AMX-30
Type	Main battle tank
Place of origin	France
Specifications
Weight	36 tons (32.65 tonnes)
Length	9.48 m (gun forward)[1]
Width	3.1 m[1]
Height	2.86 m[1]
Crew	4 (commander, gunner, loader, driver)[1]
Armor	80 mm to 100 mm
Primary armament	105 mm Modele F2 tank gun
Secondary armament	20 mm cannon, 7.62 mm machine gun
Engine	Hispano-Suiza HS-110 680 hp (507 kW)
Power/weight	19 hp/ton
Suspension	torsion bar
Operational range	500 km[1] (400 km for B2)[1]
Speed	65 km/h[1]

The AMX 30 is a main battle tank designed by GIAT Industries with a focus on good firepower and superior mobility and first delivered to the French Army in 1966. In addition, it was designed to be able to operate with minimal support services. The downside of the design was the limited armour protection (50 mm base), unable to protect the tank against contemporary main battle tank weapons of NATO or the Warsaw Pact. It is perhaps the most successful post-war French armoured vehicle designed. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixel Image in higher resolution (3072 × 2048 pixel, file size: 1. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... This page is a candidate to be copied to Wiktionary. ... Military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets or shells, protecting the soldiers inside from enemy fire. ... A M1 Abrams firing. ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... GIAT Industries (formerly known as Groupement des Industries de lArmée de Terre, Armys Industries Group) is a French government-owned weapon manufacturer. ... The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre (Army of the land), is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces and the largest. ... This article is about the military alliance. ... Not to be confused with the Warsaw Convention, which is an agreement about airlines financial liability and the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) between West Germany and the Peoples Republic of Poland. ...

Design features included a fully sealed hull, allowing operations in nuclear, chemical, and biological contamination areas. The tank is also capable of fording water up to 2 m in depth. The armour is made of rolled plates and castings, completely welded. The turret is entirely cast and highly shaped for maximum protection. The tank can carry up to 47 rounds of ammunition.^[1]

History

The AMX design was the result of French specifications for a new main battle tank to replace aging American tanks in French service since the end of World War II. Like the Germans during the same period, the French subscribed to the theory that even the heaviest armour would prove unable to keep up with rapid development of anti-tank weaponry, and that the best way to protect tanks within a reasonable design was to enhance their maneuverability. Thus the design solution was a tank with less heavy armour, but greater speed and an accurate powerful weapon that would allow quick destruction of the enemy. The US M1A1 Abrams tank is a typical modern main battle tank. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

An additional design requirement, as with most French military designs, was for the design to be able to attract wide export markets, as French weapon design relied heavily on foreign sales for financing. The AMX 30 was successful in this regard, being widely exported in many versions.

From 1956 until 1963 the French cooperated with the Germans in the design of a "Europa Tank", each country providing several prototypes. In 1963 it transpired that Germany insisted on a somewhat wider and heavier vehicle than at first specified and refused the new French 105 mm gun optimised for firing a special stabilised HEAT-round with the outer shell rotating at a higher speed than the shaped charge within. Both countries went their separate ways, Germany building the Leopard 1. German export restrictions greatly favoured the foreign sales of the AMX 30. For other uses, see Heat (disambiguation) In physics, heat, symbolized by Q, is energy transferred from one body or system to another due to a difference in temperature. ... Sectioned HEAT round with the inner shaped charge visible 1:Aerodynamic cover 2: Empty room 3: Conical liner 4: Detonator 5: Explosive 6: Piezo-electric sensor A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the effect of the explosives energy. ... The Leopard is the primary post-WWII German tank design, a design that has been in use as the primary main battle tank for most European countries in various versions since the early 1960s. ...

In February 1964 Israel started preparations for a parallel license production of the AMX 30 hull — the turrets having to be imported from France — but this project was canceled for as yet undisclosed reasons around 1966, the very year series production began in France. Between 1974 and 1984 there was a license production in Spain. The last French vehicle was delivered in 1993.

France used the AMX 30B2 during the first Gulf War in 1991, where it equipped the 6e Brigade Légère Blindée ("6th Light Armoured Brigade"). The tanks' performance was regarded as excellent. Saudi Arabia, and Qatar used their AMX 30S tanks in the ground campaign of the Gulf War as well. For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ...

The design has been supplanted in France by the Leclerc, but is still in world-wide use. In addition to the more than 2,000 tanks produced, more than 1,000 chassis were used as the basis for a range of self-propelled artillery and other derivatives. The gunners position, looking down from the turret roof. ... A U.S. M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer Self-propelled artillery (also called mobile artillery or locomotive artillery) vehicles are a way of giving mobility to artillery. ...

Technical

Performance

• Powerplant: 1 x Hispano-Suiza HS 110 12-cylinder water-cooled supercharged muli-fuel with an output of 720 hp @ 2,000 rpm.^[1]
• Max speed: 40.4 mph (65 km/h)
• Range*: 280 miles (450 km) ^[2]

*Indicates road range for vehicles or maximum lethal range for towed-artillery systems.

Support systems

• NBC System: Yes
• Night Vision: Yes - Passive NV on B2 Variant ^[2]

For the Xzibit album, see Weapons of Mass Destruction (album). ...

Armament

• 1 x 105 mm main gun
• 1 x 20 mm coaxial cannon
• 1 x 7.62 mm machine gun
• 2 x 2 smoke dischargers ^[2]

Ammunition

• 47 x 105 mm projectiles
• 1,050 x 20 mm ammunition
• 2,050 x 7.62 mm ammunition ^[2]

Operators

• Bosnia (52 AMX 30s)
• Chile (60 AMX 30s, 39 of them B2s) (Retired)
• Cyprus (102 AMX 30B2s)
• France (387 AMX 30s & 659 AMX 30B2s)
• Greece (140 AMX 30Gs) (Retired)
• Israel
• Qatar (24 AMX 30Ss)
• Saudi Arabia (290 AMX 30Ss & AMX 30SAs)^[1]
• Spain (299 AMX 30s) (mothballed)
• United Arab Emirates (64 AMX 30s)
• Venezuela (AMX 30V model, the most advanced variation, modernised in 1989) (82 AMX 30Vs +4 AMX 30D)

Image File history File links Flag_of_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina. ... This article is about the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Chile. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Cyprus. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Greece. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Israel. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Qatar. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Saudi_Arabia. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Spain. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Arab_Emirates. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Venezuela. ...

Derivatives

• AMX 30 D: repair tank
• AMX 30 AuF1: 155 mm self-propelled howitzer
• AMX 30 EBG: armoured engineering vehicle
• AMX 30 ROLAND: Roland ground-air missile system
• AMX 30 PLUTON: Pluton tactical nuclear missile
• AMX 30 B2: Improved version with new onboard computers
• AMX 30 EBD: armoured minesweeper
• AMX 30 BRENUS: Improved version with reactive armour
• AMX 30 FORAD: Cosmetically modified version, to play the role of foreign tanks during exercises.
• AMX 32: Export version prototypes with heavier armour, but far less manoeuvrability.

The Roland is a Franco-German mobile short-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. ... The Pluton missile was a short-range nuclear ballistic system launched from a Transport-Erector-Launcher platform (TEL) mounted on an AMX-30 tank chassis. ...

Gallery

Prototype Image File history File links Amx30_proto_09. ...	View of the turret system Image File history File links Amx30_fz_041. ...	amphibious capabilities Image File history File links Amx30_064_valmy. ...	Roland ground-air missile system Image File history File links File links The following pages link to this file: AMX 30 Roland (air defence) ... The Roland is a Franco-German mobile short-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. ...
AMX-30 Pluton tactical nuclear missile Image File history File links Download high resolution version (600x675, 30 KB) French tank AMX-30 Pluton, http://www. ... The Pluton missile was a short-range nuclear ballistic system launched from a Transport-Erector-Launcher platform (TEL) mounted on an AMX-30 tank chassis. ...	155 mm self-propelled howitzer Image File history File links Auf1_041. ...	AMX-30 Hull (AuF1 under repairs) Image File history File links Hirlimann-Chassi-amx30. ...

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

AMX-30

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 77th day of the year (78th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• AMX 30 at Army-Guide.com