Better to have a cramped but combat-effective 3 man turret than a spacious but excessive-workload 2 man turret.
It was rejected because it was unsatisfactory while the slightly later Somua Sau 40 , which was accepted, wasn't. The Cavalry was hardly conservative, let alone compared to other parts of the French military.
It's disappointing that the Somua wasn't built with a bigger turret ring, allowing a 2 man turret and maybe even a 3 man for troop or company commanders. Even a cramped 2 man turret would have been good.
EBR was the "next generation thinking" from the Panhard 201...which itself was radical when prototyped, and never got as far as even having a second unit built.
The "slightly later" SAu40 was several years later, and at least a year too late to be ready in numbers when needed.
Nasty combination of politics, economics and infighting inside the army did much damage...
tanks-encyclopedia.com
thats funny, sometime in the past i drove a FIAT Tipo car - never knew it was also a tankFIAT 3000 Tipo II - Tank Encyclopedia
Kingdom of Italy (1925) Light Tank – None Built Tipo I The Italians copied the successful French Renault FT tank in the form of the FIAT 3000 right at the end of World War I and produced a large number of those vehicles. They were marginally better than the Renault FT forebear but, just like […]
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I only just noticed this tank existed. Once again a case of convergent evolution for most extrapolations of the Renault FT, like D1. It's not half-bad for 1925, it could have been a decent starting basis for increasingly bigger and modern tanks, up to interwar mediums. It even has sponsons so the turret could expand over the tracks, and the engine is mounted transversely.
If I remember correctly, interest in the tank dropped quite rapidly even before testing was completeld. Afaik, the final-but-never-completed prodution order was for less than 150, with half going for the UK. In the end, only a few dozen were built, and none left the US. But I believe it's suspension was used in a british heavy prototype.
That's where the suspension came from.
The Italians possibly missed an opportunity in not picking up on the infantry-support value of the 75mm assault-gun version of the French FT, and arming their 3000 Type II with a (possibly shortened?) version of their 65mm infantry gun, or another gun of similar caliber that could be made to fit in the turret.FIAT 3000 Tipo II - Tank Encyclopedia
Kingdom of Italy (1925) Light Tank – None Built Tipo I The Italians copied the successful French Renault FT tank in the form of the FIAT 3000 right at the end of World War I and produced a large number of those vehicles. They were marginally better than the Renault FT forebear but, just like […]
I only just noticed this tank existed. Once again a case of convergent evolution for most extrapolations of the Renault FT, like D1. It's not half-bad for 1925, it could have been a decent starting basis for increasingly bigger and modern tanks, up to interwar mediums. It even has sponsons so the turret could expand over the tracks, and the engine is mounted transversely.
They put the much larger 120 mm mortar in a turret on the BTR-D to create the 2S9 Nona, which already weighed less than 10 tons. The application for an 82 mm mortar in an armored vehicle would be in a 5-7 ton wheeled vehicle along the lines of the 2S41, which is a GAZ Tigr with a mortar in an overhead turret, or the South African Eland 60. Maybe the Soviets would be able to put it in a BRDM.2B9 Vasilek - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
82 mm fully automatic mortar (side loaded with 4 round stripper clips).
What if the Soviets put this gun in a AFV turret?
They did that a few years later in a 9t casemated tank with a 65mm short gun, so yeah it should have no issues with the turret already being the size of FT BS' casemate.The Italians possibly missed an opportunity in not picking up on the infantry-support value of the 75mm assault-gun version of the French FT, and arming their 3000 Type II with a (possibly shortened?) version of their 65mm infantry gun, or another gun of similar caliber that could be made to fit in the turret.
Had they done so, they then could have evolved that tank-direction toward a better capability to fight other tanks, as armor improved past its bullets-only early design approach and ordnance designers began to think about armor piercing beyond what cast iron slugs could achieve.
Fortification version of the French 75mm gun used in the FT 75mm version:
