T95: The Ultimate Armored Juggernaut!
The T95 was an American prototype medium tank developed from 1955 to 1959. These tanks used many advanced or unusual features, such as siliceous-cored armor, new transmissions, and OPTAR fire-control systems. The OPTAR incorporated an electro-optical rangefinder and was mounted on the right side of the turret, and was used in conjunction with the APFSDS-firing 90 mm T208 smoothbore gun, which had a rigid mount without a recoil system. In addition, although the tanks were designed with a torsion beam suspension, a hydropneumatic suspension was fitted, and one of the tanks was fitted with a Solar Saturn gas turbine for demonstration purposes.
The siliceous cored armor consisted of fused silica, which has a mass efficiency of approximately three versus copper-lined shaped charges, embedded in cast steel armor for an overall mass efficiency of 1.4. The early APFSDS penetrators fired by the T208 had a low length-to-diameter ratio, this being limited by their brittle tungsten carbide construction, with a diameter of 37 mm, although they had a high muzzle velocity of 1,525 m/s (5,000 ft/s).
The rangefinder, the T53 optical tracking, acquisition and ranging (OPTAR) system, emitted pulsed beams of intense but incoherent infrared light. These incoherent beams scattered easily, reducing effectiveness in mist and rain and causing multiple returns, requiring the gunner to identify the correct return after estimating the range by sight. This, combined with the large and vulnerable design of the transmitter and receiver assembly, led to the abandonment of the OPTAR system in 1957.
In the early 1950s, work began in the US to develop an eventual replacement to the M48 Patton tank, the operational medium tank at the time. A series of relatively simple upgrades to the T48 were considered as part of the T54 project, but these were considered to offer too little advantage to be worth it. Examples of more radical upgrades were also called for.
In September 1954, out of many submitted plans, two main examples were chosen – the T95, and the T96, which used a larger and heavier gun with a 105 mm round. Both tanks used smooth-bore barrels with fixed mounts and no recoil systems. In November 1956, it was decided that nine tanks would be produced. Four of them would be original T95s. One would be a T95 with a 90 mm gun on a mount with a recoil system, receiving the designation T95E1. The remaining four would use the T95 chassis and the T96 turret, and were designated T95E4s.
Because the T96 turrets were not yet constructed (and were never completed), it was decided that of the four T95E4s, two would be fitted with M48A2 turrets, and the other two were fitted with T54E2 turret and with 105 mm T140 cannons.
The first T95 variant to go into production was the T95E2, in May 1957. The T95E3 was produced in July of the same year, and the first original T95s were ready in February 1958.
The T95 tank was created using a traditional design with a driver in the front, the fighting compartment in the center, and the engine compartment in the rear. The tank had a four-man crew, consisting of a commander, a gunner, a loader, and a driver.
The driver's work area is in the forward compartment. The hatch is located in the glacis above the driver's head. With the hatch sealed the driver operates the tank using three periscopic visual devices, the middle of which is equipped with a night-vision infrared camera from the T161. Ammunition stores are located on either side of the driver’s chair.
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