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AMX-50
The AMX-50 (historically stylized AMX 50) is a French heavy tank designed in the immediate post Second World War period. It was proposed as, in succession, the French medium, heavy, and main battle tank, incorporating many advanced features. It was cancelled in the late 1950s due to unfavourable economic and political circumstances after serious delays in development.
After the Second World War the French Army possessed no modern tanks with a heavy armament. The ARL 44 was being developed, but this vehicle, although ultimately to be armed with a powerful 90 mm anti-aircraft gun, could hardly be called modern, as its suspension system was obsolete. Therefore, already in March 1945 the French industry had been invited to design a more satisfactory vehicle. The same year the Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (AMX) company presented its projet 141, a project to build the so-called M 4 prototype, armed with a 90 mm Schneider gun with a 1000 m/s muzzle velocity and comparable in performance to the German 8.8 cm KwK 43.
The M 4 closely resembled the German Tiger II in general form, though the turret was to be made of welded sections; but to limit the weight to a desired thirty tonnes the proportions were rather smaller and the armour had a maximum thickness of just thirty millimetres. Like the later German tanks of the war it had, in this case eight, overlapping road wheels. Part of the project was to study whether a modern torsion bar suspension should be used or the height lowered by ten centimetres through a fitting of leaf or coil springs. Two prototypes of the M 4 were ordered. The Army soon indicated that a protection level offered by 30 mm of armour was unacceptably low. In response the armour was increased to 80 mm. To save weight it was decided to install a novel oscillating turret, designed by the Compagnie des forges et aciéries de la marine et d'Homécourt (FAMH). Nevertheless, when the first prototype, now named the AMX 50 (or French: Char moyen A.M.X. de 50t, "Medium tank, AMX, 50 ton") after its intended weight class, was delivered in 1949, it weighed 53.7 tonnes.
In the winter of 1950 instead of the 90 mm, a 100 mm gun designed by the Arsenal de Tarbes was fitted.
The second prototype (of the now called Char moyen A.M.X. de 50t, "Medium tank, AMX, 50 ton"), with a slightly different turret also with a 100 mm gun, was ready soon after. The prototypes had a length, with gun, of 10.43 m, a width of 3.40 m and a height of 3.41 m. It was intended to fit a 1,200 hp engine to attain a speed much superior to all existing medium tank types. The Maybach HL 295 (a redesigned German gas engine in 1945 captured at Friedrichshafen by Engineer-General Joseph Molinié) and a Saurer diesel engine were tested. Both failed to deliver the required output and maximum speed was no higher than 51 km/h, while the cross-country speed was 20 km/h. The prototypes were tested between 1950 and 1952.
The transmission for the AMX M 4 was developed for the French Army by the German Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen (ZF) in 1945. It was a modern five-speed manual gearbox with a two radii double differential steering (Überlagerungslenkgetriebe) integrated. The service brakes were fitted to both output sides of the transmission. They consisted of Argus disk brakes of the type developed by Hermann Klaue, similar to those previously used in the German Tiger and Panther tanks.
A third AMX 50 project was begun in August 1951. Ten preseries vehicles were to be built by DEFA (Direction des Études et Fabrications d'Armement, the state weapon design bureau), the first being delivered in 1953. The type was armed with a 120 mm gun, also with a 1,000 m/s muzzle velocity, in response to the perceived threat posed by the Soviet heavy tanks, such as the IS-3 and the T-10. To accommodate the larger gun, an enormous turret was fitted; originally planned in a conventional form, eventually it was decided to also make it of the oscillating type. Armour was increased to a maximum of 90 mm. These changes caused a weight increase to 59.2 metric tonnes.
From 1954 to 1955, the AMX 50 (120) type was made even heavier, creating the surblindé ("uparmoured") version with a lower turret and a higher hull with a pike nose glacis like the IS-3, bringing weight to about 64 tonnes and the line-of-sight thickness of the armour to 200 mm. As this caused serious mechanical reliability concerns, despite a reinforced suspension, this design was cast aside in favour of a reduced weight design using more cast elements.
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AMX-50 AI simulator
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AMX-50
The AMX-50 (historically stylized AMX 50) is a French heavy tank designed in the immediate post Second World War period. It was proposed as, in succession, the French medium, heavy, and main battle tank, incorporating many advanced features. It was cancelled in the late 1950s due to unfavourable economic and political circumstances after serious delays in development.
After the Second World War the French Army possessed no modern tanks with a heavy armament. The ARL 44 was being developed, but this vehicle, although ultimately to be armed with a powerful 90 mm anti-aircraft gun, could hardly be called modern, as its suspension system was obsolete. Therefore, already in March 1945 the French industry had been invited to design a more satisfactory vehicle. The same year the Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (AMX) company presented its projet 141, a project to build the so-called M 4 prototype, armed with a 90 mm Schneider gun with a 1000 m/s muzzle velocity and comparable in performance to the German 8.8 cm KwK 43.
The M 4 closely resembled the German Tiger II in general form, though the turret was to be made of welded sections; but to limit the weight to a desired thirty tonnes the proportions were rather smaller and the armour had a maximum thickness of just thirty millimetres. Like the later German tanks of the war it had, in this case eight, overlapping road wheels. Part of the project was to study whether a modern torsion bar suspension should be used or the height lowered by ten centimetres through a fitting of leaf or coil springs. Two prototypes of the M 4 were ordered. The Army soon indicated that a protection level offered by 30 mm of armour was unacceptably low. In response the armour was increased to 80 mm. To save weight it was decided to install a novel oscillating turret, designed by the Compagnie des forges et aciéries de la marine et d'Homécourt (FAMH). Nevertheless, when the first prototype, now named the AMX 50 (or French: Char moyen A.M.X. de 50t, "Medium tank, AMX, 50 ton") after its intended weight class, was delivered in 1949, it weighed 53.7 tonnes.
In the winter of 1950 instead of the 90 mm, a 100 mm gun designed by the Arsenal de Tarbes was fitted.
The second prototype (of the now called Char moyen A.M.X. de 50t, "Medium tank, AMX, 50 ton"), with a slightly different turret also with a 100 mm gun, was ready soon after. The prototypes had a length, with gun, of 10.43 m, a width of 3.40 m and a height of 3.41 m. It was intended to fit a 1,200 hp engine to attain a speed much superior to all existing medium tank types. The Maybach HL 295 (a redesigned German gas engine in 1945 captured at Friedrichshafen by Engineer-General Joseph Molinié) and a Saurer diesel engine were tested. Both failed to deliver the required output and maximum speed was no higher than 51 km/h, while the cross-country speed was 20 km/h. The prototypes were tested between 1950 and 1952.
The transmission for the AMX M 4 was developed for the French Army by the German Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen (ZF) in 1945. It was a modern five-speed manual gearbox with a two radii double differential steering (Überlagerungslenkgetriebe) integrated. The service brakes were fitted to both output sides of the transmission. They consisted of Argus disk brakes of the type developed by Hermann Klaue, similar to those previously used in the German Tiger and Panther tanks.
A third AMX 50 project was begun in August 1951. Ten preseries vehicles were to be built by DEFA (Direction des Études et Fabrications d'Armement, the state weapon design bureau), the first being delivered in 1953. The type was armed with a 120 mm gun, also with a 1,000 m/s muzzle velocity, in response to the perceived threat posed by the Soviet heavy tanks, such as the IS-3 and the T-10. To accommodate the larger gun, an enormous turret was fitted; originally planned in a conventional form, eventually it was decided to also make it of the oscillating type. Armour was increased to a maximum of 90 mm. These changes caused a weight increase to 59.2 metric tonnes.
From 1954 to 1955, the AMX 50 (120) type was made even heavier, creating the surblindé ("uparmoured") version with a lower turret and a higher hull with a pike nose glacis like the IS-3, bringing weight to about 64 tonnes and the line-of-sight thickness of the armour to 200 mm. As this caused serious mechanical reliability concerns, despite a reinforced suspension, this design was cast aside in favour of a reduced weight design using more cast elements.
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