Французский основной боевой танк AMX 32

French main battle tank

The AMX 32 was a French main battle tank developed by AMX and APX in the late 1970s during the Cold War as an export tank to fit in a specific market niche of nations with smaller defence budgets. While six prototypes were built, it failed to garner interest for foreign sales.

The mantlet, the turret sides and the hull noseplate of the AMX 32 are hollow, the outer layers are made of dual hardness steel plates which are particularly effective against kinetic energy projectiles. The frontal armor of the AMX 32 was successfully tested against 57 mm armor piercing rounds of the ASU 57 at 500 m range and 75 mm tungsten cored PCOT rounds fired from the AMX 13 light tank at 1000 m range. A SFIM M527 gyrostabilized panoramic sight with three channels; two daylight (×2 and ×8) and one night (×1) with light intensification allowing night observation up to 300–400 m.

The loader has at his disposal one left facing episcope and two rotating periscopes.

The AMX 32 was powered by a Hispano Suiza (then Renault) HS 110 2 SR diesel engine fitted with twin Holset turbochargers and intercooler. The engine is coupled to an automatic, power shifting, SESM Minerva ENC 200 transmission with five forwards and reverse gears.

P1 : presented to the public for the first time in June 1979 at Satory VII Exhibition of Military Equipment and Weapons. Like the AMX 30, it retained a cast gun mantlet with a CN 105 F1 105 mm gun. In 1980, it was fitted with a modified turret featuring a new welded mantlet. P2 : displayed at Satory VIII arms fair in 1981, the shape of the hull front was modified to improve its ballistic protection. Due to the previous changes, the combat weight of the AMX 32 increased to 40 tonnes.