MBT-70 Tank Program Failed, but Led to the Abrams and Leopard II

19FortyFive's Sean Spoonts recounts the MBT-70, a joint US and German tank begun in 1963 that collapsed over cost and design disputes.

Key points

• The plan: one standard NATO tank, designed on an $80 million research budget.
• The disputes: the US wanted a missile-firing gun and air filtering, while Germany wanted a conventional high-velocity gun and a lighter tank. Metric and US measurements left parts that did not fit, and weight grew from 48 to over 54 tons.
• The driver: he sat in a cupola facing forward while the turret turned, and testing produced disorientation, vertigo and nausea.
• The end: by 1968 the cost passed $303 million with 14 prototype and pilot vehicles built. Germany withdrew in 1969 and the US stopped in 1971.
• The result: the countries went separate ways to the Leopard II and the M1 Abrams, both dropping the cupola driver, the autoloader and the adjustable suspension.

Quick take

Spoonts concludes that although the joint effort failed, it still led to two advanced tanks, and that NATO members went on to standardize much of their ammunition.

Read the full story at 19FortyFive.