Mk 56 Scipio

The **Mk 56 "Scipio"** is a Main battle Tank (MBT) of the Immortal Army developed by the Military Design Bureau between 1989 and 1995 to replace the Mk 45 "Alexander" MBT, Mk 47 "Temujin" MBT and Mk 51 "Fei" Light Tank, all three of which had been in service since the early 1970s ('71, '72 and '74 respectively). The Mk 56 was marked by several delays owning to its engine, armour and gun delaying its entry into service by an estimated 2.5 years and causing Brigadier Zahra to nearly cancel the project and go over the a new project for a Mk 57.

## **Name**

The name Scipio refers to the Roman noble family of the Scipio's. It was chosen because the Scipio's were historically great generals. All versions of the Mk 56 have been named after members of the Scipio Family.

* Mk 56A *"Scipio" - 1995*
* Mk 56B *"Scipio Africanus" - 1998*
* Mk 56C - *Cancelled in 2000*
* Mk 56D *"Scipio Nasica" - 2002*
* Mk 56E - *Cancelled in 2003*
* Mk 56F *"Scipio Serapio" - 2006*
* Mk 56G *"Scipio Asina" - 2009*
* Mk 56H *"Scipio Salvito" - 2013*

## **Development**

In 1989 the Immortal Army was in need of a new MBT, with new tanks like the M1 Abrams, Leopard 2 and T-90 arriving on the scene and with the 3 main tanks of the army starting to age, the IA needed a new MBT and send a request to the Immortal Council for the creation of a new MBT project, the first new one since the 1970s. One of the other main reasons for the new MBT was the rise in engine failures for the Mk 45 "Alexander", which had forced already half of the Mk 45s to be retired without replacement, meaning the IA was lacking in tanks.

On the 11th of April 1989 the Immortal Council's Military Command approved the development of a new MBT under the project name *MBT-89*. Within the MDB the new MBT quickly become known as Tank-56, as this was the 56th tank designed by the bureau. The first being the Mk 1 "Landship" from 1917, a development from the British Mk V.

Project MBT-89 had several delays, causing its entry date to be pushed back from July 1992 to February 1995. Many of the delays were caused by the tank's new 125mm gun L-125 gun, replacing the 120mm L-120 series. The gun failed to fire during a demonstration to Brigadier Omar Zahra, which caused Zahra to announce a delay in development to Military Command.

In early 1993 the first fully working prototype was tested at Desert HQ, but within half an hour the engine failed and exploded, causing its crew to be knocked out. This caused the entire engine to be redesigned, turning into the IV-12 Mk XI, sporting an impressive 1,450 hp.

When testing new armour in 1994 a SHEAT round shocked the development team by knocking the sice armour out of position, weakening the armour to such an extent that a regular anti-tank shell from a Mk H7 "Consul", a World War 2 heavy tank, as was estimated by the development team. Immediatly new armour was created using Immortalium, an immortal alloy created from many metals. The team added in depleted uranium armour and discovered that not even the largest artillery shells could knock the tank out in one shot.

This final version of Project MBT-89, the MBT-89K, was reclassified as the Mk 56 "Scipio" and approved for production and entry into service.

## **Design**

### **Armament**

The main armament of the Mk 56 "Scipio" is its 125mm rifled gun, the L-125B. The gun is intended to fire everything from SHEAT rounds, APFSDS rounds and all other varieties of tank ammo, including the later banned EMPAT round. Each version of the Mk 56 got an improved gun, going up the L-125 series from L-125A to L-125G. From the L-125E onwards the gun was smoothbore.

Secondary armament is provided by a coaxial 12.7×99mm M5 "Fury" machine gun *or* by a R-27 "Rex" anti-tank guided missile (ATGM).

### **Armour**

The armour of the Mk 56 is made from the alloy Immortalium with additions of depleted uranium armour. The armour is named Scipio I-U Armour Mk I, going up to Mk XII. Additional protection is provided by kevlar lining and a later addition of graphene lining. The only downside of this armour is that it is heavy as the Immortalium had to be modified for more armour purposes and turned from a strong light weight metal into a heavier metal named Immortalium-H. This causes the Mk 56 to weigh ~68t.

### **Engine**

The power for the Mk 56 is provided by its powerful V-12 engine, named the IV-12 Mk XI. The engine has 1,450 hp and allows the Mk 56 to travel at a speed of 63km/h on road and 49 kp/h off road, which is considered very impressive for a tank weighing over 68t,

### **Crew**

The Mk 56 is operated by a crew of 4 (commander, gunner, loader/operator, driver), which is reduced to 3 (commander, gunner, driver) with the Mk 56G. Inside the tank are several special compartments which are unique to immortal tanks, including

## **Operational History**

When the Mk 56 entered service in 1995, many tank regiments in the army were relieved that they finally got new tanks. For most of its time the Mk 56 was used in the background, as the immortals were still secret. The Mk 56 first saw actual fighting in World War 3, in Europe and India. In Europe the Mk 56 destroyed Soviet tanks at an incredible rate, but with the Mk 56 being out of production to make room for the Mk 59 and Mk 62, the Soviets started taking out Mk 56s in large numbers and by the end of 2015 131 Mk 56s had been destroyed, many from the air and 39 by a nuke hitting a battlefield.

The most notable battle for the Mk 56 was in July 2015 when 12th Tank Regiment "Greek Gods" was surrounded 140 Soviet T-100s and around 15,000 Soviet soldiers. 12th Tank Regiment found itself surrounded with just 19 Mk 56Gs remaining and around 1000 soldiers total. Colonel Georgios Alexios ordered the tanks to form up in a circle and fire only at Soviet tanks, not at AFVs and infantry. This battle resulted in the death of 3,674 Soviet forces and the destruction of 69 T-100s and the capture of 7 T-100s. All but 2 Mk 56s were destroyed, showing that the Mk 56 could not fight against a supermodern tank like the T-100.

After this battle the Immortal Council ordered all Mk 56s to be pulled from active duty and go into reserve duty. A total of 25 were sold to the UK and the Netherlands as per an agreement signed in 1998.

After WW3 most Mk 56s were scrapped, but 11 survived and were distributed across the world's tank museums. At this time 2 are in San Fransisco, 1 in Britain, 1 in Germany, 1 in China, 2 in India, 1 in the US, 1 in Nigeria, 1 in Brazil and 1 in Kurdistan.

## **Specifications**

**Mk 56D "Scipio Nasica"**

* Weight: *68.2 tonnes*
* Length: *8.5m - 13.9m with gun forward*
* Width: *3,5m*
* Height: *2.62m*
* Crew: *4 (commander, gunner, loader/operator, driver)*
* Armour: *Scipio I-U Armour Mk V*
* Main Armament: *L-125D 125mm rifled gun*
* Secondary Armament: *12.7×99mm M5* or *R-27 ATGM*
* Engine: *IV-12 Mk XI*
* Range: *580km on road - 280km off road*
* Speed: *63km/h on roads - 49 kp/h off road*

## See also

* Military Design Bureau
* List of tanks

### Tanks of comparable role and era

* Leopard 2
* M1 Abrams
* Challenger 2
* Bhisma
* T-90
* T-95
* Type 96

### Immortal Army Equipment

* Armoured vehicles of the Immortal Army
* List of Immortal Army equipment