Astra M47 upgrade.

[Nicholas_Concu 2,634]

General Info
The story of the Italian M47 starts during the 5th October of 1952, Italy during the early cold war began to modernize its tanks fleet by begining to replace the aging M26 Pershing tanks they had in service. The M47 would be delivered from America to Italy in the form of the MAP (Military Assistance Program), which would proceed to equip Italy with new M47 tanks up until the 29th of December of that year, when deliveries would finally be complete. Italy would end up using over 1,000 units of the M47 in various different regiments. They would go on to serve in the Italian army for many years, until they were eventually put out of service in favour of the American M60. Before they were put out of service however, Italy in 1965 would be interested in seeing if it would be possibile to modify and upgrade its M47 fleet to make it last longer and potentially save up money for other projects they wanted to work on. Thus, Italy would orginise a sort of competition between Italian firms, which would all design/modify the M47 tank which would be compared with each other. The plan would be that the best out of the ones presented would be chosen by the army and adopted in service. Of the firms which took part in this competition would include OTO Melara, which would present an M47 with a new 105mm cannon and improvements to the hull, FIAT which presented an M47 which used some form of diesel continental engine, ISI which would re-use the same engine installed on the Leopard and outfit it to the M47 and also the Servizio Tecnico Di Motorizzazione which aimed to improve the M47 with some form of unknown diesel engine. Out of these companies, Astra also took part and would be the one which stood out (besides OTO Melara) in terms of the overall upgrade to the M47. The Astra upgrade mainly focused on improving the turret and gun elevation mechanisms whilst also outfitting the tank with an General Motors 12V-71T engine. Other improvements on the M47 Astra included a new transmission, new muzzle break, a modified cross-drive, a new eletrical generator and a new fire control system. It would retain the standard armament of any regular M47, it being the 90mm M36 cannon which was able to fire rounds such as APCR, HE and HVAP. It also had access to up to 2 12.7mm machine guns. Its also good to note that in the mid-1950's the machine-gun and gunner in the front of the hull of the Italian M47 tanks would be abandoned, so all these M47 prototypes had 4 crew members and the "hole" which used to house the machine gun. Armor wise, everything was kept the same from the standard M47 tank, meaning it was able to survive enemy fire from rounds that were in service during the era. Ultimately all M47 proposals would be presented but would not generate enough interest to be put in in full time service. The Astra company would however keep working on military vehicles, mainly the logisitical kind such as transport trucks. Its unknown what happened to the Astra prototype but it likely was scrapped or was transformed back into a regular M47 after the trials were over.

Armament+Equipment
x1 90mm M36 cannon (able to fire nato-standard 90mm rounds of the era)
x1 12.7mm Machine Gun (roof mounted)
x1  7.62mm M1919A4 Machine Gun (Coax)

Specifications (of regular M47, do note that the one being suggested is different.)

Spoiler

Why it should be in game
I think it should be added in game because it would be a great mid tier tank for Italy, one of the things that Italy would benefit from is from adding more vehicles to lineups, although Italy in service used a regular M47, instead of adding the standard version Gaijin could add this one which is better. It wouldn't take long to actually model and implement in game and overall would be a decent adition that many players would enjoy.
Sources
Gli autoveicoli da combatimento dell'esercito Italiano volume III 1945-1955
Storia Militare Mezzi corazzati e Blindati dell'esercito Italiano 1945-2015
Alinari Archives
https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/m47-patton-in-italian-service/
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/M47_Patton
https://miles.forumcommunity.net/?t=60208138
https://svppbellum.blogspot.com/2019/01/il-carro-armato-pesante-m47-patton.html
Photos

Spoiler

Edited August 8, 2022 by Nicholas_Concu

[yoyolast 1,708]

Open for discussion. 

[Nicholas_Concu 2,634]

3 minutes ago, yoyolast said:

Open for discussion. 

Thanks! 

[Foltry123 18]

+1 folded with the other m47 after we get the Leone MBT at 7.3

[rn_s25 75]

Very much would help Italy rank 5 lineups

[Охраняет-Камни 6,650]

+

maybe an unpopular opinion, but I would like to have it as a researchable modification to a standard M47 in the tree. Though anyway it's a good addition.

[Milocat 4,848]

+1, would be a great addition to the Italian tree.

[ItalianAce02 40]

An M47 with a bit of Italian sauce? It is a +1 to me!

[Colerend 224]

+1 Good job Nicho

[ConroeDoctrine 133]

+1 would prefer it over a normal M47, although i don't think this is a vehicle that is particularly needed. I guess it would be a decent premium/event vehicle.

[EL337GH0ST 195]

So what exactly is different about this one than a normal M47? 

[Nicholas_Concu 2,634]

8 minutes ago, EL337GH0ST said:

So what exactly is different about this one than a normal M47? 

No offense but it says in the post... 

 

On 05/08/2022 at 14:46, Nicholas_Concu said:

The Astra upgrade mainly focused on improving the turret and gun elevation mechanisms whilst also outfitting the tank with an General Motors 12V-71T engine. Other improvements on the M47 Astra included a new transmission, new muzzle break, a modified cross-drive, a new eletrical generator and a new fire control system.

 

[EL337GH0ST 195]

2 minutes ago, Nicholas_Concu said:

No offense but it says in the post... 

 

 

Yeah, that's why I wrote the question, your post doesn't give absolutely any information on how different this tank is. The only thing that I can see from a quick google search is that the 12V-71 engine produces between 525 and 630 HP which is way worse than the normal M47, otherwise the vague information you posted doesn't mean anything. All of those "improvements" could only be relevant in real life.

[Охраняет-Камни 6,650]

39 minutes ago, Nicholas_Concu said:

No offense but it says in the post... 

 

 

I think you should rework specifications table to this exact modification, because it confuses.

[伊地知虹夏正在点国策 1,288]

5 minutes ago, _Condottiero_ said:

I think you should rework specifications table to this exact modification, because it confuses.

Indeed, if we didn't already had a M47 in the Italien tree it would be fine, but most of us just wanna know the difference to the already existing M47 in the Italien TT.

[kamina_sama 139]

+1 We need this

[kamina_sama 139]

52 minutes ago, EL337GH0ST said:

Yeah, that's why I wrote the question, your post doesn't give absolutely any information on how different this tank is. The only thing that I can see from a quick google search is that the 12V-71 engine produces between 525 and 630 HP which is way worse than the normal M47, otherwise the vague information you posted doesn't mean anything. All of those "improvements" could only be relevant in real life.

The Astra upgrade mainly focused on improving the turret and gun elevation mechanisms whilst also outfitting the tank with an General Motors 12V-71T engine. Other improvements on the M47 Astra included a new transmission, new muzzle break, a modified cross-drive, a new eletrical generator and a new fire control system. It would retain the standard armament of any regular M47, it being the 90mm M36 cannon which was able to fire rounds such as APCR, HE and HVAP. It also had access to up to 2 12.7mm machine guns, 

I have read the post once and found it

[OpusAudereSemper 80]

+1 we Need this, with the originale m47 in service too before

[Nicholas_Concu 2,634]

1 hour ago, EL337GH0ST said:

Yeah, that's why I wrote the question, your post doesn't give absolutely any information on how different this tank is. The only thing that I can see from a quick google search is that the 12V-71 engine produces between 525 and 630 HP which is way worse than the normal M47, otherwise the vague information you posted doesn't mean anything. All of those "improvements" could only be relevant in real life.

Uhm no. 
The improvements to the turret and gun elevation mechanisms meant that the vehicle could elevate much easier, meaning it would be quicker than the standard one.
The new engine, transmission, cross drive and other hull improvements meant the vehicles mobility drastically improved. You are incredibly mistaken if you think these changes wouldn't be noticible in game and only be '' relevant in real life ''.
 

1 hour ago, _Condottiero_ said:

I think you should rework specifications table to this exact modification, because it confuses.

There isn't any official specifications from Astra, or at least i haven't been able to find any. However people should easily realise this is not a regular M47 by reading the post.
 

1 hour ago, Ens_Reefen_Ronny said:

Indeed, if we didn't already had a M47 in the Italien tree it would be fine, but most of us just wanna know the difference to the already existing M47 in the Italien TT.

If you do a bit of research you can find out yourself, it doesn't take long to compare the 2 variants. 
One big easy one is the fact that the one in the tree has a different cannon to the one im suggesting.

[AVROVULCANXH558 349]

+1, maybe as a premium of some sort? Either that or in the tech tree, Italy has room to expand

[Conte_Baracca 4,547]

The subtle differences make this an excellent variant of the M47 Ideal for the Italian TT.

[Nicholas_Concu 2,634]

14 hours ago, Conte_Baracca said:

The subtle differences make this an excellent variant of the M47 Ideal for the Italian TT.

Thank you for the support! 

[SanchezIsBruh 54]

+1 sure

Edited August 20, 2022 by SanchezIsBruh

[Kingtiez@live 606]

+1

[Nicholas_Concu 2,634]

9 hours ago, Kingtiez@live said:

+1

Thanks for the support!