AMX-30
Sign in to saveThe AMX-30 is a French main battle tank designed by Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (AMX, then GIAT) and first delivered to the French Army in August 1966. The first five tanks were issued to the 501st Régiment de Chars de Combat (Tank Regiment) in August of that year. The production version of the AMX-30B weighed , and sacrificed protection for increased mobility. The French believed that it would have required too much armour to protect against the latest anti-tank threats, thereby reducing the tank's maneuverability. Protection, instead, was provided by the speed and the comp
Key facts
- Weapon.name
- AMX-30
- Weapon.image
- AMX-30B U.S. Army Armor & Cavalry Collection.jpg
- Weapon.image_size
- 300
- Weapon.caption
- A former French AMX-30B at the U.S. Army Armor & Cavalry Collection
- Weapon.origin
- France
- Weapon.type
- Main battle tank
- Weapon.is_vehicle
- yes
- Weapon.service
- since 1966
- Weapon.used_by
- See Operators
- Weapon.wars
- Iran–Iraq WarPersian Gulf WarSaudi Arabian–Yemeni border conflict
- Weapon.manufacturer
- AMX (later GIAT)
- Weapon.production_date
- 1966-1994
- Weapon.number
- 3,571
- Weapon.length
- (gun forward)
- Weapon.suspension
- Torsion bar with shock absorbers
- Weapon.primary_armament
- 105 mm Modèle F1 tank gun
- Weapon.secondary_armament
- 1× 20 mm modèle F2 gun1× 7.62 mm NF1 machine gun
- Weapon.transmission
- Manual on AMX30BSemi-automatic SESM ENC200 on AMX-30B2
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
23 sectionsContents
- Background
- Development history
- Modernization
- Comparison to contemporary tanks
- Variants
- AMX-30D – ''Dépanneur-Niveleur''
- AMX-30H – ''Poseur de pont''
- AMX-30 DCA – ''défense contre avion''
- AMX-30R and Pluton
- AMX 30 AuF1 ''canon automoteur''
- AMX 32
- Production
- Export
- Combat history
- Athens Polytechnic uprising
- Gulf War
- Houthi–Saudi Arabian conflict
- Operators
- Current operators
- Former operators
- References
- Sources
- External links
The AMX-30 is a French main battle tank designed by Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (AMX, then GIAT) and first delivered to the French Army in August 1966. The first five tanks were issued to the 501st Régiment de Chars de Combat (Tank Regiment) in August of that year. The production version of the AMX-30B weighed , and sacrificed protection for increased mobility. The French believed that it would have required too much armour to protect against the latest anti-tank threats, thereby reducing the tank's maneuverability. Protection, instead, was provided by the speed and the compact dimensions of the vehicle, including a height of 2.28 metres. It had a 105 mm gun, firing a then advanced high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead known as the Obus G. The Obus G used an outer shell, separated from the main charge by ball bearings, to allow the round to be spin-stabilized by the gun without spinning the warhead inside which would disrupt jet formation. Mobility was provided by the HS-110 diesel engine, although the troublesome transmission adversely affected the tank's performance.
In 1979, due to issues caused by the transmission, the French Army began to modernize its fleet of tanks to AMX-30B2 standards, which included a new transmission, an improved engine and the introduction of a new OFL 105 F1 fin-stabilized kinetic energy penetrator. Production of the AMX-30 also extended to a number of variants, including the AMX-30D armoured recovery vehicle, the AMX-30R anti-aircraft gun system, a bridge-layer, the Pluton tactical nuclear missile launcher and a surface-to-air missile launcher.