M113 Fire Support Combat Vehicle - I Stepped On An M113

[DMYEugen 688]

TL;DR: A casemate M113 equipped with a 105mm howitzer.

 

History:

In the Early 1970s, the German military had begun accepting large numbers of the new Marder 1 IFV, which, in turn, had begun to replace the aging M113 APC. This meant that an ever increasing number of M113s were being packed away into storage. Eventually, it came to a point where they were, quite frankly, hoarding space. It would be a shame to simply scrap them all so, in 1977, Krauss Maffei and Rheinmetall, in cooperation with FMC, decided they were going to attempt to repurpose some of the stored M113s and make some money at the same time. To do this, they decided to attempt to revive the idea of a casemate assault tank and mix it with modern doctrines. What they came up with was the M113 Fire Support Combat Vehicle, also sometimes called the M113 STUG. Based on a heavily "squished" M113 hull, the FSCV sported an XM103 105mm howitzer in a mount with zero horizontal traverse and a pintle-mounted MG3. The vehicle was advertised as a being capable of taking on several duties, from anti-tank to reconnaissance, making it a jack-of-all-trades. To facilitate this, the FSCV inherited amphibious and troop transport capabilities from its M113 roots. Three weapon ports were available for traveling dismounts. Alas, interest in employing the M113 FSCV, domestically or otherwise, simply did not exist. While it was advertised as a jack-of-all-trades, this also made it a master of none. Its armor was far to thin to provide frontline fire support and there were far better options on the market when it came to armed APCs, artillery vehicles, or reconnaissance platforms. It is unknown what happened to the sole prototype.

 

Place In War Thunder:

There a very few vehicles currently in-game that use the hull aiming mechanic. Yes, it may be a tad buggy, however, this isn't an excuse to exclude the addition of vehicles who could make use of it. The M113 FSCV is one such vehicle. Its small size combined with its high speed would allow for an aggressive, yet still cautious, playstyle. You'd want to speed into a covered position overlooking a sightline at the beginning of the game and lay in wait for targets. You'd want to keep your gun's low velocity in mind and compensate accordingly. After killing an enemy, you'd want to reposition and repeat the process. Alternatively, you could simply rush in and meme on people with the HESH round that you cannon can fire. Since the M113 FSCV was a one-off prototype, it has no place in the tech tree. It likely wouldn't be too terribly useful either and it would be a chore to grind modifications for. It would fit best either as a GE premium or battlepass vehicle.

 

Specifications:

Spoiler

Armament: 105mm XM103 Howitzer and 1x MG3

 

Dimensions: 4.63m, 2.69m, ?.??m (L,W,H)

 

Weight: 12000~kg

 

Armor: Proof against on the front 14.5mm front and 7.62mm on the side 

 

Crew: 2

Ammunition: HE, HEAT, HESH, Smoke 

 

Speed: 67~kph (land) 6~kph (water)

 

Horsepower: 275hp

 

Pictures:

Spoiler

Front View:

 

Elevation/Depression:

 

Vehicle Profiles:

 

Internal View:

 

Sources:

Spoiler

http://russian-tanks.com/turret-mounted-weapons-on-the-m113-and-m113a1-series.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M113_armored_personnel_carrier

https://read01.com/AzQ8A7L.html#.YiG07MnMJPZ

http://www.panzerbaer.de/types/xy_fscv.htm

https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv13225522

 

TM 43-0001-28, Artillery Ammunition

Sheridan: A History Of The American Light Tank Volume 2 by R.P. Hunnicutt

Edited September 5, 2022 by DMYEugen

[leroyonly 4,310]

Open for discussion. 

[Ghostmaxi 873]

Mg 34???

13 hours ago, DMYEugen said:

Armament: 105mm XM103 Howitzer and 1x MG34

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by Ghostmaxi

[DMYEugen 688]

57 minutes ago, Ghostmaxi said:

Mg 34???

Meant to put MG3. Fixed.

2 hours ago, leroyonly said:

Open for discussion. 

Thanks!

[Milocat 4,854]

+1, would be a cool SPG to see in the game.

[Raiden_Black 1,875]

STUG V
+1

[yoyolast 1,708]

+1 for pancake M113

[G1label 143]

So what kind of pen do the HEAT and HESH rounds have?

[DMYEugen 688]

3 hours ago, G1label said:

So what kind of pen do the HEAT and HESH rounds have?

The M67 HEAT shell is already present in-game on the M4 (105) and would perform the same when fired from the M113 FSCV. As for the M327 HESH shell, I do not know. I cannot find its penetration numbers listed anywhere, however, it may perform similarly to the HESH fired from 106mm recoilless rifles. The XM103 howitzer is also supposedly capable of firing a round called M662 HEAT, however, I cannot find figures for this round either, though I do expect it to have more penetration as it is described as a "fixed high-explosive antitank round for utilization with 105mm howitzers for an expanded capability in a direct-fire mode against armor and hard targets".

Edited September 5, 2022 by DMYEugen

[Spr4yz 59]

It's definitely a finicky vehicle to fit into the tree without overlapping too much with the WW2 vehicles. But since it's a M113 variant and a spiritual StuG successor (without the armor) it's a +1.

[hienapunk 1,064]

NATO asu57

[Chris4win 366]

Would be a cool spotting tank/light tank between the puma and the m41 to finally fill that gap depending how strong the ammo is and post pen dmg.