ASTRON X-Weapon

A proposal for a new light tank developed by General Motors as part of the ASTRON project. The engineers at GM decided that the best form of protection was mobility (it was built around the same philosophies as the Leopard I, AMX-30, and other similar tanks).

The tank was estimated to weigh 26 tons and be powered by a 590 horsepower Continental AOI-119 5 engine.  The wheels were sprung with half-width torsion bars, meaning that the opposite suspension sets did not have to be offset from each other. Shock absorbers were placed on the first and last road wheels on each side.  The tracks were to be 22" (56cm) wide single-pin steel tracks (mine are rubber pads so I could use fewer polys).  Speeds were expected to be up to 50 mph (80 km/h) on level ground.

The armor on the tank was only enough to protect against small arms fire and shell fragments.  The turret front and sides were both protected with 29mm of welded homogeneous armor at 30° while the front hull was 19mm thick at 67°.

The X-Weapon was to be armed with a non-stabilized and modified 90mm T208 smooth bore gun, capable of defeating a 5" thick (127mm) plate of armor plating placed at 60° from horizontal while 2,000 yards away.  The tank had a large 3-man turret with a 85" (216cm) turret ring. The tank was also armed with two .50 caliber machine guns, one mounted coaxially to the left of the main gun and the other in the commander's cupola.  The turret was planned to be able to traverse quickly (and impressive 45° per second), while the optics and FCS were to be borrowed from the M48 Patton tank.

The commander and gunner were stationed in the turret on the right side with the loader on the left.  The driver was stationed in the front hull on the left side.  All of the ammunition was stored below the turret ring in the hull.

It is worth noting that General Motor's X-Weapon closely followed their previous work on vehicles such as the M18 and M41; both being fast tanks with minimal armor. The T101A, a proposed self-propelled gun mounting the same gun, was also developed with this chassis.