NationStates Jolt Archive

The Army of Cotland have today announced that they will begin researching a new anti-tank vehicle for use in desert areas. Preliminary research will be made on the chassis of a M4 Sherman light tank, the famous tank from world war two. This vehicle proved itself when the British 8th Army employed the tank against the German Panzer III/IV in 1941 - 44. Early plans suggest upgrading the engine, adding modern electronic equipment and at least 8 AGM-114 Hellfire missiles on the vehicle, replacing the turret. The Emperor have set aside 50 billion Coins for this project.

More information will follow as time passes.

ooc: Tell me what you think...

OOC: I assume you'll be upgrading the armor too, despite the fact that the Sherman was semi-effective against Panzers and Tigers, the afore mentioned tanks tore the Shermans apart with frightening ease, often the only reason that Shermans survived one of these confrontations was because the Panzer's shells would go in one side and out the other before exploding. So upgrading the armor and the gun are a must, unless you want an anti-tank vehicle that can be cut in half by a recoilless rifle. So gun, armor, engine; three things that have to be upgraded for it to be competitive.

To be honest you would be better off using a more modern light tank such as the AMX-13, Sherridan or stingray as a basis these would be able to ahndle modern systems and engines ar better.

despite the fact that the Sherman was semi-effective against Panzers and Tigers

Not really, one-against-one the German tank would win every time. Only when confronted by 4 or 5 Shermans would the situation be reversed :)

So gun, armor, engine; three things that have to be upgraded for it to be competitive.

Or you could consider going for a more modern and effective chassis in the first place.
Otherwise I'm very interested.

OOC: "semi-effective" meant that a single Sherman, could unload its entire ammunition reserve onto the Panzer, and MAYBE chip the paint or however unlikely, dent the armor, inshort doing no damage that an idiot with a paintbrush and a hammer couldn't fix. 'Course it would never get that many shots off, 1-4 maybe, but not its whole reserve. I was talking about if he keeps with the Sherman design. A new chassis would be a much better choice than an upgrading an M-4 "Shoot me and watch me burn" Sherman.


Can you tell I have absolutely no love for the things.

OOC: I would also use modern day equipment rather than WW II for anything other than ship designs. As for the Sherman, yeah it's famous, but the Germans built vastly superior tanks. Their only problem was that they couldn't mass produce them and the Americans could mass-produce their Shermans. Eventually, they could beat the German tanks by doing a RL version of a NS dogpile.

As far as ships are concerned, I've used WW II ships as the basis for my earliest -- and some of my most successful -- ship designs.

OOC: "semi-effective" meant that a single Sherman, could unload its entire ammunition reserve onto the Panzer, and MAYBE chip the paint or however unlikely, dent the armor, inshort doing no damage that an idiot with a paintbrush and a hammer couldn't fix. 'Course it would never get that many shots off, 1-4 maybe, but not its whole reserve. I was talking about if he keeps with the Sherman design. A new chassis would be a much better choice than an upgrading an M-4 "Shoot me and watch me burn" Sherman.


Can you tell I have absolutely no love for the things.

I think you might be missing the point of the original post, which is not to create a modern tank, an area where no form of sherman derivative would be of any use (unless you are chile where your ex israelli ones with thier very nice 60mm HVMGs make suprisingly useful and cheap T-55 killers), but to create a lightly armoured ATGM carrier. personally a lighter base design like say Striker (UK ATGM version of the CVT family) or for super smallness the german weasal would be a better choice.

"Official Announcement from General Oleg Bruhov chief commander of Pushkan military research division"

Bruhov: We would like to aid Cotland in this undertaking. It is in our recent plans to design a tank defense system that would be able to supress enemy fire, shooting it down before it can get to the tank, this project hasn't been aprooved yet and its details are still remain secret but in the near future it is expected to be aprooved. It might be even more useful for anti-tank vehicle then for a regular tank. What say Cottish gov't?

OOC: I don't see why use a tank at all, use a modern BMD.

You're spending the approximate equivalent to the UK's yearly defence budget on upgrading a 60 year old tank? Right...

EDIT: Shenyang, that's unfair, the Sherman wasn't that crappy. In the rear armour or at close range, a Sherman would kill a Tiger or Panther. The problem was the Tiger or Panther usually killed the Sherman before it could, which is why they needed several, to outflank the Tiger or Panther and attack from multiple directions.

ooc: Thanks for the tips people.

ic: The researchers have performed several weeks of painstaking research, and these are their initial findings:

Armor needs upgrading

Electronics need installation

It is imperative that the vehicle operate alongside other vehicles, preferably tanks or IFVs.

Must be able to engage enemy from a distance. Reccomends changing the AGM-114 to another missile with longer range.