FV304

FV304 drawings

Development of the British A46 series, also known as FV300 started in 1943 when the Tank Board called for a British Light Tank to be in production by 1945 to replace the USA's Stuart, and later Chaffee, in British service. A contract was place with Vickers for a tank of 14 to 16 tons mounting a 77mm (as subsequently in Comet). This was the first time that a machine of this category was to have armament suitable for the task it would have to carry out, which was in reconnaissance troops of tank regiments. Transmission and suspension were kept as simple as possible to reduce power loss at the sprockets, and the tank owed a good deal to the experience which had been gained from Harry Hopkins and Tetrarch. A46 was intended to be air-portable in unladen form, and the possibility of carrying the turret, gun and even tracks separately in another aircraft was seriously considered. Even then, it would have been necessary to lift a 10-ton load, and thereby to accept much reduced strategic range in any transport aircraft available at that date. The air-portability requirement was therefore dropped, and as the order was only for 80 production tanks, progress was extremely slow. The wooden mock up led to many modifications, among them being the substitution of a Meteorite V-8 350 h.p. engine in place of the 210 h.p. GMC6-71 motor originally proposed. The engine and gearbox were moved to the right front of the hull, leaving the final drive at the back, to bring the gun layout into line with that selected for the SP's and other variants.1946 saw a revived interest in the project, and it was brought into new series as FV301.

By 1947 further changes had been made. The Rolls-Royce Meteor petrol-injection 500 h.p. engine coupled to a TN10 gearbox in place of the earlier Spicer box was to be used, on a sub-frame for easy removal as a unit. Torsion bar suspension was used, in preference to the Christie type, The turret was composite-built, with a front casting and rolled plates for the rest. The 77mm gun had a new concentric recoil system, promising even better accuracy, and it was mounted well forward in the turret to provide room for the crew. An equilibrator was used to compensate for the out-of-balance. Eighty rounds could be stowed in the hull, a considerable design feat, considering the size of the ammunition. But frontal armour was reduced to 2"actual thickness, the all up weight of the machine having risen to 21 tons. However in 1950, doubts arose about the value of such lightly armored vehicles on the modern battlefield. In parenthesis, one may be permitted to wonder why these doubts had not been properly evaluated earlier; but the result of the later views led to the cancellation of the entire FV300 series by 1953.

Proposed variants

FV304 model

FV301 - Light Tank

FV302 - Command Post

FV303 - 20pnd SP Gun

FV304 - 25pnd SP Gun

FV305 - 5.5" SP Gun

FV306 - Light ARV

FV307 - Radar vehicle

FV308 - Field Artillery Tractor

FV309 - Ammunition Vehicle

FV310 - Light APC