FV101 Scorpion

The FV101 Scorpion is a British armoured reconnaissance vehicle and light tank. It was the lead vehicle and the fire support type in the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked), CVR(T), family of seven armoured vehicles. Manufactured by Alvis, it was introduced into service with the British Army in 1973 and was withdrawn in 1994. More than 3,000 were produced and used as reconnaissance vehicles or light tanks.

It held the Guinness world record for the fastest production tank, recorded doing 82.23 km/h (51.10 mph) at the QinetiQ vehicle test track in Chertsey, Surrey, on 26 January 2002.

The CVR(T) family of vehicles came from a British Army requirement for an armoured fighting vehicle that could be rapidly airlifted to trouble spots. The Armoured Vehicle Reconnaissance was supposed to carry both a gun and an anti-tank missile but it was not possible to design an air portable vehicle to the specification. The limits on both size and weight led to the use of aluminium alloy for the hull and an adapted car engine for propulsion. The anti-tank capability was given to a dedicated vehicle, Striker, while what became Scorpion would use a 76 mm gun in the fire support role.

In 1967, Alvis was awarded the contract to produce 30 CVR(T) prototypes. Vehicles P1–P17, the Scorpion prototypes, were delivered on time and within the budget. After extensive hot and cold weather trials in Norway, Australia, Abu Dhabi and Canada, the Scorpion was accepted by the British Army in May 1970, with a contract for 275, which later rose to 313 vehicles. The first production vehicles were completed in 1972 and the first British regiment to be equipped with the Scorpion were the Blues and Royals of the Household Cavalry in 1973.

Alvis built more than 3,000 Scorpion vehicles for the British Army, Royal Air Force Regiment and the export market. All of the CVR(T) vehicles were to be air-portable; and two Scorpions could be carried in a Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Another requirement of the CVR(T) project was the low ground pressure, similar to that of a soldier on foot; this would serve it well in the boggy conditions of the Falklands War.

The Scorpion was armed with the low velocity 76 mm L23A1 gun, which could fire high-explosive, HESH, smoke and canister rounds. Storage was provided for 40 or 42 rounds. A 7.62 mm coaxial L7 GPMG (3,000 rounds carried) was also fitted, as were two multi-barrelled smoke grenade dischargers, one on each side of the turret. The main armament has an elevation of 35 degrees and a depression of 10 degrees; the turret has a full 360-degree traverse. The traverse was however hand-cranked, a cost-saving feature that made traversing the turret relatively slow and laborious relative to other vehicles of its type. This gun was later deemed to be unsatisfactory, as RAF testing showed that the lack of a fume extraction system caused toxic fumes to enter the fighting compartment, endangering the crew's health.

Some Scorpions used the Cockerill Mk3 90mm gun instead. This weapon could fire the following rounds:

The original engine was the Jaguar J60 Mk 100b 4.2-litre petrol engine, which was replaced by a Cummins or Perkins diesel engine. The maximum speed was about 50 mph (80 km/h) and it could accelerate from standing to 30 mph (48 km/h) in 16 seconds. The maximum speed on water (with the flotation screen deployed) was 3.6 mph (5.8 km/h). The Irish engineering company IED replaced the Jaguar engine in Irish Army Scorpions with a Steyr M16 TCA HD engine (6-cylinder, 145 kW), making Irish Scorpions more powerful and more reliable in critical environments.^{[failed verification]}