General Motors XM1

Sorry ladies and gentlemen, I lost motivation in the last 5 months; don't worry, I am still alive and well

Origins

XM803<==============>GM XM1 and Chrysler XM1

(Chrysler XM1 coming soon)

The US Army were frustrated about the XM803 program; itself is a supossed better choice than the MBT-70, where XM803 poorly able to meet the Army's demand. XM803 was still complicated, prone to failure and most important of all, its still way overbudget for each unit. Instead of continuing by developing again the XM803, they abandoned the program, and start a new one.

In early 1972, its decided to create a new program under Major General William R. Desobry with the project name of XM815. Few characteristics that had to be fulfilled for the project were as follows:
- Weight between 42 to 47 tons;
- No armor best armor (relied on speed, agility and low silhouette);
- No more autoloader;
- No more hydropneumatic suspension (GM didn't listen to this one);
- And no coffee maker for some reason?; and
- No more big gun, the project will use the weaker M68 105 mm from M60.
But later Creighton Abrams (what a foreshadowing) decided to upscale the maximum weight to 53 tons.

In January 1973, the program officially named XM1. TACOM decided the new tank have to bounce Soviet sabots and HEATs within 800 m and 30° to either side. The tank would use the already mentioned M68. GM and Chrysler submitted their tank proposal with diesel engine from MBT-70 and XM803 and AGT15000 gas turbine engine, respectively. In May 1973 they also sent representitives to the UK for inspecting chobham armor.

Very early design of GM proposal, note on turret port side it has an M242 Bushmaster.

In June 1973, they both won 3 year contract where prototypes were delivered in 1976. GM design was generally superior over Chrysler's with better armor, FCS and stabilizer. Worth to mention that Leopard 2AV was used as an insipration for these designs.

It seems GM was winning, but later Chrysler decided to change expensive parts with cheaper ones, at the same time the Army preferred their gas turbine engine. GM also integrated gas turbine to their design, but the Army was impressed with Chrysler's cost saving methods. In the end, Chrysler was chosen and GM lost.

GM XM1 on trial; note driver hatch is removed for better visibility for him.

DESIGN

Armaments

Main gun; M68

The M68 is the most used US tank gun during cold war. The original characteristics of M1 was to have 105 mm with the turret could integrating larger 120 mm later, so you can call the M68 on M1 as a stop gap, as its still the ol' 105 mm that can't pen Soviet's armor. The cannon has -10 and +15 elevation, with 48 rounds on hull, bustle and turret basket racks.

Machine guns; M85, M60D and M240

GM XM1 has plenty of machine guns, 3 to be exact. M85 can be found on commander hatch, while M60D on loader hatch, and M240 as co-axial machine gun.

Protection

The tank is among the first vehicle to be equipped with chobham armor layout. Where the armor is basically NERA sandwiched between RHA plates. The special armor can be found in glacis and turret cheeks. Other parts of the vehicle is standard RHA. On some photos, the vehicle have smoke grenade launcher on each cheeks near mantlet. Side skirts are also installed.

Mobility

The engine is the same that can be found on MBT-70 and XM803, delivering around 1500 hp. Suspension is hydropneumatic, though 6 of 12 roadwheels seems to be equipped with different kind of suspension where you can tell the difference with longer axle than the other (they also have assymetrical placement). Suspension can be lowered to reduce ground clearance, but not for helping gun elevation.

In-game features, systems and controls

Interior

Engine compartment

Roof machine guns are static because this is not War Thunder where you can control any manual roof machine guns without anyone touching it.

Controls

Mobility
•Pitch; 23 m/s forward and 11.5 m/s reverse;
•Roll, steering;
•Yaw, turret rotation;
•Throttle, ground clearance adjustment.

SLIDER
•Slider 1 for gun elevation.

ACTIVATION GROUPS
• AG 1, engine, along with gun optic cover on turret starboard;
• AG 2, (roof) hatches;
•AG 3, driver hatch, can only be opened if turret is heading diagonally, sideways, or backward;
•AG 4, headlights

800 part version

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