WesWorld

Nice and pretty but, How you will put that much armor and a 75mm gun on a five ton vehicle? The original Marder was over 6 tons plus protection was only around 13mm (around half an inch). Also with no machinegun for protection they are dead traps with no way for the crewmen to protect themselves in case of infantry attacks.

I tend to agree that rockets are a waste of resources and will be a failure.Also the 75mm will be a failure because I doubt the engine and the transmission will take all that weight and be effective on the long run. The best match IMO is the 25mm gun and the 37mm gun if that much armor is desired.

The Hetzer is the best pound for pound tank killer you'll get in this size range. The Marder II had just 10mm of armour but had similar on and offroad performance.

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Originally posted by thesmilingassassin
The Hetzer is the best pound for pound tank killer you'll get in this size range. The Marder II had just 10mm of armour but had similar on and offroad performance.

WW Germany has plans for a Hetzer workalike (since the Pz 38t chassis isn't going to be in production in Germany, no plans to incorporate Czechoslovakia into the Reich), based on the extended Pz II chassis used by the Wespe. Nice little vehicle, but it's not even close to 5 tons by the time you get a 75mm/48, ammunition, and armor onboard.

If you want 5 tons AND a 75mm weapon, you may be able to do it with a short 75mm howitzer like a pack howitzer or an infantry gun (like the US M2/M3 howitzer used on the 75 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M8 ). The M8 is a LOT heavier as well, of course, but if you shave the armor down enough and toss one of the engines over the side, you might manage it.

It seems everyone is an agreement that 5 tons/25mm of armor/75mm vehicle is not possible. Either need to shelve the protection or shelve the weapon.

On 5 tons, not going to happen. Hell the FT-17 weighed in at just over 7 tons. The closest compairison would be the historical Japanese type 95 tank - 8 tons, 28 mph 14mm max armour, 37mm gun and a crew of 4.

Note that the 75mm version uses a howitzer on an open mount.

The armor might be on the heavy side. How much armor is required to defeat medium MGs and other light infantry weapons?

I'll go with 10mm sides and 15mm (angled) front. Should be sufficient for most situations. I am not expecting this tank to be able to stand up to anti-tank weapons or HMGs.

An engineering working on this project comes across a magazine article...

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/07/1…ed-their-wings/

A short time later Walter Christie receives a very nice offer...

Considering the fact that no flying tanks ever made it off the drawing board it looks like Mexico will be wasting its "very nice offer".

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The Antonov A-40 Krylya Tanka (Russian: "tank wings") was a Soviet attempt to allow a tank to glide into a battlefield after being towed aloft by an airplane, to support airborne forces or partisans. A prototype was built and tested in 1942, but was found to be unworkable.