The Vickers MBT is a series of

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...

s (MBTs) developed as a private venture by British company

Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...

for export. The design makes use of proven components, such as the L7 gun of the

Centurion A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 ...

, the

Leyland L60 The Leyland L60 was a British vertical six-cylinder opposed-piston two-stroke multi-fuel diesel engine designed by Leyland Motors in the late 1950s/early 1960s for the Chieftain main battle tank (MBT). The engine was also used in the Vickers ...

multi-fuel engine, the transmission and fire control system of the

Chieftain A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribe, tribal society or chiefdom. Tribe The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia. Tribal societies are sometimes categori ...

. Many copied tanks were also built by India under licence as the

Vijayanta The ''Vijayanta'' (en: "Victorious") was a main battle tank built in India based on a licensed design of the Vickers Mk.1. The Vijayanta was the first indigenous tank of the Indian Army. The prototype was completed in 1963 and the tank entered ...

Design and development

The Vickers MBT followed on from a 24-tonne 20-pdr gunned tank design intended for export.Ogorkiewicz, R M (1973). ''Vickers Battle Tank'', Profile Publications, August 1973. This would be as well equipped as a

but substantially cheaper and with eight

Vickers Vigilant The Vickers Vigilant was a British 1960s era MCLOS wire-guided anti-tank missile used by the British Army. It was also licence-built in the United States by Clevite for the US Marine Corps, and sometimes known as Clevite rounds in this case. It ...

anti-tank missiles it would be as effective. However, with the introduction of the 105 mm L7 gun into the British, US and German tank designs, this light tank would have been less powerful while too large for the reconnaissance role, and so a new design was required. With armour twice that of the light tank design, it would still be 12 tonnes lighter than Centurion and hence more mobile. The design would use the new engine and transmission of the Chieftain tank then being developed. The development coincided with an agreement with India in 1961 to produce a tank design and help set up a factory there to produce it. The Vickers MBT Mk 1 was designed to be a simple, low-cost, but effective tank. The first prototype was completed in 1963. In 1964, one of the prototypes was sent to India. The Vickers was made of welded

rolled homogeneous armour Rolled homogeneous armour (RHA) is a type of vehicle armour made of a single steel composition hot-rolled to improve its material characteristics, as opposed to layered or cemented armour. Its first common application was in tanks. After World ...

plates. It weighed 38,600 kg, carried a 105 mm gun with 44 rounds and had a top speed of 48 km/h. 70 tanks were sold to

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

and many of a modified version were made in India where the tank was called

Versions

*Vickers MBT Mk. 1 : original model. *''Al Jahra'' : Mk. 1 sold to Kuwait in 1970, it includes modifications to the engine filters for use in desert conditions and featured

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch e ...

ed AEI gun control equipment instead of GEC

valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

, one rear wheel on either side was moved backwards to improve wheel loading, trench crossing and reduce ground pressure, they also lack flotation equipment. *Vickers MBT Mark 1(i) : improved Mk. 1 fitted with a General Motors Detroit Diesel 12V-71T engine, a thermal sleeve for the gun (L7A1 gun redesignated L7A2) and improved optics. *''

'' : Mk. 1 built locally in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Other developments

Vickers Main Battle Tank Mark 2

The 1968 proposal for a vehicle specification that differed from the Mark 1 in the following respects: #Transistorised gun-control equipment. #New turret of cast front and mantlet-less design, with new gun mounting. #Improved frontal aspect to the hull and turret. #Improved track, suitable for continuously. #Reduced ground pressure due to reduced total weight, increased track width and increased track on the ground by moving two (or three) rear wheel stations backwards (made possible by the change to a General Motors engine). #Engine delivering full horsepower as for the Chieftain through redesigned final drives to give 56+ km/h (made possible by the General Motors engine's potential for uprating). #Improved commander cupola to take the Chieftain vision devices. #Provision for fitting four

Swingfire Swingfire was a British wire-guided anti-tank missile developed in the 1960s and produced from 1966 until 1993. The name refers to its ability to make a rapid turn of up to ninety degrees after firing to bring it onto the line of the sighting m ...

wire-controlled anti-tank missiles (intended as a response to weapons of greater range, such as the 120 mm L11 tank gun. The Mark 2 did not proceed beyond a mock-up although a Vickers Mark 1 MBT with four Swingfire missiles, two mounted either side of the turret towards the rear, was shown at

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

. A note in Vickers's files dated from 20 November 1970 explains the probable reason: "Guided missiles have an inherent disadvantage in that is almost impossible to fire them from under armour since the rocket motor efflux presents a serious problem. Generally speaking, the best that can be achieved is to put the crew under armour and mount the missiles externally. This presents reloading problems and leaves the missiles vulnerable to small arms and mortar fire." In any case, only four spare missile rounds could be carried.

Vickers Main Battle Tank Mark 3

AMISOM forces in Saa'moja outside Kismayo 14 (8049898219)

The Mk. 3 was introduced in 1975 for the export market. It was the last of the Vickers tanks to see sales in numbers abroad. In 1974, Vickers pressed on with development of a Mark 3 version. This stems from Design No. 51400 T and differs from the Mark 1 mainly in having a turret with a well-shaped cast front welded to a fabricated armour plate body. It also has a cast gun mantlet which is better shaped from the point of view of its resistance to armour-piercing projectiles than the flat mantlet of the Mark. 1. The Mark 3 embodies various other improvements, such as an increase in the depression of its main gun from -7 to -10 degrees below the horizontal and an increase in the ammunition from 44 to 50 rounds. The first production order for Mk. 3 tanks was placed in 1977 by the Government of

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Vickers Main Battle Tank Mark 4 (Valiant)

In 1977, Vickers produced a design for a vehicle that incorporated Chobham composite armour protection within a battle weight of 43 tonnes. This first prototype, designated the Vickers Main Battle Tank Mark 4.

Vickers Main Battle Tank Mark 7

The Vickers Mk 7 consisted of a third generation Vickers Valiant turret mounted on a Krauss-Maffei-supplied chassis that in the prototype is essentially that of the Leopard 2 MBT. The tank had a Marconi digital fire control system, an SFIM panoramic sight and a Philips 2nd Gen thermal imager. The Mark 7 has three features that reduces the likelihood of its detection by night sights and other heat-sensing devices. These are its coat of infra-red reflective paint; the mixing of the hot exhaust gases with the cooling air before discharge; and a new design of thermal sleeve.

Vickers Anti-aircraft Tank

Equipped with the

Marksman A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting using projectile weapons (in modern days most commonly an accurized scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle or a sniper rifle) to shoot at high-value targets at longer-than-u ...

turret,Jane's Armour and Artillery 2003–2004 as well as a self-propelled 155mm howitzer with the GBT 155 turret. The GBT 155 was unveiled in 1982 and was armed with the same 155mm ordnance as the

AS-90 The AS-90 ("Artillery System for the 1990s"), known officially as Gun Equipment 155 mm L131, is an armoured self-propelled artillery weapon used by the British Army. It can fire standard charges up to using 39 calibre long barrel (comp ...

. It was designed primarily for existing tank chassis.

Operators

Current operators

* - 76 MBT Mk 3 and 7 ARV delivered in 1979–1982 * - 136 MBT Mk 3, 12 ARV and 26 AVLB delivered in 1983–1995 * - 4 ARV delivered in 1989

Former operators

* - 90 Vickers Mk. 1 built by Vickers and shipped to India in 1965 where it carried the designation Vijayanta (phased out in 2008). * - 70 Vickers Mk. 1 delivered in 1970–1972, probably no longer operational * - limited usage of captured Kuwaiti Mk. 1s, all scrapped or destroyed. *

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...

- few Nigerian Mk. 3 were captured, later they were knocked out or recaptured by Nigerian Army.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vickers MBT Main battle tanks of the United Kingdom Cold War tanks of the United Kingdom Main battle tanks of the Cold War Vickers Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s