The ELC project was a prototype
light tank project launched by the
French Ministry of Defense
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in 1955. The purpose of the ELC (''Engin Léger de Combat'', Light combat vehicle) project was to develop a lightly armoured, heavily armed fighting vehicle capable of being
airlifted for rapid deployment.
ELC AMX series
History of creation
The idea behind the creation of the Engin Léger de Combat (French for «light combat vehicle») was to install powerful anti-tank weapons on a light but fully armored
tankette
A tankette is a tracked armoured fighting vehicle that resembles a small tank, roughly the size of a car. It is mainly intended for light infantry support and scouting. and thus create a light
tank destroyer that was mobile, inconspicuous, capable of hitting and destroying all types of enemy tanks at a distance of about 1 500 meters. Two prototypes built on the
Hotchkiss tankette hull in the mid-1950s differed in their main armament; running gear, engine and mechanical components were basically the same for both machines.
Design
Armament
The first prototypes produced by AMX had the D.914 gun loaded with 90mm Empennée
HEAT
In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...
rounds (French for "feathered"). Since the firing range of the D.914 gun did not meet the requirements for the French Ministry of Defense, an elongated D.915 gun equipped with a muzzle brake was developed. Especially for this cannon, a new model of the turret called 903 was designed — it had a large capacity. The standard projectile for the D.915, marked ENERGA, weighing approximately 2 kg, was meant for penetration of 350 mm of armor, but it also had an insufficiently high effective firing range — only 600-700 meters. Later, shells of the same type were developed under the name «G»: they had a larger mass (more than 7 kg) and made it possible to achieve the originally requested effective firing range of 1 000 meters, but it was not possible to increase this range to the originally requested 1 500 meters or more at that time.
All versions of the tank had a coaxial 7.5 mm machine gun
AAT-52, and on the ELC TC 904 modification, two pairs of smoke grenade launchers located on the sides of the turret were added.
![French projectile, 90 mm, HEAT-T, OCC-90-62](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/French_projectile%2C_90_mm%2C_HEAT-T%2C_OCC-90-62.png)
Turret
A total of 4 turrets were developed for the AMX ELC. A distinctive feature of these turrets was the so-called casemate design. On the move the turret's rotation was limited to about 36°, because with more turret rotation the driver (located on the floor of the vehicle) was unable to access the tank's controls, and he might be injured by the breech of the gun. To fully rotate the turret and aim at the target, the tank had to stop. Despite such disadvantages the setup made the tank destroyer very mobile and could aim at some targets on the move. The close location of both crew members in the turret ensured a high concentration on gun control - while the driver loaded ammunition, the tank commander fired.
Model 902 and 904 turrets were equipped with a rangefinder for more effective engage of the enemy. The tank was equipped with AN/VRC.7 or AN/GRC.4 radio stations. Since the initial prototypes of the ELC AMX did not have the drum automation of the ammunition rack, which was widely used on French tanks at that time, the loader could choose the appropriate ammunition to hit one or another type of target, however, on the modification of the TC 904, the first-order ammo rack for four rounds was noted, which, however, only facilitated the loading of the gun.
Mobility
With an average weight of all prototypes of 6.7 tons and a 164-horsepower four-cylinder SOFAM engine, the tank reached a speed of 68 km/h on the highway and 25 km/h on the rough terrain with a specific power of 26 h.p./t. The volume of the fuel tank was 360 liters, and the cruising range on the highway was 580 kilometers. The tank had excellent off-road abilities for its size — the suspension allowed it to overcome vertical obstacles up to 0.6 m high and ditches 1.50 m wide.
ELC AMX bis
In 1956, AMX decided to increase the armor of the ELC AMX hull and strengthen the chassis, as the chassis of the CC.2 armored personnel carrier was becoming unusable due to the significantly increased weight of the vehicle. The development of the new chassis has been going on since 1957, AMX has made many different decisions to improve the tank. In 1961, a new hull was designed and manufactured with armor up to 40 mm thick, which was located at rational angles of inclination (up to 80 degrees). The new chassis was provided with five pairs of smaller diameter rollers and three return rollers. The mass of the machine has increased — it has reached 8,9 tons. The new hull contained 34 HEAT-FS and HE-FS fragmentation projectiles, another 19 were in the turret. The volume of the fuel tank, however, has slightly decreased to 340 liters as well as the cruising range — the new amount was 500 kilometers.
The armament and turret were inherited from the latest ELC AMX TC 904 prototype - the tank was fired with G-marked ammunition. The
AA-52
The ''AA-52'' (full designation in French: ''Arme Automatique Transformable Modèle 1952'', "Transformable automatic weapon model 1952") is one of the first French-produced guns of the post–World War II era. It was manufactured by the French g ...
machine gun, smoke grenades and rangefinder were also featured on the new prototype. The new engine of the car was a gasoline 4-cylinder SOFAM Type 4 GSr with a power of 180 h.p., which, with a specific power of 20 h.p./t., allowed the vehicle to reach a record for tanks of the Engin Léger de Combat project speed of 80 km/h on the highway. The average speed was about 60 km/h.
At the end of development in 1961, the Engin Léger de Combat program was recognized as unpromising, so work on the project was discontinued in favor of improving the
AMX 13
The AMX-13 is a French light tank produced from 1952 to 1987. It served with the French Army, as the Char 13t-75 Modèle 51, and was exported to more than 26 other nations. Named after its initial weight of 13 tonnes, and featuring a tough and r ...
light tank, and today the AMX ELC bis is on display as an exhibit in the
Museum of Armored Vehicles in Saumur.
ELC EVEN series
The ELC EVEN was a series of light tanks created in competition with AMX's proposals.
These prototypes featured an
oscillating turret
An oscillating turret is a form of turret for armoured fighting vehicles, both tanks and armoured cars. The turret is unusual in being made of two hinged parts. Elevation of the gun relies on the upper part of the turret moving relative to the l ...
with a
cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, fro ...
for the gunner located along the turret centerline. The turret itself was offset to the left in order to make room for a driver's compartment in the hull.
ELC EVEN 30
![ELC-EVEN, Musée des Blindés, France, pic-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/ELC-EVEN%2C_Mus%C3%A9e_des_Blind%C3%A9s%2C_France%2C_pic-1.JPG)
The ELC EVEN 30 was armed with twin 30mm
Hispano-Suiza autocannons with
fluted
Fluting may refer to:
*Fluting (architecture)
* Fluting (firearms)
* Fluting (geology)
* Fluting (glacial)
*Fluting (paper)
Arts, entertainment, and media
*Fluting on the Hump
''Fluting on the Hump'' is the first album by avant-garde band Kin ...
barrels mounted on either side of the turret, with two
machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...
s mounted slightly inboard of these weapons.
ELC EVEN 90
![ELC EVEN Canon 90mm Saumur](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/ELC_EVEN_Canon_90mm_Saumur.jpg)
The ELC EVEN 90 featured a turret very similar to that of the ELC EVEN 30, but replaced both 30mm guns and the right-side machinegun with a single low-pressure 90mm D919 gun using 700m/sec HEAT rounds type G, on the right side of the turret.
ELC EVEN 120
The ELC EVEN 120 featured four 120 mm
recoilless rifles arranged in horizontal pairs on either side of the turret. These weapons were to be reloaded by the driver either by rotating the turret so that the driver could open his hatch and insert new projectiles without leaving his seat, or by having the driver climb out and reload the weapons from a standing position next to the tank. It was also suggested that the rear ends of the 120mm weapons' barrels be cut so that the rear sections could be rotated into the turret, allowing the gunner to reload the weapons without opening his hatch.
Another version of the tank featuring two 120mm weapons, each with a five-round revolver-type
autoloader
An autoloader or auto-loader is a mechanical aid or replacement for the personnel that load ordnance into crew-served weapons without being an integrated part of the gun itself. The term is generally only applied to larger weapons, such as nava ...
, was suggested but not constructed.
ELC EVEN - Nord-AVIATION Missiles
A vehicle armed with either four
SS-11 ATGMs or two
SS-12 SSMs mounted on arms on either side of a purpose-built welded plate turret, with an armored glass observation window on its front. A prototype featuring a combination of these weapons (two SS-11 on the right side of the turret and one SS-12 on the left) was built.
References
{{ColdWarFrenchAFVs
Light tanks of France
Light tanks of the Cold War