The Philippine Army has already adopted its newest light tank, the Sabrah. This information was shared on Twitter by Ronkainen’s account. The tank is manufactured by the Israeli company Elbit Systems. The original Philippine Army requirement calls for a fleet of 144 light tanks/tank destroyers.
The Sabrah light tank was developed for the Philippine Army. In the coming months, the Israeli company should deliver the light tank in various configurations. This is the requirement of the Philippine Army. It is about 18 tracked light tanks built on the ASCOD 2 chassis. Another 10 light tanks, but this time wheeled, will be built on the Pandur II chassis. Those on the Pandur II chassis will compete in the tank destroyers category.
The Sabrah tank weighs around 30-33 tons depending on the configuration. The length of the tank is 9.5 meters, the width is about 3.64 meters, and the height of the tank is 2.43 meters. A tank is operated by a crew of three.
The main armament of the tank consists of an Elbit Systems Land 105mm rifled gun. The vehicle carries a total of 36 rounds of ammunition, with 24 rounds stored in the hull. The tank has a secondary gun type FN MAG 7.62×51mm NATO, which will help the defense crew in close combat. The turret of the tank is for two people and in addition to the 105mm gun, it also has a bustle-mounted autoloader.
According to publicly available information, the main 105mm gun will be capable of firing six rounds per minute, with a maximum range of up to 3,600 meters. The gun uses NATO standard ammunition including armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot [APFSDS], high-explosive squash head [HESH], and high-explosive plastic tracer [HEP-T] rounds. The high-explosive multi-purpose tracer [HE-MP-T] M110 round can also be fired from the 105mm gun.
The tank has a maximum power of 720 horsepower provided by a diesel engine. The suspension consists of a torsion bar and Piedrafita rotary dampers models AR01 and AR02. The maximum speed at which the tank will travel is 72 km/h or 45 mph.
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Philippines acquired Elbit Systems' 105mm Sabrah light tank
The Philippine Army has already adopted its newest light tank, the Israeli Elbit Systems' Sabrah. This information was shared on Twitter by Ronkainen's account.
bulgarianmilitary.com