Evening star., 1941-08-18
Army Develops Two
Tanks 10 Supersede
Present Models
New Designs Expected
To Enter Production
About May, 1912
BY RICHARD l.. STOKES.

BY RICHARD L. STOKES.
Just as the Army's light tank has
passed a total output of 1000 ma
chimes, and its medium tank is ar
irving at assembly belt production,
word comes that both models are
to be superseded by new designs
which are already at the testing
stage. In the view of critics, these
changes in the country's major
ground weapons are for the purpose
of correcting blunders Of engi-
neering. According to the Ordnance
Department, they simply represent
advances such as are taken as
matter of course in the automobile
industry.
The new designs are expected to
enter production about May, 1912.
During the interval, there will be no
halt in manufacture of the present
armored cars, each of which the
Ordnance Department declares the
best of its class in the world-for
the time being. Machine tooling
for the improved models will pro-
ceed while the building of those they
are to supplant continues unabated.
The proposed new medium tank
Is known as T-6 and will eventually
become MA, or next in the series
after the current M-3. Information
as to armament, still under expert
ment, is restricted" but certain
hints as to innovations have been
unearthed.
The cars profile will be far more
sharply streamlined than that of
M-3. The latter's main cannon, of
IS millimeters, is installed at the
right front side of the vehicles body,
with a 37-mm. cannon and 80 ma
chine gun in turret at the center
and above. In the new design, the
75-mm. gun, when used, will be
mounted in central turret.
The most revolutionary change,
of which least may be said, is a de-
vice whereby the turret's armament
may be altered according to the
mission in hand. Should the car be
sent against infantry, a battery of
50-caliber machine guns could be
mounted For sterner tasks, there
could be change to a group of
37-mm. cannon or single 75-mm.
gun.
Otherwise, the MA will remain
Identical with the M-3. No plan
is being considered at present for
armoring the vulnerable caterpillar
tread. Battle experience has proved,
1t is asserted, that only 2 per cent
of hits occur in this area, while the
weight of adequate protection would
cut speed 5 miles an hour.
Powered by Aircraft Engines.
The M-3 is declared to be the
only tank in existence that is
powered with aircraft engines. "a
few still use Diesel radial motors.)
Instead of rs or 281a tons, as has
been variously published, the We
hicle has live weight of 80 tons,
including ammunition and a crew
of seven. Thanks to an up-to-
date plant said to consist of a
1,400-horsepower Wright Whirl-
wind motor. this ponderous bulk
can be driven at 25 miles an hour.
The proposed new light tank is
known as TT while in the testing
stage. 1t is expected to have the
same weight, engines and speed,
bI1t fY1a af,r1a6 m
proach brought against American
armored vehicles-that they have
no anti-aircraft defense of their
own. 1t is to mount an all-purpose,
f1at-trajectory cannon which can
be elevated against -bombers
and raiders, or leveled to blast other
tanks and fortified positions.
The principal innovation cannot
be described, except that it is de-
signed to eliminate present loss of
time necessitated by repairs of vital
parts when over-used or damaged
by enemy fire. Like the new medium
tank, the body of the next light
tank is to be drastically 'streamlined
to reduce air resistance and offer
y slighter target to projectiles.
Procurement Problem Solved.
The light tank entered produc-
ton last April and has reached a
point at which this procurement
problem is regarded as solved. The
1st and I'd Armored Divisions now
have an over-strength of such We
hicles, 1t is said, and plenty will be
on hand when the Sd and 4th Di-
visions are advanced enough in
training to need them. Relative
speed of the program has been due
to the facts that light tanks are
easier to build than medium ones,
and that the Rock Island Arsenal,
since the World War, has produced
an unbroken series of models of
the i6-ton class.
The country's first medium tank,
known as MI, was created during
the World War. 1t had a speed of
miles an hour. Work was
dropped in this field after 1923.
A model known as M-2 appeared
in 1885, and work on an improved
design, M-24-1 began in 1888. About
Is of these machines we're distrib-
uted to the armored force during
last June and July, but deliveries
have virtually ceased.
Output of M-3 medium tanks
started at small figure in July,
has reached something like two
a day in August, and will attain
In September, according to esti-
mates, total of more than enough
to equip one division, which re-
uuires 108 medium as against 273
light tanks. There is q lag of
several weeks, which will be re-
duced as quantity production gets
under way, between output at the
factory and delivery to the field
forces. This period is needed for
installing armament and putting
each machine through complete
tests.
Contract For $500.
The chief plant for producing
medium tanks is a new Chrysler
factory In Detroit with rs acres Of
space under one roof. It has a
contract for building $500 of these