Originally posted by glock:
Which French MBTs after the AMX 13 have an autoloader ? Also an AMX is not a MBT. All Western MBTs in current service have manual loaders. Autoloaders require the guns to be elevated to the right level for the autolader to operate and feed the round. The human loader is still much faster & can keep on going until all rounds are expended which is not usually the case. A tank can carry only 30 to 40 main rounds.
The trend is to keep current MBTs for as long as possible and upgrade their data comms, armor & ammo. The MBT will definitely be a very different animal in 20 years time. Probably with 2 man crews in the hull, autoloaders & remote optics. But that will be a long time away.
I didnt say french BMT i say French tank and the AMX13 is a light tank mah.
All Western? The Leclarc uses an Auto loader like some one already said.
The M8 ags uses and autoloader.And like i say,new tanks are already headed in that direction.Not really a long time away.The US is already devloping them.
And no a human loader cannot keep up the rate of load.Even if he could for the full 30-40 rounds, can he do it after being on duty say 30 hours?fire off 5-15 rounds then wait and patrol then fire off another 15 rounds or so in the next engagment?Will be manage to keep up the rate?Or how about after firing 30 rounds,resup then go off and fire again to fire off that 30 rounds?I highly doubt.
And yes the gun does need to be in a certain position,but the newer loaders allow it to be loaded in most positions unless the gun is in some super high elevation.Otherwise a some degs up or down is ok.
Anyway,since most tanks and guns area headed that way,i guess our motar just got there 1st.
Afterall naval guns have been using autoloaders for quite sometime already though they are big.
But i would like to add that having an extra man in the tank is quite useful.