Vickers MBT Mk. 1 | |
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Vijayanta MBT, a variant of the Vickers Mk. 1 | |
Type | Main battle tank |
Place of origin | United Kingdom |
Service history | |
In service | 1965–2008 |
Used by | See Operators |
Wars | Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait 2019 India–Pakistan standoff |
Production history | |
Designer | Vickers |
Manufacturer | Vickers Defence Systems |
Produced | 1964–1994 |
Specifications | |
Mass | 38 t (42 short tons) |
Length | 9.73 m (31 ft 11 in) overall gun forward |
Width | 3.17 m (10 ft 5 in) |
Height | 2.44 m (8 ft 0 in) |
Crew | 4 |
Armour | Gun mantlet : 80 mm Turret front: 60 mm Turret sides: 40 mm Glacis: 60 mm Lower hull front: 80 mm Hull sides: 30 mm |
Main armament | 1 x 105 mm L7A1 gun (44 rounds) |
Secondary armament | 1 x 12.7 mm L6A1 ranging machine gun with 700 rounds 1 x 7.62 mm MG (pintle mount) with 1,300 rounds 1 x 7.62 mm MG (coax) with 1,300 rounds |
Engine | Leyland L60 (multi-fuel 2-stroke opposed-piston compression-ignition) 535 hp (399 kW) 6 cyl, 19 litres |
Power/weight | 13.79 bhp/t |
Transmission | Merrit-Wilson TN-12 (6 fwd / 2 rev) with a triple differential steering system |
Suspension | Torsion bars |
Operational range | 480 km (300 miles) on roads |
Maximum speed | Road: 48 km/h (30 mph) Off road: 30 km/h (19 mph) |
The Vickers MBT is a series of main battle tanks (MBTs) developed as a private venture by British company Vickers-Armstrongs for export. The design makes use of proven components, such as the L7 gun of the Centurion, the Leyland L60 multi-fuel engine, the transmission and fire control system of the Chieftain. Many copied tanks were also built by India under licence as the Vijayanta.