I ran across a picture of a tank i can't recognize. It has 6 road wheels on each side, live track, a low sponson over the tracks similar to leopard 1, but with a fairly abrupt step rising to the engine deck.

The turret is small, shaped somewhere between a truncated cone and a t-54/m-48/leopard 1 prototype style clamshell shape. The mentlet is strongly remnesicent of the leopard 1's.

The gun is definitely not the L7. It has no prominant mid length bore escalator, and has what appears to be pyramidal shaped muzzle brake. I will guess it is a 90mm gun, but I don't recognize the model.

The tank has a vague air of relationship with the leopard 1. This is why i guessed it is german. But it is definitely not a main line variant of leopard 1 as it one road wheel too short. It is also not the Spahpanzer Kette, as it is one road wheel too long.

Anyone has any idea what it is?

Can you post a pic? It'd really help...

Any chance of a link to a pic? Or a book Ref?

Are the road wheels interleaved?

Do a Google images search for German prototype tanks, this will give you a few ideas...

If it was on World of Tanks, there can be err very 'imaginative' what-if's
such as this
Kampfpanzer III/Napoleon 1 (As if a German tank would be named after a Frenchy!

Could be any number of things...

A VK1602 Leopard, but this has a small (looking) gun
A Danish modified M41...

Or this Leo3 Design study

or a VK 3002 (DB): The Indien-Panzer.

Let's have a try (or rather a shot in the dark )

The prototype of the Argentinian TH-301 :



H.P.

Unfortunately I don't have the pictures. I saw it in a used polish language book which wasn't for sale. The pictures were black and white, and were definitely photos,not renderings. And they were definitely of a real vehicle, not a mockup.

It had 6 non-interleaved small diameter road wheels with drive sprocket in the back. The turret was rounded and look like it was cast, and definitely didn't look like anything from german WWII era AF.

It wasn't the TAM and didn't look like it was based on a marder hull. For one thing it had a low profile hull, not like the TAM. Also the turret was mounted in the middle, not towards the back like on the TAM, and was rounded, not angular.

It's not any of the leopard 3 designs either. It didn't have the slab sided look of a late Cold War tank.

I think one of the more jarring thing about the design was the engine deck rises pretty abruptly in a step behind the turret, and the back of engine Compartment extends a greater distance behind the drive sprocket than is usual.

It has a early Cold War look. My hunch is it is german and of the leopard 1 generation. But I can't be sure. I am having no luck finding with google any mention of another german Cold War turret tank besides the leopard 1 and 2, and the spahpanzer kette.

Sorry I can't provide the picture.

IIRC there were three families of prototypes for the Leopard 1 tank, which didn't have the same number of roadwheels.

I'm away from my home and books but this could have been this one?



Cheers,

Christophe

Just to complete Christophe's post :





According to what I've found, this prototype was called B1. It was built by Rheinstahl-Hanomag and fitted with a Rheinmetall 105mm gun.

http://www.panzerpower.de/ger/leo1_geschichte.htm

H.P.

Yes, these are it. Thank you,

So it is a prototype entered into the leopard 1 competition.