MBT 70: The Battle Tank Ahead of it's Time

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between the late 1950s and the mid-1970s the soviet union produced approximately 90 000 t-5455 and t-62 main battle tanks for domestic use by comparison between 1960 and 1983 cries had produced just 15 000 m60 tanks at the detroit arsenal tank plot featuring lower profiles simple designs and lethal high velocity guns the soviet machines were generally less expensive and easier to manufacture than their western counterparts depending on the variant and the equipment soviet tanks typically cost less than 2 million us dollars in today's money while each m-60 cost nearly twice as much by the mid-1960s american m-60s and german leopard ones made up the bulk of the armored force that would be expected to counter the soviets if all hell broke loose armed with 105 millimeter rifled cannons derived from the royal ordnance l-7 both had fared with israeli forces in the middle east but the next generation of soviet tanks had thicker armor and new 115 millimeters smoothbore cannons with longer ranges and better penetrating power it was completely assumed that western tanks were technologically superior and that this alone would negate soviet numerical responsibility but this may have been wishful thinking on the part of nato countries in the event of war involving huge formations of main battle tanks thundering towards one another across the plains of western europe many soviet armored vehicles would have been just as capable as their rivals and in some respects even superior not surprisingly developing a new main battle tank was a priority in the west but rather than going it alone the united states and west germany teamed up to develop a game-changing super tank the mbtc 70. tipping the scales at about 54 tons that's 49 000 kilograms featuring a revolutionary pneumatic suspension system and a whopping 152 millimeter dual purpose cannon slash missile launcher the mbt-70 was a huge divergence from tank designs of the day in addition to having the lowest silhouette of any contemporary tanks the entire three-man crew resided inside the large flat turret to improve efficiency and survivability during the early going the mbt 17 looked like a world beater and it might have swayed the outcome of any battle that had gone into except that it never went into battle nor was any production unit ever manufactured largely because america and germany couldn't agree on guns engines tracks suspensions armor or fire control systems let alone whether the tank's thousands of nuts bolts and screw nuts would be imperial or metric and now entering into the picture is robert mcnamara [Music] shortly after the second world war ford motor company president henry ford ii hired mcnamara and a small cadre of army air force veterans to transform the company his grandfather founded into a leaner more efficient and more profitable enterprise the group largely succeeded by implementing a number of new controversial and largely unpopular systems and programs and as a result mcnamara himself later became the company's president however it wasn't particularly well liked by the rank and file employees particularly the engineers they and pretty much everybody else saw him as an insufferable micro-manager and shameless penny pincher whose main objectives were reducing costs and speeding development times often at the expense of sound engineering principles and well good old-fashioned common sense later as u.s secretary of defense in the 1960s mcnamara applied these same methods to the development and procurement of military equipment in america often with less than favorable results as was the case with the mcdonnell douglas f-111 according to mcnamara another glaring problem in dire need of solution was that various nato nations fielded hundreds of different weapons systems nearly all of which lacked common designs parts and ammunition this meant that huge amounts of time and money were being wasted developing similar systems that would be used by allies for nearly identical purposes all of which added up to gobs of waste inefficiency and redundancy three things that drove the ex-auto executive nuts for much of the 1950s west germany had grudgingly used american m48 patents but the country's military was intent on building its own indigenous main battle tanks mcnamara considered germany a key nato ally as well as an engineering powerhouse and he theorized that joint development on such an important project would reduce cost decrease development time and produce a better vehicle than each country would be capable of developing on its own though they'd been in service for less than a decade the army was already itching to replace its m60 so the timing could not have been better detractors claimed that after the second world war german engineering had failed to keep pace with development in britain and america and that the program would result in a huge one-way transfer of technology out of the united states hence if an mbt was to be co-developed england would be a far more suitable partner mcnamara countered that germany was in a better financial position to take on the project and that geographically speaking the country was literally on the front line of the cold war whereas britain was an island nation buffered by western european countries and the english channel as a result it made sense that germany had more incentive to develop the new mbt since its very survival might someday depend on it in august of 1963 the united states and germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop this new tank former tank commander general welborn g dolphin was tasked with leading a team of engineers from u.s automakers chrysler gm and ford while in germany a semi-private development corporation was formed to oversee the project to ensure that each team had adequate input it was decided that the first phase of development would take place in germany after which everyone would pack up and move to the united states ironically when in germany the americans would manage the project and the roles would be reversed when the germans were in america and as they say what could possibly go wrong with that [Music] from the outset the mbt-7p was designed to incorporate the best mix of firepower mobility and protection american versions were originally to be powered by gas turbines similar to the ones now used in abrams tanks but in addition to having alarmingly high fuel consumption engineers found it nearly impossible to filter the air adequately before it was sucked into the engine as a result it was decided that diesels were more suitable despite their increased size and weight german tanks would use 1 500 horsepower daimler bends and later mtu turbo diesel engines while the americans would opt for a chrysler v12 producing about 1 470 horsepower power was sent through a rank 8-speed transmission and with an internal fuel volume of about 345 us gallons or 1 300 liters operational range was approximately 400 miles or 645 kilometers on both german and american tanks drivetrains could be replaced in less than an hour largely because engines and transmissions were housed in compartmentalized power packs located at the rear of the hull behind the turret but perhaps the most notable feature was the tank's hydro-pneumatic suspension system which together with an exceptionally high power to weight ratio gave the 50-plus ton machines unparalleled cross-country mobility this complex system also gave the mbt-70s hull-down capabilities that allowed them a much wider range of fire on the vertical plane on an incline when the back of the tank was sitting lower than the front the rear suspension could be raised to allow the gun to press farther to fire at targets below it this design feature allowed the mbt-70s to fire from behind hilltops ridges and man-made defensive positions without exposing most of the tank regardless of terrain or firing position the suspension could be raised or lowered by the driver during cross-country maneuvers tanks could be raised more than two feet that 61 centimeters to improve ground clearance and in stationary firing positions they could be lowered until the bottoms of the hulls were just 4 inches or 10 centimeters off the ground had they not had such revolutionary suspensions mbt 70s would still have been among the lowest turreted tanks ever built especially in comparison to the m60 which was one of the tallest with their suspensions in the lowest possible position mbt 70s were just over six feet or 1.8 meters tall to put this in perspective germany's turretless hetzer tank destroyers of world war ii were slightly more than seven feet tall and m60s were nearly 11 feet tall though this made the mbt 70s difficult targets it left no room for drivers in the hull instead drivers sat in couplers in the turret that always faced forward regardless of the position of the turret itself which at least in theory was meant to keep them from getting disoriented both the german and american version of the tank could reach approximately 45 miles an hour or 70 kph compared to just 30 miles per hour or 48 kph for most other western tanks like m60s and leopard ones and the newer soviet t-62s however for the three-man crew crammed inside the claustrophobic fighting compartment the ride was exceptionally smooth and the tank's mobility and agility went a long way toward reducing the amount of time that they'd be subject to fire [Music] for main armament mbt 70s featured stabilized 152 millimeter xm 150 guns capable of firing standard cannon rounds and shillar guided missiles xm150s were improved long-barreled variants of the xm81s used on m551 sheridan light tanks and this ability to fire multiple munition types would have given mbts a huge advantage over the soviet tanks that they'd likely face in combat during the 1960s the maximum effective ranges of most 100 105 and 115 millimeter tank guns was between 2000 and 2500 yards xm 150 cannons had slightly longer ranges than their predecessors and could fire various ammunition types including high explosive anti-personnel and discarding sabotage piercing rounds the latter of which used a new and far denser tungsten alloy that allowed projectiles to penetrate thicker armor at long ranges another new feature that turned out to be an achilles heel was the caseless cannon ammunition in other words there was no metal case behind the projectile containing the propellant instead the case itself was formed with hardened propellants that ignited when the round was fired however these rounds were vulnerable to moisture and prone to damage due to mishandling worse yet uncombusted portions of the case left in the breach after firing could ignite the next round prematurely causing a potentially catastrophic phenomena known as cooking off the complex autoloader was capable of handling both cannon rounds and shillar missiles both of which were stored in vertically rotating magazines though the mechanism saved weight and eliminated the need for a dedicated loader it was never deemed to be as reliable as an actual human being ramming rounds into the breach under optimal conditions rate of fire was about 12 rounds per minute and in the events of an autoloader malfunction the crew could manually load the gun though the rate of fire would drop to about two rounds per minute the gun did of its drawbacks but it was considered likely that on modern battlefields armoured engagements would take place at much longer ranges than the cannons were capable of firing with their guided missile capability mbt-70s could have destroyed enemy vehicles from as far away as 10 000 feet that's about three thousand meters the secondary armament consisted of a remote-controlled 20-millimeter auto cannon for use against aircraft troops structures and lightly armored vehicles however the cannons proved so tedious that they were largely disregarded by crews mbt 70s also had 30 caliber machine guns mounted coaxially alongside the main gun for close in defense all told each vehicle would have carried approximately 42 cannon rounds 6 shillier missiles and more than 3 000 rounds for the autocannon a machine gun combined and bd70s were also equipped with eight smoke grenade launchers each of which contained two grenades that would have provided valuable concealment when the tanks were in particularly open vulnerable [Music] areas the frontal portion of the mpd70s hull and turret were protected by spaced armor consisting of multiple plates between 20 and 40 millimeters thick the outermost of which was high performance armor hpa developed in the united states in the mid-1960s though its composition was a highly guarded secret at the time it's now known that in addition to steel hba contained nine percent nickel and four percent cobalt all of which were forged into a relatively light but tough alloy through a process known as vacuum arc re-melting the armor in the downward-sloped portion of the upper hull was capable of shrugging off soviet armor-piercing saber rounds fired from as close as 800 yards inside crews were separated from ammunition the engine compartment in the rear and the large multi-layer rubber fuel tank in the front by a series of armored bulkheads in both the hull and turret however as aluminium was used for the engine compartment floor to save weight mbt 70s would have been particularly vulnerable to mines though they were equipped with polyethylene radiation shielding to protect crews against electromagnetic pulses and chemical biological and nuclear agents that could be in the atmosphere [Music] of the 14 hulls manufactured between 1965 and 1966 most would have been completed and ready for testing and evaluation until mid-1968 and by then the tank's future was far from certain in fact the program was nearly a year behind schedule and additional delays were imminent by the time the americans unveiled their new tank at the association of the united states army headquarters in washington dc the following year the germans demonstrated their mbt-70 in augsburg in front of journalists politicians military brass and the general public but during the event the vehicle became inoperable after a hydraulic system malfunctioned sent thick plumes of white smoke billowing from hatches in the hullen turret nonetheless after the event german officials claimed that by 1972 mbt-70s would replace all m48 patterns that were then in service however over the next few years the program ran into a number of difficulties many of which stemmed from competing interests and requirements from both the german and american sides drivers increasingly complained about becoming severely disoriented while the turret was rotated and more importantly the gun missile system was turning out to be far more expensive and troublesome than expected eventually germany decided to scrap the xm150 altogether and replace it with a 120 millimeter smooth boring metal 120 millimeter cannon much like the one used on both abrams and leopard tanks today in addition as is often the case when developing tanks and armored vehicles the mbt-70 was becoming heavier than initially anticipated the increase from 50 to 54 tons meant that expensive and time-consuming redesigns were needed but in the end this was just one symptom of the real problems that the project was too ambitious relied too heavily on international cooperation and incorporated too much untested technology and then then there was the cost by 1970 the cost per unit estimates had increased fivefold in addition overall development costs were initially projected to be around 80 million us dollars but just a few years in the project already cost 303 us dollars or about 2.4 billion today west germany alone ended up paying more than the whole project was supposed to cost in the first place in america the house armed services requested that funding for the project be suspended until comprehensive reviews from the department of defense and government accounting office could be conducted after each published its findings it was determined that the program could continue but on a much smaller scale government officials were ultimately persuaded by army leaders that the program had merit but by then it was clear that both america and germany would be better going their separate ways shortly after termination germany began developing the kyla tank which would later become the leopard 2. originally designated xm-803 in the united states work began on converting the existing mbt-70s into low-cost alternatives that utilized only american-made components congress hoped to drive the per tank cost down significantly by switching to less expensive steel armor using a conventional cannon and simplifying or altogether eliminating the effective but unreliable suspension general motors received a 16.5 million 130 million today contract to develop the tank in the summer of 1971 but despite these compromises shortly into development the xm803 design began to match the mbt-70 in complexity delays and cost overruns in december of the same year congress officially cancelled the program appropriating 20 million u.s dollars 165 million dollars today for cancellation costs and another 20 million for you guessed it another tank program thankfully this last program would eventually lead to the development of the m1 abrams main battle tanks various variants of which have been in continuous service since 1980. according to many who worked on and oversaw the mbt-70 program both at home and abroad its cancellation was caused for celebration another often cited reason for the program's demise was that american auto manufacturers charged an exorbitant amount for their services perhaps because during peacetime defense-related work was such a small part of their overall business in addition the americans claimed that the germans were reluctant to share their technology and insisted on using domestically manufactured components even when they were obviously inferior to the ones made in america for their part the german said the same of the americans and in the end they were probably both right now the germans and the americans have their own main battle tanks the leopard and the m1 respectively since each was developed independently if they don't fare well against adversaries in battle the countries have no one to blame but themselves and well perhaps that's the way it should be look if you enjoyed today's video there's another one you might like which is about the biggest tank ever made it's another video from this channel obviously i'm linking to it on the screen now please check it out and thanks for watching [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Megaprojects

Views: 244,214

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Id: BnIQprXE33g

Length: 20min 13sec (1213 seconds)

Published: Mon May 02 2022