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Armor/AFV
For discussions on tanks, artillery, jeeps, etc.
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Definitions
Gee_Jay19
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Posted: Thursday, April 02, 2020 - 10:47 AM UTC
What are the definitions for Armour personal carrier, Armour Fighting Vehicle, tanks and Armoured cars?? How those four differentiate from each other according to the size, weight, caliber size of the main gun, fire power and mobility
Kevlar06
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Posted: Thursday, April 02, 2020 - 11:08 AM UTC

Quoted Text

What are the definitions for Armour personal carrier, Armour Fighting Vehicle, tanks and Armoured cars?? How those four differentiate from each other according to the size, weight, caliber size of the main gun, fire power and mobility


Here’s a down and dirty rundown. It primarily involves the conditions for which a vehicle is designed and employed, and there can be overlaps in missions and employment:

APC— Armored Personnel Carrier - primary mission to transport Infantry or scout personnel in combat under armored protection, usually refers to a tracked vehicle, but could also include larger multi-wheel armored vehicles, with or without armament, designed to transport troops. May also include specialized engineer type vehicles.
AC— Armored Car. Primarily a light (but it could also include heavily armored) wheeled vehicles, usually four, six or even eight wheels. Used primarily in the reconnaissance, or command and control role. Could be armed with light to heavy weapons.
Tank— TK- refers to a heavily armored, all tracked vehicle with a main gun or other heavy armament, designed for offensive combat. May also include various anti-tank tracked vehicles in general.
Armored Half track— part wheeled, part tracked armored vehicle, usually with light armament, may serve as a specialized troop carrier, or specialized weapons carrier. This is a largely obsolete vehicle on the modern battlefield, also used for reconnaissance, troop transport or as a prime mover..

AFV- Armored Fighting vehicle— general reference including all of the types above, usually excludes recovery vehicles, soft-skins, or adaptations like gun trucks or jeeps, however, it really depends on how the soft skin, recovery vehicle, or gun truck is employed. It’s a fighting vehicle if armored and employed in offensive combat if there are numerous like vehicles in the formation intended for the offense. Not necessarily considered an AFV in defensive combat roles, since it’s primarily an up-armored adaptation, not designed for armored combat.

Hope this helps.
VR, Russ
RobinNilsson
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Posted: Thursday, April 02, 2020 - 11:12 AM UTC
There is also the designation IFV, Infantry Fighting Vehicle, which differs from the APC in that the basic APC is more or less a battlefield taxi carrying troops to the fight while an IFV allows the infantry to fight from inside the vehicle (the Bradley would be an IFV and the original M113 was an APC).
/ Robin
babaoriley
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Posted: Thursday, April 02, 2020 - 11:27 AM UTC

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What are the definitions for Armour personal carrier, Armour Fighting Vehicle, tanks and Armoured cars?? How those four differentiate from each other according to the size, weight, caliber size of the main gun, fire power and mobility


APC--Armored Personnel Carrier, an armored box on tracks, or sometimes wheels, meant to carry troops to where they will usually dismount and fight on foot, i.e. 'battle taxi'. Probably has a machine gun or two as armament, usually lightly armored but there are some heavier versions with thicker armor.

IFV--Infantry Fighting Vehicle, similar to APC, but designed so the passengers can use their weapons from inside the armor, and with a heavier weapon like a 20-30mm auto cannon and perhaps an AT missile launcher.

AFV--Armored Fighting Vehicle, a tank, or APC, or any armored vehicle used in combat including self-propelled artillery, it covers them all.

Armored car--a wheeled AFV usually with armament heavy enough to be able to destroy enemy AFVs at least in its own weight class (e.g. enemy armored cars), but not meant to transport infantry. Usually on the lighter end of the weight spectrum.

Tank--mostly a tracked AFV with a fully rotating turret (with some exceptions) containing all or most of the vehicle's armament, usually a main gun capable of destroying enemy AFVs including those with heavy armor, and one or more machine guns. There are light, medium and heavy tanks, with bigger main guns and thicker armor as you go from light to heavy. Most tanks today are Main Battle Tanks meant to do all the jobs of tanks as most armies don't have light and medium and heavy tanks anymore.
Gee_Jay19
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Posted: Friday, April 03, 2020 - 05:45 PM UTC
Thank you RUSS giving the answer for me. I heard there is a tank classification according to the caliber size of the main gun such as light, medium, heavy and super heavy. could you please tell me how this classification is and what are the exact caliber sizes for those?? thank you for your valuable ideas.
Gee_Jay19
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Posted: Friday, April 03, 2020 - 05:47 PM UTC
thank you for your valuable idea. could you please tell me the classification of the tank such as light, medium, heavy and super heavy and exact caliber sizes of those? thank you!!!!!!
Gee_Jay19
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Posted: Friday, April 03, 2020 - 05:49 PM UTC
thank you for your idea. hope you help me in future.. thank you!!!
Kevlar06
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Posted: Friday, April 03, 2020 - 06:06 PM UTC
Gee,
I’m not sure about tank classifications just by calibers. Normally, tanks are classified by combination of armament, armor protection, and weight, which makes them light, medium or heavy tanks. But it can vary by country and time period. Most modern tanks with anything over 90mm and weighing 50 tons or more might be considered heavy tanks. But, during the early part of WWII, a 30 ton Sherman might be considered a medium tank, with a 75mm gun, while in comparison, a 70 ton Tiger II with an 88mm gun was considered a heavy tank. It really depends on the tank and time period.
VR, Russ
Scarred
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Posted: Friday, April 03, 2020 - 09:07 PM UTC
Here:

Breakdown of types of tanks for the U.S. during WWII.
https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/US/ww2_US_Tanks.php

Germany WWII
https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/nazi_germany/ww2_german_panzers.php

Nowadays there are just tanks. They're call MBT's. Main Battle Tank.
GeraldOwens
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Posted: Saturday, April 04, 2020 - 10:01 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Thank you RUSS giving the answer for me. I heard there is a tank classification according to the caliber size of the main gun such as light, medium, heavy and super heavy. could you please tell me how this classification is and what are the exact caliber sizes for those?? thank you for your valuable ideas.


In the late 1940's, and on into the 1950's, the US Army stopped using the terms Light, Medium, and Heavy to describe tanks. The M41 was simply 76mm Gun Tank M41, the M47 was 90mm Gun Tank M47, and the M103 became the 120mm Gun Tank M103. The point became academic when the M60 was introduced, as it was a Main Battle Tank (which replaced the medium and heavy class).

In today's armies, light tanks are now usually referred to as Armored Reconnaissance Vehicles, or something similar (because infantry commanders hear the word "tank," and assume they can be used as primary assault vehicles, leading to massive losses).
Kevlar06
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Posted: Saturday, April 04, 2020 - 02:51 PM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Thank you RUSS giving the answer for me. I heard there is a tank classification according to the caliber size of the main gun such as light, medium, heavy and super heavy. could you please tell me how this classification is and what are the exact caliber sizes for those?? thank you for your valuable ideas.


In the late 1940's, and on into the 1950's, the US Army stopped using the terms Light, Medium, and Heavy to describe tanks. The M41 was simply 76mm Gun Tank M41, the M47 was 90mm Gun Tank M47, and the M103 became the 120mm Gun Tank M103. The point became academic when the M60 was introduced, as it was a Main Battle Tank (which replaced the medium and heavy class).

In today's armies, light tanks are now usually referred to as Armored Reconnaissance Vehicles, or something similar (because infantry commanders hear the word "tank," and assume they can be used as primary assault vehicles, leading to massive losses).


I think the real issue here is what time period the original poster is referring to. In the “modern” (meaning today) US Army, there is no such thing as a “light tank” for instance. This implies he’s looking at an earlier period. It would help to get that cleared up.
VR, Russ
tankmodeler
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Posted: Monday, April 06, 2020 - 06:30 AM UTC

Quoted Text

thank you for your valuable idea. could you please tell me the classification of the tank such as light, medium, heavy and super heavy and exact caliber sizes of those? thank you!!!!!!

The key thing herre is that there are no hard and fast defeinitios for any of these vehicles or classifications. They varied by time period and even country. What one country called a light tank, another called a medium, even the same vehicle. The AMerican M26 Pershing was, during the very end of WW2 called a Heavy tank, but, immediately after WW2 was over was reclassified as a Medium, The exact same vehicle.

The only real way to know was to see what the operating country called the vehicle on any given day.

Why is it so important to have exact definitions? I you are really set on having hard definitions for some purpose, I suspect you are going to be disappointed.

Paul
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