When you think of rockets or jet engine propulsion your first thought is likely of a fighter
plane soaring overhead.
However this same technology has also seen interest from designers for vehicles which
seek to remain on the ground instead of taking to the skies.
Today we will look at some of the real world examples of this concept as well as one vehicle
so utterly insane it could only exist in a video game.
Before we look at the fictional example of a rocket propelled tank lets take a few moments
to consider the real world implementations of this idea.
Probably the most well known of these are the Soviet projects although other nations
played with the idea as well.
I plan to cover these in a video of their own someday but sadly I can only find a small
amount of info about them.
The vast majority appear to have been done as a method of assisting the tank through
soft or muddy terrain as shown in this short clip.
Armoured Archives also mentioned to me that the British tested one intended to assist
with getting out of rivers.
With so little known about most of these attempts to use rockets I can’t say for certain why
each failed but we can safely assume they were deemed unnecessary or the extra weight
they added to the vehicle literally outweighed their usefulness.
Regardless of what we in the real world may have thought about jet propulsion for tanks
Panzer Front has no such qualms.
Previously we looked at this game's E79 tank which has unintentionally become a vehicle
some people genuinely believe to be a real design.
Among the other ridiculous designs in the game we find this vehicle, possibly the most
absurd tank destroyer I have ever seen.
Being propelled by two massive jet turbines the Aureole blasts across the battlefield
at speeds of up to 60kmh with its 8.8cm L100 cannon and MG34 machine gun.
Why exactly a German tank has the French word for halo as its name is as confusing as the
rest of this vehicle's design.
The speed this tank destroyer can manage is impressive given it also boasts fairly thick
armor with 130mms at the front sloped heavily.
Coming in at 9.6 meters long, 2.9 meters wide, and 1.7 meters tall this puts the Aureole
at roughly the same size as the SU-100 being slightly shorter than that.
Along the side it also features angled skirts to protect from anti-tank rifles but with
massive gaps between the plates which sort of eliminates most of the protection it provides.
Some sites list another variant of this tank with a 75mm gun but I am not entirely sure
where this comes from as ingame it is listed as an 88.
Maybe another version of the game has a slight alteration to it so let me know if you are
aware of where that came from.
Ingame this tank-destroyer is a speedy hard hitting vehicle which, like many real world
tank destroyers, is quite weak from the sides.
Personally I found it hilarious to play but a bit hard to control once you get up to speed.
If we were to pull the tank into the real world though it quickly starts to become crushed
beneath a variety of issues.
One of the main ones I see is the height of the vehicle.
With such a short stature no doubt the crew compartment would be incredibly cramped before
we even consider the massive turbines in the rear of the vehicle.
The issue of crew comfort can and has been overlooked in real tank designs but the same
cannot be said for the bizarre propulsion method.
I suppose you could argue modern tanks do actually use turbines so it isn't entirely
unrealistic.
Using a turbojet style engine in a tank is something entirely different though and would
probably use up the entire fuel supply which could be carried inside within an extremely
short time.
Even if we disregard all these issues I still wonder what real world application this tank
would have.
Perhaps it would be able to act similarly to something like the American M18 Hellcat
allowing it to rapidly respond to enemy tank attacks.
This would be at odds with how German tank destroyers were traditionally designed as
their intended use was more for ambush and infantry support.
Overall the Aureole is an interesting look at a “what-if” sort of tank that really
wouldn’t be practical especially during World War II especially for the Germans.
I’m certainly interested to see what your takes on this particular vehicle are so let
me know your thoughts in the comments section.
Huge thanks as always to my channel members for supporting my content as well as things
like my website coneofarc.com I really do appreciate every penny of the money I receive
each month from you all.
That's it for this video though so I hope you enjoyed it.
If you did enjoy it consider checking out one of the videos popping up on your screen
now or the full fake tank friday playlist which I will link below.
Choose wisely.