Last year, at Eurosatory-2012, Rheinmetall presented its version of a combat vehicle designed to fill this niche. The Germans already have experience in creating such armored vehicles - in the eighties, the Rheinmetall company, based on the Marder (Kunitsa) infantry fighting vehicle, commissioned by the Argentine army, created the average TAM (Tanquo Argentino Mediano) armored vehicle, is still in service. By changing the armor, combat module and a number of other systems, German engineers made a good one for their time and, more importantly, a relatively cheap tank. TAM attracted the attention of several third countries, and also caused a small number of similar projects of foreign authorship.
MBT TAM (Tanquo Argentino Mediano - "Argentine Medium Tank")
The new armored vehicle is also based on the BMP Marder and to some extent resembles the previous TAM. In any case, when creating a medium tank with the Marder Medium MBT code designation, exactly the same approach was used as in the eighties. The original "Marder" has undergone a number of improvements, but the main structural elements were left unchanged. Thus, the armored engine compartment of the armored car remained in the front, the driver’s workplace retained its location, and the new light tower was replaced by a new one, with weapons typical of tanks of past decades.
The existing photos of Medium MBT show new booking modules covering the entire surface of the armored hull. Judging by the characteristic seams between the slabs-blocks, “Marder” received additional mounted modules, and the native booking remained the same, unless it got some details for attaching the armored modules. The declared combat weight of the Medium MBT is 43 tons, from which we can draw some conclusions regarding the weight of the additional booking and its characteristics. According to reports, all bookings of a new medium tank withstand a hit of projectiles with a caliber of at least 30 millimeters. It is likely that the frontal projection is even tighter and protects the crew and units of the machine from more serious ammunition. In addition to its own armor, the turret of the tank has additional anti-cummer grids on the stern.
In addition to the new modules, additional reservations Marder Medium MBT is equipped with a gun turret. This unit in appearance resembles the tower tank Leopard 1 with its characteristic sides and a wedge-shaped mask. The appearance of the Medium MBT tower transparently hints that in order to reduce the cost of the project, the engineers of Reintmetall simply reworked the old tower in order to maintain the necessary level of protection and weight reduction to the level at which it could be installed on the Marder chassis. Another version also has the right to life, according to which the “iron” part of the Medium MBT tower is completely similar to the “Leopard-1” tower, and only its electronic content has been upgraded. Regardless of the specific method of creation, the development of the tower through the use of old developments has further reduced the cost of the project and, as a consequence, the price of each instance of the new tank.
In the Medium MBT turret, an 105-millimeter rifled gun made by the Italian company Oto Melara, stabilized in two planes, is installed. With this tool can be used all available in the NATO countries shells of the appropriate caliber. Dimensions and "origin" of the tower suggest that the pointing angles remain the same - from -9 to + 20 degrees. From the same considerations, we can conclude about the ammunition in the 45-50 shots. The additional armament of the prototype of the new tank presented at Eurosatory consists of one 7,62 mm caliber coaxial machine gun and two four-barreled grenade launchers. Probably, there are also fastenings for the anti-aircraft machine gun on the roof of the turret, however, it is not present on the existing photos of the experienced tank.
The exact composition of the electronic equipment Medium MBT has not been announced, however, it is known that the tank has a radio station for communication with other tanks and infantry, an internal intercom, as well as an aiming complex. According to reports, to reduce the cost of the car, the latter has characteristics at the level of sighting systems of early modifications of the Leopard 2 tank. Obviously, this is no longer enough to fight modern tanks, but this technique is not a supposed opponent of the new Medium MBT. At the same time, it is possible to retrofit tanks in accordance with the wishes of customers.
We can already say that the Marder Medium MBT medium tank will not be able to compete with modern main battle tanks. Because of its specific "origin", a tank converted from an infantry fighting vehicle cannot, by definition, have good protection. Therefore, in the event of a collision between any modern MBT and Medium MBT, the latter will not be guaranteed to be a winner. The decisive factor will be crew training. It should not be forgotten that the Medium MBT should not be at war with the main tanks. Its main opponents are light and medium armored vehicles, as well as enemy fortifications, i.e. all those objects that can not be destroyed by means of small weapons or small-caliber artillery, and also are not an expedient target for a “full-fledged” tank.
Nevertheless, it must be admitted that the long-barreled 105-mm rifled gun can be a sufficiently effective tool against obsolete tanks. As shown by the combat operation of the South African armored reconnaissance vehicle Rooikat, such a weapon is quite capable of striking tanks with homogeneous armor like the Soviet T-54 / 55 and T-62. With a good sighting system, a lighter armored vehicle will have certain advantages over outdated tanks.
Abilities Medium MBT in relation to the fight with the tanks suggest an approximate market where he can find a buyer. These are third world countries who wish to have modern and, at least, well-equipped armored forces, but cannot afford to purchase a sufficient number of “full-fledged” MBTs. In such conditions, a poor country does not have a wide choice: either buy used repaired equipment, or a new one, but obviously inferior to leading models of the world market. At the same time, it should be noted that the third world countries almost always have to arm themselves to contain or fight with their neighbors, the same poor countries. Therefore, the acquisition of armored vehicles, similar to the Medium MBT will not put the buying country in a deliberately losing position compared to potential opponents.
For several reasons, to date, only a few projects have been created, such as the Marder Medium MBT. In the presence of objective prerequisites for the formation of the updated look of an average tank, the main armor manufacturers do not pay much attention to it yet. Perhaps the reason for this is the lack of demand for such equipment. The TAM tank at the time was interested in only a few countries besides Argentina, while the Medium MBT still remains a purely showpiece. Despite a number of laudatory remarks, over the past six months since its first demonstration, no one has initiated negotiations to begin deliveries. Perhaps it was just not time for new medium tanks. Or - which is much sadder for the Medium MBT and the like - this is a dead-end branch of the development of armored vehicles. Therefore, it is rather difficult to guess the further fate of the armored "Kunits" with the tower from "Leopard-1" and electronics from "Leopard-2".
On the materials of the sites:
http://rheinmetall-defence.com/
http://defense-update.com/
http://strangernn.livejournal.com/