Sabre (tank)

Sabre
Sabre at Great Dorset Steam Fair
Type	Reconnaissance vehicle
Place of origin	United Kingdom
Production history
Manufacturer	Alvis / BAE Systems Land & Armaments
No. built	over 325 for UK and several hundred exported[1]
Specifications
Mass	8.1 tonnes
Length	4.8 m (15 ft 9 in)
Width	2.2 m (7 ft 3 in)
Height	2.2 m (7 ft 3 in)
Crew	3
Main armament	30 mm L21 RARDEN cannon
Secondary armament	Co-axial 7.62 mm chain gun
Engine	Cummins BTA 5.9 diesel 190 hp (142 kW)
Suspension	torsion bar
Maximum speed	80 km/h (50 mph)

Sabre is a variation of the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked), featuring the turret from a wheeled Fox Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle mounted on the hull of a tracked FV101 Scorpion.

Development[]

This UK hybrid vehicle was introduced as a less expensive way of producing a similar vehicle to the 30mm cannon armed FV107 Scimitar tracked reconnaissance vehicle, but with a slightly lower profile turret. It was brought into service in 1995. During initial combat exercises, several flaws were identified. In particular, the vehicle lacked defensive capabilities. As such, modifications were made to the turret of the Sabre to include redesigned smoke grenade launchers and the L94A1 7.62 mm chain gun replacing the standard 7.62 mm FN MAG general-purpose machine gun, for anti-personnel use. An ammunition hopper sits on the side of the machine gun allowing the weapon to be more quickly reloaded than a belt-fed machine gun.

The marriage of the Fox turret and Scorpion chassis was not successful and Sabre was withdrawn from British Army service in 2004.^[2]

Additional specification[]

• Smoke grenade dischargers
• Ammunition:
  • 30 mm: 160 rounds Armour-piercing Enhanced Penetration (APEP) and High Explosive (HE)
  • 7.62 mm: 3,000 rounds

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sabre CVR(T).