Get Inside the Tanks
with Richard "the Challenger" Cutland
the AMX-13-90 Part II
Welcome back to part two of our feature on the AMX-13...
...in part one...
...we talked about one of the many radical aspects of its design...
...the autoloader...
...so I think it's time we took a closer look at how it works.
Autloader
Here below me in the bustle is the autoloader...
...on each side there's a hatch for loading shells into the magazines.
Let me explain how it works...
...there are two cylindrical magazines...
...each holding six rounds...
...as the gun fires...
...the recoil extracts the spent shell case...
...which is ejected through the rear flap.
Using a handwheel...
...the gunner then rotates one magazine...
...dropping a fresh round into the loading tray.
As this is rammed onto the breach...
...the breechblock is released and closes...
...the gun is now ready to fire.
This meant that the AMX could fire off...
...up to 12 rounds very quickly.
But after that, there was a problem...
...since the magazines could only be loaded outside the vehicle...
...the tank had to withdraw to somewhere safer to do this.
To cope with this interruption...
...AMXs ussually operated in pairs...
...allowing one to cover, while the other reloaded.
Inside
Tanks are rarely very spacious, but the AMX is particularly tight...
...the three crew members are separated from one another...
...the commander and the gunner cannot even see each other...
...as they are separated by the gun.
Right in front of the gunner is the key control for the gun...
...it's a bit like an XBOX controller...
...rotating it side-to-side traverses the turret...
...rotating it up and down, elevates the gun.
Firing of both the main gun and the machine gun...
...is by foot pedals...
...above the gun controls, is the optical gun sight...
...and above that is the periscope.
Here in the commander's position, you can see his turret controls...
...and the hand wheel for selecting the magazine...
...in front he has a tactical radio to communicate with other tanks...
...the main radio is down on the floor to his right...
...also down there are stowage racks for more ammunition.
Driving the AMX
What's it like to drive?
This one? It's...erm, once you get used to it, it's good!
Talk us through the driver's controls.
The driver's controls, well, as you know, once you sit...
...in the driver's position, it's actually quite compact...
...right in front of you...
...you have the instrument panel which is in two halves...
...on the right-hand side you've got the mechanical side...
...temperatures and pressures, speedo etc...
...and on the left-hand side is the electrical panel...
...with the switches and electrical gauges...
...sticking out of the instrument panel, is the gear lever...
...it's one of those typical French ones...
..it's a push-pull, in-out, turn-left-and-right...
...and then to the right of the instrument panel...
...you've got a hand throttle...
...erm, step the throttle if necessary...
...and moving down to the floor, you've got the normal 3 pedals...
...accelerator, break and clutch...
...as you'll find in a car...
...and then moving back towards the driver...
...you'll have the 4 levers...
...the outer levers are for the brakes...
...and the hubs on the outside here...
...and the inner levers control the differential brakes.
The reason why it's got the 4 levers...
...again, at the time, it was quite innovative...
...the outer levers control the outer brakes and the hubs...
...the inner levers control the differential brakes...
...so if you're doing slow-speed manoeuvres...
...you use the outer levers...
...once you're on the move, you've got finer adjustments...
...on the differentials.
So from that side, it is quite nice to drive...
...once you get used to it.
And it is road legal, apparently?
This one, yeah! It's fully taxed, insured...
...i'm licensed to drive it, I do drive it on the road.
You must get some strange looks then, if you're?
Yeah, you get a few looks, especially at junctions when you're...
...waiting there at the traffic lights.
Engine
The engine was also quite interesting...
...it was a new, French-built SOFAM motor...
...based on an earlier aero-engine design...
...by another French company: MATHIS.
It is a horizontally opposed, 8-cylinder petrol engine...
...producing 270 horsepower.
Simply stated, it is flat, not vertical...
...meaning that engine compartment, and the hull height...
...can be kept quite low...
...unlike the standard layout of the day...
...it is mounted at the front, on the right...
...driving the front sprocket.
Looking at the chassis...
...it has five road wheels with return rollers...
...and torsion bar suspension...
...and with an all-up weight of around 15 tonnes...
...the AMX produced a top road speed...
...of around 60 kmph and a good cross-country performance.
Armour
Armour was one of the areas where a major compromise was made...
..to keep the weight down.
Effectively, the AMX is proof only against...
...small arms of various calibres...
...and also shell fragments - not much more.
At the front, the welded hull has 40mm of armour...
...with the same on the cast turret...
...but only 20mm on the sides of both.
The AMX entered prodution in 1954...
...and remained in production until 1964 as a gun tank.
Even today it is in service in Indonesia and Singapore.
The chassis remained in production for far longer...
...and was the basis for whole family of other vehicles...
...from self-propelled guns and engineer vehicles to APCs.
It was widely exported, especially to the Middle East, Israel...
but also Asia and other NATO countries in Europe.
It proved to be a reliable light-armoured vehicle...
...capable of providing good support to infantry...
...and of defending itself against most, but not all, enemy armour.
For the sorts of conflicts it found itself in...
...it performed well...
...and prolonged the life of the light tank...
...to the end of the 20th century.