 Châtellerault MG
Engine	Maybach HL 230, gasoline 575 hp
Power/weight	11.3 hp/tonne
Suspension	vertical coil spring
Operational range	350 km
Speed	35.75 km/h (23.1 mp/h )

FV214 Conqueror Heavy Tank

The FV 214 Conqueror was a British heavy tank of the post-war era. It was developed as a response to the Soviet Joseph Stalin IS-3 heavy tanks and carried a larger 120 mm gun compared to the 20-pounder (83.4 mm) gun carried by its peer the Centurion. Its role was to provide long range anti-tank support for Centurion tanks. They were issued nine to a regiment in Germany; usually grouped in three tank troops.

The gun design was American, the same as used on the US M103 heavy tank; with separate charge and projectile, as would also be the case in the Chieftain that followed. The charge was not bagged but in a brass cartridge, which offered some safety advantages, but reduced shell capacity to 35.

The armour was very heavy for the time, especially in the front, where it was seven inches (178 mm) in the horizontal plane. Unfortunately, this, along with the weight of the huge turret required to house the large gun and the very large hull volume, made the vehicle very heavy, giving it a relatively low top speed and making it mechanically unreliable. Also, few bridges could support its weight. However, rather like the Second World War Churchill tank, the Conqueror had exceptional terrain handling characteristics and proved to be as capable cross country as the lighter (and on paper slightly faster) Centurion tank.

One feature of particular note was the rotating commander's cupola, which was at the heart of the Conqueror's fire control system, advanced for its time. The commander could align the cupola on a target independently of the turret, measure the range with a coincidence range finder, and then direct the gunner on to the new lay mechanically indicated to him by the cupola. In theory, when the gunner traversed to the new lay he would find the target already under his sights, ready to be engaged. Meanwhile, the commander was free to search for the next target.

The system may have been inspired by a similar device, without range finder, installed in WWII German Panzers which was apparently highly successful, but was not repeated in subsequent tanks until an updated electronic version of the same idea appeared in the American M60A2.

FV 214 Conqueror
Type	Heavy tank
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Production history
Manufacturer	Royal Ordnance Factory, Dalmuir
Number built	185
Specifications
Weight	65 long tons (66 tonnes)
Length	38 feet (12 m) gun forward, 25 feet 4 inches (7.72 m) hull
Width	13 feet 1 inch (3.99 m)
Height	10 feet 5 inches (3.18 m)
Crew	4
Armour	7 inches (180 mm)
Main armament	L1 120 mm rifled gun
Secondary armament	2×7.62 mm machine guns
Engine	Rolls-Royce Meteor M120 810 hp (604 kW)
Power/weight	12 hp/tonne
Suspension	Horstmann suspension
Operational range	65 km
Speed	34 km/h

T-10 Heavy Tank

The T-10 was a Soviet heavy tank of the Cold War, the final development of the KV and IS tank series. It was accepted into production in 1952 as the IS-10 (Iosif Stalin, Russian form of Joseph Stalin), but due to the political climate in the wake of Stalin's death in 1953, it was renamed T-10.

The biggest differences from its direct ancestor, the IS-3, were a longer hull, seven pairs of road wheels instead of six, a larger turret mounting a new gun with fume extractor, an improved diesel engine, and increased armour. General performance was similar, although the T-10 could carry more ammunition.

T-10s (like the IS tanks they replaced) were deployed in independent tank regiments belonging to armies, and independent tank battalions belonging to divisions. These independent tank units could be attached to mechanized units, to support infantry operations and perform breakthroughs.

T-10 Heavy Tank
Type	Heavy tank
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1953–late 1970s
Used by	Soviet Union
Wars	1973 October War
Production history
Designer	Zhozef Kotin
Designed	1948–52
Manufacturer	Factory 185, Factory 174
Produced	1953–66
Number built	8,000
Specifications
Weight	52 tonnes
Length	7.41 m, 9.87 m over gun
Width	3.56 m
Height	2.43 m
Crew	4
Armour	250 mm
Main armament	122 mm D-25TA
Secondary armament	2 × 12.7 mm DShKM machine guns
Engine	39-l 12-cyl. diesel model V-2-IS 700 hp (522 kW)
Power/weight	13 hp/tonne
Suspension	torsion-bar
Operational range	250 km
Speed	42 km/h

M103 Heavy Tank

The M103 heavy tank served the United States Army and the US Marines during the Cold War. Until the development of the M1A1 in the mid 1980s, it was the heaviest and most heavily-armed tank in US service. The M103 was manufactured at the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant and the first units were accepted in 1957.

Like the contemporary British Conqueror tank, the M103 was designed to counter Soviet heavies such as the Josef Stalin tank or the T-10 if a conventional World War III broke out. Its long-ranged 120 mm cannon was designed to hit enemy tanks at extreme distances, but it was never used in combat. Of the 300 M103s built, 80 went to the US Army, and 220 were accepted by the US Marine Corps, to be used as infantry support.

M103 Heavy Tank
Type	Heavy tank
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1957 - 1974
Production history
Manufacturer	Chrysler
Number built	300
Variants	M103A1, M103A2
Specifications
Weight	65 short tons (58 metric tons)
Length	22.7 ft (6.99 m)
Width	12.22 ft (3.76 m)
Height	10.49 ft (3.23 m)
Crew	5 (commander, gunner, driver, 2 loaders)
Armor	180 mm (7.1 in) or 7.34 in (186 mm)
Main armament	120 mm gun M58, 34 rounds
Secondary armament	2×.30-cal (7.62 mm) M1919A4E1 machine gun (co-axial) 1×.50-cal (12.7 mm) M2 AA machine gun
Engine	(M103A1) Continental AV1790 12-cylinder air-cooled gasoline (M103A2) Continental AVDS-1790-2, V12, air cooled, twin turbocharged diesel 810 hp (604 kW) 750 hp (560 kW)
Power/weight	M103: 12.4 hp/short ton M103A2: 11.5 hp/ton
Transmission	General Motors CD-850-4A or -4B, 2 ranges forward, 1 reverse
Suspension	torsion bar
Fuel capacity	280 US gallons (710 liters)
Operational range	M103: 80 mi (130 km) M103A2: 295 mi (480 km)
Speed	M103: 21 mph (34 km/h) M103A2: 23 mph (37 km/h)

The successive versions of the M103 shared many components with the M47 and M48 Patton tanks and the M60, which, with the exception of the M60 (a main battle tank) were all considered 90 mm gun (medium) tanks. Tracks, rollers and suspension elements were the same, with some modification to take into account the greater weight. The engine and transmission were never modified enough to give the extra power needed for the greater weight of the M103, and as a result, the tank was relatively underpowered and the drive systems were fragile.

The turret of the M103 was larger than that of the M48 or the M60 to make room for the huge 120 mm gun and the two loaders assigned to it, in addition to the gunner and the commander. The driver sat in the hull. The gun was capable of elevation from +15 to -8 degrees.

Armor

The armor is made from welded rolled and cast homogeneous steel of varying thickness.

• Hull front: 100 mm to 130 mm (4 in to 5.3 in)
• Hull side: 76 mm (3.1 inch)
• Hull top: 25 mm(1 in)
• Turret mantlet: 250 mm (10.2 in)
• Turret front: 180 mm (7.34 in)
• Turret side: 76 mm (3.1 in)
• Turret top: 38 mm (1.55 in)