Armored Warfare News

Commanders!

Today, we’d like to tell you more about a Turkish skin for the Sabra Mk.2 Tier 7 Premium Main Battle Tank that we call simply M60T.



The M60T is the official Turkish service designation for the Sabra Mk.2 MBT. The Israeli Sabra Mk.2 was developed as an upgrade kit for the aging Turkish M60A1 and M60A3 series Patton tanks in the early 21st century. Its main features include a new 120mm IMI M253 smoothbore gun replacing the old M68, and a brand new set of additional NERA armor, significantly improving the tank’s protection. Between 2006 and 2010, Israel delivered 170 of these vehicles to Turkey and they are of course still in service. You can read more about the history of this vehicle in our dedicated article.



First and foremost, in order to make the skin look as realistic as possible, we’ve substantially improved the model of our existing Sabra Mk.2 MBT. Many smaller and bigger adjustments have been made, from such tiny elements as various rivets and handles to a full re-model of this vehicle’s mantlet and a comprehensive texture upgrade. This is a change every Sabra Mk.2 owner will benefit from.



The M60T skin itself is based on the Sabra MBTs that participated in the Turkish incursion into Syria in October 2019 (Operation Peace Spring). We started with a vehicle that bears the standard NATO camouflage, which is used during peacetime along with standard markings, such as the frontal and rear vehicle number.



For the operation, the numbers were partially covered by green canvas but, more importantly, the entire vehicle was camouflaged by clay common to the north-Syrian region. This is quite a common tactic that was widely used for the vehicles hastily moved to the front. Note how the original color shines through at some places. The muzzle of the barrel was not dirtied this way in order for no dirt to get inside.



The rear of the vehicle has been upgraded as well with the rear turret trays left in their original color in order not to dirty the crew’s possessions stored inside.



The top of the turret was improved as well and small Turkish pennants are now attached to this vehicle’s antennae.



In real life, the Sabras didn’t do exactly well during the conflict. Despite only facing scattered opposition, the Turks lost a certain number of these tanks, mostly to guided missiles. At least 4 to 5 M60T tanks were lost in combat, although some sites claim three times that number. It’s worth noting though that the Turkish Leopard 2A4 MBTs fared even worse.



The passive protection levels of both vehicles are currently deemed insufficient against modern ATGM threats, which is why both tanks are being upgraded with hard-kill APS. However, that’s not a part of this skin.



In Armored Warfare, the Sabra is a highly useful and well-armed tank. We hope that you’ll enjoy the opportunity to give your Sabra the proper military look it deserves.

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

We’d like to invite you to a special community-driven event organized by Drackenfells.

In this event, you’ll be joining a Custom Match in the BMD-1 Tier 3 Armored Fighting Vehicle. The organizers will be driving the M1A1 Storm MBTs and will attempt to ram you to death. Whichever BMD owner survives the longest, wins.



The event will take place on April 24 at 20:00 CEST (14:00 EST).

To register to this event, please use this link: https://bit.ly/2RIcMrr

The following prizes are available:

• First place: M1A1 Storm
• Second place: Warhammer skin for the M1A2 MBT
• Third place: Warhammer skin for the M1A2 MBT

Please note:

• Players in event will need to use the BMD-1 Tier 3 AFV
• Player can use any retrofits and consumables and Commander (except for Ophelia Kitescu)
• Players in match cannot use any weapon systems nor deploy troops, but can use smoke
• Players cannot try to hide or get to places where they cannot be rammed
• Players are not allowed to purposely damage, kill, or sabotage other players during the event

We hope that you will enjoy the event and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

We’d like to invite you to another round of the Bounty Hunt event, in which you will have the opportunity to hunt down some Armored Warfare members of staff or VIPs and destroy them in battle for amazing prizes! This time, we’ll be focusing on some Raid content and prizes.

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On Tuesday, April 20, 2021, between 19:00 and 20:00 CEST, log in to Armored Warfare and play Tier 5 PvP.

We, the staff-members and moderators, will be joining the battles in our T-72M1 MBTs and if you manage to destroy one of us, you will be awarded with Raid access (with the T-72M1) or 499 Gold if you have it already.

The following staff and VIP’s will take part in the event:

• MaciekM4a4
• Dayan78
• Eskobar68
• Waidler
• ThePsychoCat
• ONEMANCLAN
• P4nzerMarmelade
• Spitfire_
• Eisenherz
• hanaiel
• FPYKT_8_taHKe
• Хильдрин
• RainMetall
• Silentstalker
• firebase

They will also identify themselves at the beginning of each battle by a chat message.

The rules of the contest are very simple:

• Team-Killing will not win you a prize, unless you count a ban and contest disqualification
• You don’t need to make a note of who you destroyed (although it doesn’t hurt); we’ll keep track
• You can win as many times as you want, they are no limits per player
• The access will only be awarded for your first kill, any further kills will be awarded by 499 Gold
• Rewards will be distributed after the end of the event

We look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

Since the launch of the last Battle Path, we’ve had a series of new Soviet or Russian vehicles coming to the game. Today, we’d like to tell you more about the last one – at least for a while. Whenever we ask you about the introduction of new machines, it’s one of the most requested vehicles across the board – we are, of course, talking about Object 120, better known under the name SU-152 Taran.



For its time, the project was fairly anachronistic. The design work on the Object 120 began in 1957, back when the ATGMs were becoming a thing. At that time, the general belief of the Soviet designers was that the tank killing role on the battlefield would be undertaken by guided missiles. This led to the development of a series of ATGM-based Tank Destroyers. While these dedicated tank killers would eventually mostly end up as failures, the ATGM development would continue, resulting most notably in the heavily armed BMP and BMD class of vehicles.

But, back in the mid-1950s, the old guard still had a say in what the future Soviet Tank Destroyer should look like. There were some officers, who didn’t exactly share Nikita Khrushchev’s vision of ATGM-dominated battlefield and it was just enough to justify the development of one of the last gun-armed tank destroyer projects.

The thing was, at that time, the Tank Destroyer class was intended to be used at distances of over 2000 meters. In other words, in order to defeat even the envisaged future western tanks, the gun would have to be extremely powerful. To achieve just that, the Taran development program was launched –primarily to develop such a weapon, and secondarily to install it on a suitable platform.



The OKB-3 design bureau was chosen as the main developer for the program with SKB-172 in Perm being responsible for the development of the gun, and the NII-24 institute from Moscow being responsible for ammunition. Two calibers were considered for the project – 130mm and 152mm (the 130mm caliber was an old naval one, so it was not all that unusual). Accordingly, two different weapons were developed in 1958 – a 130mm rifled cannon with the factory designation of M-68, and a 152mm smoothbore cannon designated M-69.

The rifled variant fired a 9kg sub-caliber shell at 1800 m/s and could penetrate 360mm of armor at 1km (or 165mm of armor angled 60 degrees at 1km). The smoothbore variant fired an 11.5kg shell at 1720 m/s and could penetrate 370mm of armor at 1km (or 179mm of armor angled 60 degrees at 1km). Both guns were tested and the M-69 smoothbore gun was in the end chosen as the winner, also because it could fire a HEAT shell as well as a kinetic one.

In the January of 1960, two gun prototypes were sent to Ekaterinburg to be mounted onto a new platform. The platform consisted of a steel-only, relatively lightly armored chassis and a massive turret. The whole vehicle had a crew of four and weighed some 30 tons. The chassis of the vehicle was actually based on a much older design, the SU-152P, which was a failed Uraltransmash self-propelled gun prototype from the late 1940s. The SU-152P, in turn, was based on another design called SU-100P. The suspension was not derived from some older existing WW2 design and is said to have offered excellent maneuverability and off-road properties.



The armor of SU-152 Taran was steel only and its frontal hull plate was only 30mm strong. Overall, the vehicle was built withstand 57mm armor-piercing fire frontally, but not anything more powerful. That’s only logical – this vehicle was supposed to engage the enemy at over 2 kilometers. One has to take into the account that the late 1950s were the era of optical rangefinders and very limited situational awareness (and therefore limited ability to respond). In short, thin armor was quite sufficient.

As was stated above, the main weapon of the vehicle was the 152mm M-69 smoothbore cannon. The gun was fitted with a fume extractor and a muzzle brake. It fired two-piece ammunition of the following types:

• AP (sub-caliber) shell (370mm penetration at 1km, 340mm at 2km and 320mm at 3km)
• HEAT shell of unknown properties
• HE shell weighing 43.5kg

While the kinetic penetration values may not seem like much in 2021, they were more than enough to deal with the Patton series of tanks of the time.

Interestingly enough, the gun used three types of charges – one for the kinetic shells (9.8 kg) and two for HE shells (10.7kg and 3.5kg respectively). The gun was loaded manually by the loader from an ammo rack located at the back of the turret, in the bustle. As a result, the rate of fire was relatively low (2 rounds per 20 seconds on average). The vehicle carried 22 shells and charges. The gun was sufficiently accurate at approximately 2km when firing at a 2m tall target, and at 2.5km when firing at a 3m tall target. It could elevate to +15 degrees and depress to -5 degrees.

And, finally, the mobility was provided by the 400hp 38.88 liter 12-cylinder V-54-105 diesel engine. This was a modified variant of the mass-produced engine used in the T-54 series of tanks, with improved cooling and longer lifespan. This engine allowed for a maximum speed of 63.4 km/h.



In the end, the Taran would end up as a direct competition to the IT-1 Tank Destroyer. Compared to the IT-1, the Taran offered a number of advantages:

• No minimum range (IT-1’s Drakon missiles could not be used at 300m or less)
• Higher rate of fire (could reach 6 rounds per minute, compared to IT-1’s 2.5 launches per minute)
• Slightly higher maximum range (3500m compared to IT-1’s 3300m)
• More ammunition carried (22 rounds compared to IT-1’s 15 missiles)
• Lower gunner workload (which corresponded to the T-62 tank and was 2.3 times lower than that of IT-1’s missile operator) while keeping the hit probability at 2.5 to 2.7 roughly the same

However, there were some disadvantages as well. Most notably:

• Considerably thinner armor than that of the IT-1 (even though this did not realistically play a role at the distances of 2km or more)
• Considerably lower shell penetration than that of the Drakon ATGM

The latter wasn’t really an issue either – the 152mm Taran gun was more than capable of defeating any NATO tank in service at that point, even at its maximum range. What was an issue, on the other hand, was the zeitgeist. By 1960, the development of modern ATGMs was just beginning while oldschool guns like the M-69 were considered a thing of the past. The Taran, while powerful, was considered having little to offer compared to the generation of the ATGMs that would come after the Drakon. As a result, the project was cancelled in 1960 in favor of further IT-1 development. The single Taran prototype that was built was moved to the tank museum in Kubinka, where it rests to this day.



In Armored Warfare, the SU-152 Taran will be a Tier 5 Premium Tank Destroyer, which will be obtainable for free during an upcoming event.

But before we get into any details, the usual disclaimer:

The numbers below are very preliminary as the vehicle has not been properly tested. They are sure to change and should only be discussed as an indicator of how we’d like to set the vehicle up.



With that being said:

Gameplay-wise, this will be a classic gun-armed Tank Destroyer with excellent penetration and damage per shot values, but quite long reload time (10 seconds). It’ll be able to fire two types of shells, just like in real life:

• Kinetic (380mm penetration, 730 damage per shot, 1350 m/s)
• HE (50mm penetration, 975 damage per shot, 800 m/s)

We’re therefore looking at some 4380 DPM with the kinetic shell type and 5850 with HE. In other words, each shot of this vehicle will be extremely destructive. Please note that, unlike in real life, this vehicle will not be able to fire a HEAT round for balance reasons.



The rest of the parameters will, on the other hand, not be all that great. The armor will only be very basic (enough to withstand autocannons and machineguns) while the mobility will be average at best with the maximum speed of 63.4 km/h and the acceleration from 0 to 32 km/h of 5.89s. Finally, there are the average viewrange (390m) and camouflage values (29 percent).

In summation, this vehicle will be the avatar of peek-a-boom tactics, where you take a position, fire and immediately retreat to take cover, because every shot will expose you to the enemy, which is something you can’t survive due to your thin armor. Your mobility will allow you to successfully (if a bit slowly) move from flank to flank, but not to outrun or outmaneuver faster classes. Please do keep in mind that this will not be a speedy vehicle.



Any close combat is, of course, a death sentence – this is strictly a second line vehicle, intended to support MBT assaults with its devastating fire. As a result, due to its nature, the Taran will only reach its true potential in skilled player hands.



We are also working on a special skin for the Taran, which will also be available during an upcoming in-game event.



We hope that you will enjoy the vehicle and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

This week, we’ve prepared another set of attractive items for you:

• Panzer 87-140 Tier 10 Premium Main Battle Tank
• Abrams AGDS Tier 9 Premium Tank Destroyer
• Leclerc T40 Tier 9 Premium Tank Destroyer
• Leopard Revolution Tier 8 Premium Main Battle Tank
• Marder 2 Tier 8 Premium Armored Fighting Vehicle
• WWO Wilk Tier 8 Premium Tank Destroyer
• ASCOD LT-105 Tier 8 Premium Light Tank
• Iron Crate (this time with Enigma's Legacy vehicles, including the Type 10 MBT)

Between April 15 and April 22, 2021, the following items will be available:


[h2]Panzer 87-140[/h2]


The Panzer 87-140 is an experimental version of Panzer 87 (Swiss Leopard 2A4), fitted with a RUAG 140mm smoothbore cannon and an armor kit called WE. It was developed in the 1980s and early 1990s to counter the next generation of Soviet MBTs, but with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the project was shelved, only to resurface around 2005-2006 but never passing the experimental stage. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

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In Armored Warfare, the Panzer 87-140 is a Tier 10 Premium Main Battle Tank. Much like other Leopard series MBTs, it’s a long-range fighter with an extremely powerful gun and the ability to fire with pinpoint accuracy. Even though its armor leaves much to be desired, at long range, this MBT has few equals and can be considered one of the best snipers of its class.



The Panzer 87-140 Tier 10 Premium MBT is available in our Web Shop via Loot Crates. Collect 100 blueprint pieces from these crates to obtain the vehicle.






[h2]Abrams AGDS[/h2]


The Abrams AGDS (Armored Ground Defense System) was a vehicle concept and proposal, drafted in July 1996 by Dr. Asher H. Sharoni (a former colonel in the Israeli Defense Forces) and Lawrence D. Bacon from a Californian company called Western Design Howden. It was supposed to be an air-defense vehicle, protecting the Abrams formations against flying threats, although its weaponry can be deployed against ground targets as well. The United States were, at the time, sorely lacking a vehicle comparable to the Russian Shilka and one of the ideas was to use the Abrams chassis paired with a new turret to produce an armored AA gun that would be able to keep up with the American tank units. This plan was never realized and the vehicle stayed only on paper but you can play the Abrams AGDS in Armored Warfare and experience what it would have been like, had it ever been deployed.



In Armored Warfare, the Abrams AGDS is a very unique Tier 9 Premium Tank Destroyer. What makes it so special are its two large guided missile launchers capable of firing an incredibly devastating volley within seconds. The AGDS can devastate practically every opponent on the battlefield with a single salvo, making it one of the best and most effective mid-to-long range vehicles in the game. At close ranges, it can rely on excellent frontal turret protection and its two 35mm autocannons to keep enemies at bay until the missile launcher reloads to unleash another deadly swarm of missiles. The Abrams AGDS is one of the most feared vehicles in Armored Warfare!






[h2]Leclerc T40[/h2]


Sometimes called the French Terminator, this vehicle was designed on the Leclerc MBT chassis with one purpose in mind – to accompany tanks and fight off infantry attacks the same way as the Russian BMPT series does. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.



In Armored Warfare, the Leclerc T40 is a Tier 9 Premium Tank Destroyer. It offers you a combination of a durable hull, rapid-fire 40mm automatic cannon and, most importantly, the Javelin missile system. Simply right-click the target, wait until it becomes locket and fire the Javelin ATGM – it will home itself on the target, attacking its weak roof armor. Thanks to this ability, the Leclerc T40 is one of the most destructive vehicles in the game.






[h2]Leopard 2 Revolution[/h2]


The Leopard 2 Revolution is a continuation of the older Evolution upgrade, intended to improve the performance of the older variants of the Leopard 2 Main Battle Tank in order to make it excel even on the battlefields of the 21st century. The improvements include a comprehensive armor upgrade, ROSY soft-kill APS and smoke grenade launchers as well as an entire suite of cutting edge electronics. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.



In Armored Warfare, the Leopard 2 Revolution is a Tier 8 Main Battle Tank. It is not only well-armored, it also features an extremely accurate 120mm gun with advanced ammunition, allowing it to destroy its opponents at very long ranges, rivaling those of Tank Destroyers. The German tanks in general perform best at longer ranges and the Revolution is no exception.






[h2]Marder 2[/h2]


The Marder 2 was an experimental German IFV, developed in the late 1980s to replace the aging Marder IFV. It featured more armor, a new turret and a brand-new Rheinmetall dual-caliber autocannon that could fire both 35mm and 50mm rounds. Despite its qualities, the vehicle was never accepted in service due to its high cost and because it was no longer needed because of the fall of the Soviet Union. A single surviving prototype can be found today in the Koblenz military collection. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.



In Armored Warfare, the Marder 2 is a Tier 8 Armored Fighting Vehicle. With its 44 tons, it’s one of the heaviest and toughest AFVs around. Unlike many other AFVs of its Tier, it is not armed with guided missiles, relying instead on its extremely powerful 50mm autocannon. This vehicle can also deploy Mechanized Infantry.






[h2]WWO Wilk[/h2]


The WWO Wilk is the second Polish vehicle of Armored Warfare named after the ferocious pack animal. It is a fire support variant of the Rosomak, replacing the original IFV turret with the Cockerill CT-CV one, armed with a 105mm gun. A prototype of this vehicle was built and tested in 2012. After passing the tests, it was offered to the Polish Armed Forces but failed to catch its attention despite the excellent trial results. You can learn more about its history in our dedicated article!



In Armored Warfare, the WWO Wilk is a Tier 8 Tank Destroyer. A lower tier counterpart to the existing progression vehicle Wilk XC8, its mobility is comparable to other vehicles using the Rosomak platform, while its 105mm gun firepower allows it to compete with such vehicles as the American Stryker.






[h2]ASCOD LT-105[/h2]


If there was a word best describing the ASCOD platform, it would be the word “international”. It was developed by the Austrians and the Spanish, adopted by the British and available with a wide range of turrets. The joint project from 1988 eventually led to a number of vehicles using the ASCOD platform, the two best-known results of which are the Austrian Ulan IFV and the Spanish Pizarro IFV. The ASCOD LT-105 was a fire support variant of the platform, offered with pretty much any turret a customer would like, including those from B1 Centauro, M1128 MGS or even a South-African one by Denel. However, after two decades of not having to found any customers, the project was terminated and by 2015-2016, it was removed from all official offers. You can learn more about it in a dedicated article.

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In Armored Warfare, the ASCOD LT-105 is a Tier 8 Premium Light Tank. It is fairly unique in one aspect. It is possible to select one of the two turrets: the manned Denel turret with the GT7 gun or the Low-Profile Turret by General Dynamics with the M68 gun, known from the M1128. The first turret has better kinetic shells but fires in a normal manner, while the latter has a clip-style autoloader, balanced by worse overall characteristics of the gun.






[h2]Iron Crate[/h2]


We’ve prepared for you an additional offer this week. Between April 15 and 22, 2021, the Iron Crate will be available on MY.GAMES Market with 50% discount!



The mechanics are very simple. This crate allows you to win one of the vehicles listed in its description (or its value in Gold if you have it already). The crate contains some very rare vehicles, including:

• Type 10 Tier 10 Premium MBT
• Hunter Tier 9 Premium AFV
• Pindad SBS Tier 8 Premium AFV
• Seon'gun-915 Tier 6 Premium MBT
• Type 74 Tier 5 Premium MBT

For a full list, please visit the MY.GAMES Market Iron Crate page.





We hope that you will enjoy the offer and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!