MBT-70: A unique tank for its time, which became the basis for the Leopard-2 and M1 Abrams

In the second half of the 60s of the last century, at the height of the "arms race" between the West and the USSR, the United States and Germany decided to create a main battle tank for both armies, which would surpass the promising vehicles of the "opposing camp".

It is worth noting that the German-American combat vehicle at that time really had enviable characteristics. These include hydraulic suspension, powerful projectile armor, as well as a unique fire control system with atmosphere sensors, a laser rangefinder and a ballistic calculator device.

MBT-70 was supposed to receive combined weapons: tank smoothbore gun caliber 152 mm, PU ATGM "Shilleyla". However, the Germans, who planned to create a combat vehicle primarily for the European theater of operations, decided to go the other way and installed a 120-mm 44-caliber smoothbore gun from Rheinmetall on their localized prototype.

Another innovation in the promising tank was that the driver's compartment was located directly in the turret. In addition, the MBT-70 was equipped with a self-loading mechanism, which was supposed to increase the tank's rate of fire.

Finally, a joint German-American development received a 1500-horsepower engine, which allowed an almost 50-ton tank to accelerate to 65 km / h, which made it the fastest MBT at that time.

However, despite all the advantages, the MBT-70 was never destined to become a universal tank for the armies of the FRG and the USA, since its production turned out to be too expensive. The cost of a unit reached 1 million dollars, which was a "cosmic" amount at that time.

As a result, already in 1969, the US Treasury spoke about the inexpediency of this program, and in 1970 the joint German-American development was discontinued. Meanwhile, work on the project in the USA and Germany continued, which gave birth to the German Leopard-2 and later the American M1 Abrams, which was preceded by the unsuccessful XM803.

Comments

[Aerodrome]

ok so evolution worked. from the database of all MBTs of those times, and new more advanced tanks appeared. at the disposal of the designers, there was such a "bouquet".

[Alien From]

A million dollar tank in the 60s is, of course, tryndets

[Nikolaevich I]

I remember ... for the MVT-70, it was also proposed, in one of the options, a 110-mm smoothbore gun ... The tank should also have a hydropneumatic suspension and a 20-mm anti-aircraft automatic gun ... But even from the USSR there were MBT projects with an additional 30mm automatic cannon...

[sergej_84]

The MBT-70 was supposed to receive a combination of weapons: a 152 mm tank smoothbore gun, a Shileyla anti-tank missile launcher. However, the Germans, who planned to create a combat vehicle primarily for the European theater of operations, decided to go the other way and installed a 120-mm 44-caliber smoothbore gun from Rheinmetall on their localized prototype.

In principle, after this paragraph, you can stop reading and watching further, since the authors are far from the topic.
No "localized prototype" existed in nature. The Germans, in parallel with the joint project with the Americans KpfPz 70, developed their own project “Keiler“ (Boar). Moreover, it was not an alternative project. Vepr was supposed to complement the KpfPz 70 on the battlefield.
One of the variants of this tank was armed with a 120 mm smoothbore gun, the other with a 105 mm rifled one.

In the photo "Keiler" with a 120 mm gun. It is this tank that will later become Leopard - 2.