The General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) ASCOD Medium Main Battle Tank (MMBT) is based on a modified chassis of the ASCOD multi-purpose vehicle platform. With a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 42 tons, it is fitted with a modern Leonardo’s 120 mm smoothbore main gun, a 7.62 coaxial machine gun (MG), a 7.62 mm pintle-mounted MG and a 12.7 mm MG-armed remote weapon station on the roof. The main gun is coupled to a computerised fire control system, giving the commander and gunner stabilised day/thermal sights that incorporate a laser rangefinder. The 120mm smoothbore gun fires standard NATO ammunition and is coupled to a computerised fire control system giving the commander and gunner stabilised. The medium tank is being presented by General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) at Eurosatory 2018, being held in Paris on 11-15 June
The ASCOD Medium Main Battle Tank (MMBT) have been developed using General Dynamics European Land Systems’ new “Common Base Platform Design” (CBP) with modular capability and open vehicle architecture with three power-pack solutions between 530, 600 and 800kW, either steel tracks or rubber bands and multiple configurations up to the crew of three plus 8 dismounts. The advanced CBP design ensures all ASCOD variants are on one common platform for a reduced logistics footprint. This also facilitates cross-national vehicle manufacturing and operational interoperability between different military users in response to the political vision to foster defence cooperation across Europe.
The ASCOD Medium Main Battle Tank (MMBT) gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 42 tonnes was particularly attractive to customers in the Far East whose operating environment puts heavier 60- to 70-tonne main battle tanks (MBTs) out of favour. This tank was really a request from the market and so General Dynamics European Land Systems developed this, which is effectively the last member of the ASCOD family. Transportability was a major consideration in the MMBT’s design (the vehicle is transportable in an A400M or C-17 airlifter), along with affordability; the MMBT’s life-cycle costs, were less than half those of a standard MBT.
The ASCOD (Austrian Spanish Cooperation Development) armoured fighting vehicle family is the product of a cooperation agreement between Austrian Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG (in 1998 the production of heavy armed vehicles was sold out under the name Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug, which is now the producer) and Spanish General Dynamics Santa Bárbara Sistemas (both companies are now divisions of a unit of General Dynamics). The ASCOD family includes a medium tank equipped with a 105/120 mm gun, a SAM launcher, an anti-tank missile launcher, mortar carrier, R&R vehicle, Command & Control vehicle, ambulance, artillery observer, and the AIFV model. In Spanish service, the vehicle is called Pizarro, while the Austrian version is called Ulan.
