AMX-30 | The most vulnerable Main Battle Tank in history

France was rebuilding from the horrific Second World War and found itself without a medium tank. This is the story of that tank. The vehicle was France's first MBT, and came about due to the failure of a collaborative project with Germany - France got the AMX-30 and Germany got the Leopard 1. Similar in size and in role but quite different in design, the AMX-30 and the Leopard changed tank design forever. The least protected MBT in history - the AMX-30. But boy did it pack a punch...

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[olivierpuyou]

I served at the beginning of the 80s in the ABC( Arme Blindé Cavalerie) on AMX30 b2 and I must say that it was not a bad machine, reliable, fast with a good big gun equipped with arrow shells. We trained to fire and reload faster than the Russian tanks which had an autoloader, and we got there after a few weeks of intense training.

The pilots and the gunners were often of "small" size, 1m72 to slip more easily into these relatively narrow positions, me being 1.92 m my position as tank commander allowed me to stand up while observing at 360 degrees in the commander's cupola^^
on the other hand totally impossible to slip into the pilot's position without having the upper half of the body out of the hull...
Our life expectancy on a battlefield was estimated at less than 20 minutes, when you are young you are "immortal".

Thank you for this video which reminds me of good but already quite funny memories.

[MFitz]

To be fair, all tanks in the 1960's were vulnerable to ATGW and HEAT warheads fired from infantry recoilless guns and post-WW2 tank guns. The German's and French accepted this and decided that thick, heavy armor was a waste of time. Under the circumstances they were probably correct. The situation did not change until the advent of composite armors in the 1970's, and reactive armor in the 1980's changed the equation.

[reluctantbias]

Funny enough, France and Germany are once again trying to develop a common tank for both nations. We'll see how long the project lasts this time.

[markaxworthy]

My father was an army ground liaison officer with the RAF in the 1970s. He said that the French picked their tank crews for their low height, thereby allowing their armour to be of minimum size. The French supplied NATO with official photos of all their vehicles. These included a standard figure of a small, standard-height, moustachioed, crewman standing next to the vehicle in question. It was always the same guy, who the RAF pilots called "Hercule". When a slide came up for recognition, they would all shout out "Hercule" rather than "AMX30". My father reckoned that the Harrier wing could identify "Hercule" from several thousand feet, and certainly more easily than they could identify any individual type of French armour! (My father also used to carry a water pistol in case any pilots dozed off during AFV recognition lectures).

[General.Longstreet]

The shell it fired is an engineering masterpiece in its own right.

[randomexcessmemories]

I have a soft spot for the AMX-30 because of its unique design. It doesn't get as much attention as other tanks, but it deserves just as much love as the rest!

[jpc]

As a former Sergeant then Staff Sergeant, tank leader then second to tank platoon leader on AMX30B in a mechanised infatry unit (5° RI based in Paris area then 16°BCP based in Saarburg - Germany, part of one of the 2 french army corps present, consequence of the WWII treaty given an occupation zone to France), I want to thank you for this itneresting video.
The AMX 30B was outdated when I served it (in the 90's), but still its gun, latelyequipped with new ammunitions OFL 105 and OFL 2 105 (APFSDS) was to pierce most armours.
There were 2 sort of motorisation : The SOFAM 12 GS with 720 HP then the Hispano-Suiza, sulzer 720 HP (in fact, I mearnt 680 ch and in my documentation it's writte 680 but I saw than on the net it was written 720... I am not a mech then I can't say who is right) and/or the hydrostatic. The first engine, i never saw it, h=it had been retired from the service far before I entered in service. The AMC 30 B2 then the AMX 30 B2 S brennus was a true improvement and had a better armour, a better engine and more of all, a better and more modern firing system. The AMX 30 B had an old (but efficient) Firing system based on co-incidence of picture (image). I mean, for the one who knows, the turret of the AMX 30 B had 2 external "eyes" on each side... the system is based on the fact that you had 2 pictures of the same tank, but it was working with the difference of the angle... the "game" was to make a single picture of the 2, it was giving you the distance of the tank once you had a cingle picture... then you ahd the "intuition" of the tank leader, which was going to influence you, + or - 50 or even 100 meters... Personally, I was priviledging the precision of the system and had good eyes, then II was giving the distance I had by the machine without changing it. I did 100 % hit every time (more than 100% even, because when we were doing military training camps of firing at platoon level, we had often more ammunitions (+5%) than targets.
The vulnerability of the tank wasn't a problem as EVERY tanks were destroyable by HOT, RPG last versions, any performing AT ammunition etc... The advantage of the AMX 30 was its manouvrebility and its speed. It was also easy to find any problems on it, it was a "rustic" tank, strong, fast, responding. I liked to serve on it even if I was looking at the AMX Leclerc with envy.

I have a last anecdot/story... " once upon a time ", in 1996 or in 1997 (hey, it's long time ago ! ), my platoon was on the Mailly PTS (South Firing Point of Mailly, a french military camp) and we did a little challenge with the Leclerc.
We had to fire 6 hits as fast as possible. The "best" AMX 30 B team of the 4th company of the 5° RI (Mechanised infantry regiment, french historical regiment, created 1494, retired from french army organisation few months after it) against the Best Leclerc of the 501/503° RCC (Regiment de Chars de Combat or MBT regiment, a unit of cavalry)
The Leclerc had a crew of 2 in the turret, the leader and the shooter. It's equipped with an autoloader. They took their best team, but didn't change it.
Sure as normal french, and infantry men, our foxy Captain decided to cheat and to "make" a team for the crew of the turret. We were 3, i was named shooter as we had still conscript, I was considered better shooter (best ranking when in academy) as I was private sergeant... Then the leader was the most experienced leader, master sergeant and the radio-loader wasn't even a normal loader but a strong master sergeant specialist of radio. the fact he was strong had its importance as a 6'4 guy can easily grab a 105 mm ammo like if it was grapefruit lol ;) :D . The cavalry men never knew we cheat, of course.
There were 4 fix targets and 2 moving ones.
The Leclerc team fired first and did 6/6 in exactly 58 seconds. They were happy, the manual says 1 minute !
then we did 6/6... in 54 seconds. They were stunned.
In the leclerc, it's the auto-loader which limits the speed of firing. In the AMX 30B, with a super experienced leader, a strong fast loader and a fast shooter, all is possible, it's the speed at aiming of the leader which determinates the time. The AMX 30B2 would have done even better in term of time as the COTAC using a laser, the aiming would have been faster even.
Sure, with a team normally composed, the leclerc would have maybe win... and at company level, the cav regiment would have mostly win. The system of precision, the COSTAC... overall, Leclerc is a far better tank in every area and the human has less impact on it than on the AMX 30.

[animetacoman]

i have never seen such an in depth look with all the informaton, from the ammo, to the politics, to the armor, very well made!

[philo]

Absolutely superb job! My first trip to the UK I went to the Tank Museum and I saw Leopard 1 running around the arena. It’s great how you put this into a broader context of the Cold War period giving us the big picture of tank development and national policy at that time, that unique gun and ammunition is fascinating. Thank you again, looking forward to future videos! 👍

[gunner]

I was just given a Solido diecast metal model of an AMX30 for Christmas. Great tank! Good video!

[johnray]

Best explanation I have seen OR read of the complex HEAT ammunition used. Best analysis I have seen OR read of this tank’s armor configuration. Thank you.

[chost-]

French post war tanks are my favourite, theyre just different, especially the oscillating turrets which i love

[toddboisselier]

It is nice to hear a human voice and someone that knows how to speak rather that a human that sounds like a robot.

[selfdo]

While the AMX-30 might have been weak on protection compared to contemporary MBTs, many variants from it for a whole family of vehicles were devised. It also came out before development of ERA (Explosive, Reactive Armor) that would have helped a great deal to increase protection without a huge weight penalty. I'd consider it a very successful design, at least in terms of automotive engineering of AFVs.

[tyxxiz]

Great video, especially about the heat shell which is a masterpiece of military ingeenering. Also the amx 30 was knew to be very maneuverable (more than the leopard !) and high as a t55, if we exept the cupola. The lack of stabilizer and armor put it behind other mbt in end of 80s, despite having a full stabilized optics (knowed as COTAC fire control system)

[FiumaraA]

Un bon reportage sur l'AMX30, où j'ai servi sur la version "ROLAND 2" pendant 5 ans. Le système d'arme était performant avec ses deux missiles sous poutre et ses huit missiles en soute avec un rechargement automatique. Côté châssis, je n'ai connu aucun problème mécanique; il était fiable et résistant. Une anecdote quand même, l'embrayage était à l'arrière et formait une cloche. Près d'une vingtaine d'écrous le maintenait au reste du moteur. Ces écrous avaient une rondelle qui était pliée afin que les vibrations du moteur de desserrent pas les écrous. Après un entretien nous sommes partis en manœuvre et nous avons cassé 9 embrayages sur les 10 véhicules les rondelles en place n'étaient pas celles préconisées (elles ne se pliaient pas). Avec les vibrations les écrous tombés dans les embrayages. Cette manœuvre a couté chère, mais c'était une erreur humaine. Sinon je n'ai que d'excellent souvenir de ce véhicule. Le bruit de l'Hispano-Suiza 12 cylindres avait une belle mélodie ;)

[maxmagnus]

Love the calm unpretentious voice. Wasn't expecting to watch the entire video, but the presentation kept me glued.

[bobvulture]

8:21 This version of the Amx 30 with grey blue camo, gun mounted smoke cartridges ejectors and fake hardware on the turret’s right side was used in Centac, a tactical training ground in Eastern France to stand in as Opposition Forces during weeklong combat scenarios.

[spacecowboy]

In my opinion, one of the best looking tanks ever

[nicolasmichon]

Very good vidéo. The 30B2 also had a much improved fire control system (COTAC), derived from the one mounted on the AMX10RC, that markedly improved its first shot pH, and would have allowed it to make very effective "short halt" attacks. Not as good as the Leo 1 or 2's stabilization, but cheaper.... "Armageddon on a shoestring budget" could have been the French army's slogan in those days.