Chapter 576: The AMX-30
Almost immediately after the Scud missiles took off, Iraq's ground armored forces launched another raid! They were only 200 kilometers away from the Saudi capital of Riyadh!
The T-72 tank is in the desert, crossing sand dunes. There are no roads here, but there are roads everywhere!
Amid the turbulence, Ali stretched his body out of the turret, holding a telescope and looking forward.
Just half an hour ago, one of our MiG-25R reconnaissance planes flew over here. The reconnaissance photos showed that the ground forces of the Saudi and US armies were attacking the desert and setting up a line of defense. If nothing goes as expected, the two sides will soon encounter each other.
This battle is essential. After all, if we want to attack Riyadh, we will encounter Riyadh's defense forces! Instead of fighting with Riyadh's defenders in the street fighting, it is better to kill them in the desert outside!
This problem cannot be solved by taking a detour. The route of our advance will be captured by the American early warning aircraft overhead. Although an American early warning aircraft was shot down at dawn, the Americans have been alert. The early warning aircraft is inland and rear, protected by a large number of fighter jets. If we want to snipe it again, we will have to pay a greater price.
There is no way to take a detour, so let's fight openly! The Iraqi Army can face any powerful enemy head-on!
Ali is confident.
Suddenly, in the telescope, there were balls of yellow sand. In front of the rolled-up yellow sand, there appeared several small moving yellow images, with desert paint, which were the Saudi armored forces!
They used to be good brothers, but now, they are sworn enemies! Iraq did not actively invade Saudi Arabia, but Saudi Arabia allowed Americans to be stationed in their country, and even sent fighter jets to attack targets in Iraq, and even caused serious injuries to their own president!
The interruption of the broadcast could not be concealed. Although the Iraqi government had not yet issued a statement, many people knew that their president was probably seriously injured!
This revenge must be avenged!
"Attention, Saudi armored targets have been spotted ahead, prepare to attack!" Ali gave the order on the radio.
With the bombing of Prince Sultan Air Force Base, several US electronic jammers were destroyed and unable to take off. Now, the United States no longer has the advantage of electromagnetic power!
In fact, even if the United States interferes, there is no need to worry. The tanks of Ali's Hammurabi Division have been equipped with the latest frequency-hopping radios and have very strong anti-interference capabilities.
At the same time, the Saudi armored brigade on the opposite side also discovered this advancing armored force.
In the desert, even if the tanks are painted with desert paint, it is very convenient to observe them, because after the tanks pass by, the yellow sand stirred up by the tracks will be more than two meters high! The one driving the tank in front is the most comfortable, and the tank soldiers behind have to eat the sand along with them.
"Attention, tanks invading Iraq have been spotted, prepare for battle!" Muhammad, the commander of the Saudi Armored Brigade, also issued a combat order.
All of them are AMX-30 tanks imported from France.
In this era, the Saudi Army has not yet imported the US M1 tanks. That was after the Gulf War. Although these monkey-version M1 tanks were quite embarrassing in the battle in Yemen, they were also Uncle Sam's. Now, the main equipment of the Saudi Army is the US-made M30 tank.
AMX-30, the crystallization of France's independent defense industry, this tank originally originated in 1956 when France, Federal Republic of Germany and Italy drafted joint requirements for designing a European main battle tank. They wanted to select the best through cooperative development and reduce costs. Unfortunately, like other projects in history, the European joint effort ended in a stalemate. The three countries parted ways. France developed the AMX-30 tank, Federal Republic of Germany developed the Leopard 1 tank, and Italy first produced the M60A1 tank and later switched to the Leopard 1 tank.
The French tank weighed only 37 tons, highlighting the characteristics of the time, focusing on mobility and firepower, while ignoring protection! This tank is the lightest of the second generation of post-war tanks.
After its successful development, France also began to export this tank. In order to meet the conditions of the desert, the power of this tank was reduced from 720 horsepower to 620 horsepower, and the air intake mechanism was improved so that it can operate normally in the desert.
"G-type armor-piercing shells!" shouted a Saudi tank commander. At this time, the distance between the two sides was 1,500 meters. At this distance, the Saudi tanks launched the attack first!
The main anti-tank shell of the AMX-30 tank is this type of armor-piercing shell. The Gauls believe that the armor-piercing shell cannot penetrate 120mm armor with a normal angle of 60° at a distance of more than 1200m, and it is easy to ricochet when the angle of incidence is greater than 75 to 80 degrees. Therefore, they advocate the cancellation of armor-piercing shells to reduce the types of shells, and decide to concentrate on the development of G-type armor-piercing shells that can give full play to the advantages of armor-piercing shells.
This type of armor-piercing shell could penetrate 400 mm of armor, which seemed quite good at the time. Unfortunately, it was absolutely incomparable to the one-meter penetration demonstrated by the Soviet Union.
The Gauls are proud and have their own individuality, but the armored troops on the front line are not so proud.
"Boom!" The tank gun didn't even have a smoke extractor on the barrel. After firing, the turret was filled with smoke. The commander held back a cough and stared at the opposite side closely.
The G-type armor-piercing shell accurately hit the turret of the T-72 tank on the opposite side! They almost played their best! The body of the tank on the opposite side shook, and it was obvious that a collision had occurred!
The next moment, the tank was covered in black smoke, and the Saudi tank commander shouted, "Destroy it!"
The tetryl explosive at the front of the armor-piercing projectile detonated under the piezoelectric fuse, and at the same time, the ** mixed explosive at the rear was ignited, relying on the metal-covered shaped warhead, forming a dense metal jet that drilled into the tank's armor.
Unfortunately, the first thing it encountered was the explosive reactive armor!
At the moment when the armor-piercing shell exploded, the explosive reactive armor unit of Contact-1 exploded with a bang, and the heat-sensitive Semtin plastic explosive inside exploded. This explosion was intertwined with the explosion of the armor-piercing shell just now, and immediately interfered with the incoming metal jet!
The metal jet no longer gathered and went in all directions. As a result, the smoke bomb launcher on the side was detonated, and black smoke almost covered the entire tank.
Two seconds later, the Saudi tank commander's heart sank as he watched through the sight the tank emerge intact from the black smoke. How could it be possible?