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M5A1 Westmoreland

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I'm back to black and white people, deal with it :p
Seriously, I do like it more.
Today we have an M5 tank somewhere in post WW3 South-Western Germany, just taking in the sights of the black forest. Scaring off those Euro's :D

The American M5A1 Westmoreland is an Abrams pattern tank, and an evolution of the M2A4 MacArthur tank. Looking at the US military over the course of the 20th century, it can only be assumed vehicles will continue to remain in service for longer and longer periods. The best example being M4 Sherman, which served for little more then a decade, to the M48 Patton, which served in some form (such as the M60) for almost 40 years. If it were to continue at that rate (brings out calculator) M1 pattern tanks will be around for 143 years! That means... (calculator again), in 2123 M1 pattern tanks will start going out of service. And that doesn't even include foreign use....

The M2A4 MacArthur was designed to replace the M1A3 Abrams, which could not house the 155mm canon needed to bust new Russian tanks. The M2A1 was essentially the same vehicle as an M1A3, simply up-scaled. While this saved money on part commonality, the tanks engine could not match the size. When the heavy Liquid Reactive Plates were added to the M2A4, replacing the depleted uranium amour, the tank was even slower.

The M5A1 has essentially the same armour as the M2A4, and features the same gun, fire control systems, electronics and countermeasures. This is all fine, as the M2A4 was considered indestructible by Canadian tank crews in the NA War. The main change is the engine. The M5A1 has all the speed, acceleration and maneuverability of an M1 tank, even if it is almost twice as heavy.

This means the M2's only weakness, its speed, is eliminated. Because the M2 was so slow, a fast moving Defiant could easily shoot out it's tracks. It would be much harder to do this against an M5. Thus making it the best tank in RS.

Although they feature the same main gun, the M5A1 can carry some new toys. Noted hear are two 106mm recoilless rifle (both in that box on top of the tank), which fires smart rounds that can turn around corners or drop over buildings, and a M50K HMGT, which may not be the M2's 30mm gun, but it is just as good against infantry. The Main gun is also attached to a classic M2 Browning, which is mainly used for zeroing if the electronics should fail.

The best feature of the Westmoreland? The American fleet of 600 M2A4's could be converted without any expensive work!

Want more sci-fi tanks? Why not check out the AMX-72T3 Joffre? [link]
Image size
2272x1328px 394.74 KB
Make
SEIKO EPSON CORP.
Model
Stylus Photo RX580
© 2011 - 2024 Ravajava
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