Originally posted by Joe Black:
This has been discussed in many threats before, anyway, here is a
brief summary I believe constitute to the "weight" issue in
MBTs.
[b]1. Gross weight
This is the gross weight of the tank. Why does it matter? It
matters because the SAF combat engineers do not have quick launch
bridges that are rated to carry anything above 30 tons.
Ref: http://www.army-technology.com/contractors/engineering/man/
SAF would need to invest on MLC60 or MLC70 class bridges to cater
for a 60 tons and above MBTs.
That right. SAF need to new equipment to support tanks of more
than 60 tons & it must be support by AVLB for its mobility,
Current AVLB we have is the M60 AVLB which is class 60 &
AMX-13AVLB which is I think is only class 30, in this case we need
at least a class 70 AVLBs.
Oher Bridging equipment which are mentioned by someone is simply
not mobile enough to support the Leopards. Armoured Engineers r
suppose to travel with the new tanks to be effective.
Note: The Centurion MK13 is only 52 ton,the upgraded one should
only add another one or two tons. Therefore Class 60 is
sufficient.
Originally posted by Joe Black:
[b]3. Physical size
The heavier a tank, the bigger the physica size - usually. A big
tank is going to get bogged down in jungle warfare easily. They are
better suited for urban, desert or open plain warfare where the
chances of getting hit by enemies are big and thus heavy armoured
are needed to protect the crew and give the tank the greatest
possible survivability.
I hope this helps.[/b]
Good point too. One of the criteria for the initial design of
the Scorpion family was that the width of the vehicle must be small
enough to squeeze thru between two rubber trees in a rubber
plantation found in MY.(The British still has a large force in SEA
then)
