History of Tanks (Armored Fighting Vehicles)

History of Tanks

(Armored Fighting Vehicles)

WW1 Tank

The British Mark I was the world’s first combat tank, entering service in the middle of World War I, born of the need to break the domination of trenches and machine guns over the battlefields of the Western Front. Along with its subsequent variants, it was the most successful heavy tank of the war

FT-17 Tank

The Renault FT 17 or Automitrailleuse à chenilles Renault FT modèle 1917 was a French light tank; it is among the most revolutionary and influential tank designs in history. The FT 17 was the first tank with an armament in a fully rotating turret, and its configuration with the turret on top, engine in the back and the driver in front became the conventional one, repeated in most tanks until today; at the time it was a revolutionary innovation, causing armour historian Steven Zaloga to describe the type as “the world’s first modern tank”.

The BT-5 light tank

BT soviet tank

The BT fast tank series (Bystrochodnij Tank) were based on the American Christie’s tank ( a design characterized by an innovative torsion bar suspension system and by the ability to run on tracks or large road wheels).
The BT-5, a major improvement of the prior gun-armed BT models (BT-2, BT-3,and BT-4)   appeared in 1935. It was fast, had a good power-to-weight ratio and was well armed. Powered by an aircraft-derived engine, the BT-5 could cross rough terrain at speed.
The thousands of BT-5 tanks produced in the new Kharkov factory formed a significant part of the Soviet tank arm in 1941.

The BT-7 fast tank was a development of the BT-5 with a better armour and design (welded hull and turret with sloping sides to enhance protection). The BT-7 first soldiered in the Khalkin battles against the Japanese (Mongolian-Manchurian border) and in the advances into Poland (both in 1939) and in Finland (1940). Its combat career ended in 1941, following the German invasion of Russia.

76 mm Gun Motor Carriage (GMC) M18 Hellcat

The 76 mm Gun Motor Carriage (GMC) M18 was an American tank destroyer of World War II. It was given the nickname “Hellcat” and is recorded as being the fastest tracked armored fighting vehicle during the war with a top speed of over 50 mph. The M18 was built by Buick.

Kingtiger

Tiger II is the common name of a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf. B and the tank also had the ordnance inventory designation SdKfz 182. It is also known under the informal name Königstiger (German for the Bengal Tiger), often literally translated by the Americans as King Tiger, and by the British as Royal Tiger.

The design followed the same concept as the Tiger I, but was intended to be even more formidable. The Tiger II combined the thick armor of the Tiger I with the sloped armor of the Panther. The tank weighed 68.5 (early turret) to 69.8 (production turret) metric tons, was protected by 150 to 180 mm of frontal armor, and was armed with the 88 mm KwK 43 L/71 gun. The very heavy armor and powerful long-range gun gave the Tiger II the advantage against virtually all opposing Allied and Soviet tanks. This was especially true on the Western Front, where the British and U.S. forces had almost no heavy tanks to oppose it. The M4 Sherman was unable to penetrate the front even at point blank range and the M26 Pershing (using tungsten HVAP ammunition) and IS-2 (using steel shot) had to come within 1300 m and 200 m respectively.^[1] The chassis was also the basis for the Jagdtiger turretless tank destroyer.

Due to its sheer size and power, the King Tiger was photographed extensively, mostly for propaganda use.

Centurion Tank

The Centurion was the primary British main battle tank of the postwar period, and has proven itself to be a successful tank design for most of the postwar decades; the Centurion’s success has been mainly due to its thick armour, adaptability of its chassis to other roles, and numerous upgrades. Manufacture of the Centurion began in January 1945, and six prototypes arrived in Belgium soon after the war in Europe ended in May 1945.^[1] The Centurion entered its first combat in the Korean War in 1950, where it went on to provide excellent service for the British Army, supporting allied forces during the conflict. The Centurion battle tank would later see service with the Australian Armored Corps in Vietnam, where it again would provide sterling service for the allied war effort against communist forces. It would go on to be one of the most widely used tank designs, equipping armies around the world, with small numbers still in service until the 1990s. As recently as the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, the Israel Defense Forces still employed heavily modified Centurions, as armoured personnel carriers and combat engineering vehicles.

T-72. Satan’s tank

The T-72 is a Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1971. It is a further development of the T-62 with some features of the T-64A (to which it was a parallel design) and has been further developed as the T-90. Chronologically, and in design terms, it belongs to the same generation of tanks as the US M60 series, German Leopard 1, and British Chieftain tank.

Leopard 2 – Main Battle Tank

Leopard 2 German MBT(Main battle tank)

The Leopard 2 is a German main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the early 1970s and first entering service in 1979. The Leopard 2 replaced the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the German Army. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and twelve other European countries, as well as several non-European nations. More than 3,480 Leopard 2s have been manufactured. The Leopard 2 first saw combat in Kosovo with the Canadian Forces and has also seen action in Afghanistan with the Danish and Canadian ISAF forces.

There are two main development batches of the tank, the original models up to Leopard 2A4 which have vertically-faced turret armour, and the “improved” batch, namely the Leopard 2A5 and newer versions, which have angled arrow-shaped turret appliqué armour together with a number of other improvements. All models feature digital fire control systems with laser rangefinders, a fully stabilized main gun and coaxial machine gun, and advanced night vision and sighting equipment (first vehicles used a low-light level TV system or LLLTV; thermal imaging was introduced later on). The tank has the ability to engage moving targets while moving over rough terrain. It can drive through water 4 meters (13 ft) deep using a snorkel or 1.2 meters (3 ft 11 in) without any preparation and climb vertical obstacles over one metre high. The tank is powered with a turbo-charged multi-fuel V12 diesel engine that produces 1,500 PS (1,479 hp, 1,103 kW).

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