Batignolles-Chatillon Char 25T

The Batignolles-Chatillon Char 25T was an early Cold War medium tank of France, developed in 1954 by the Batignolles-Chatillon company. The vehicle was not developed beyond the two prototypes.

Development
It was designed for a 25-ton weight class, which is nearly twice the weight of the AMX-13. Its primary armament was a 90 mm cannon, and was operated by 4 crew members. Its speed could reach 65 km/h. Two prototypes were made before it was set aside. However, some principles of creation of the tank and some of its technology were used in other French AFVs. Some variants were developed, but none of these were ever used in active service with the French Army.

Design
The Char 25T was designed around the gun and mobility so therefore little to no importance was put on the armor. The armor was very thin, being 50 mm at its thickest point, and only intended to protect against heavy machine guns, as that was enough considering the role of the tank being focused on hit-and-run tactics.

The tank was supposed to get up to 65 km/h on the road with a 40 km/h cruising speed.

Turret and fire-control
The turret was of the oscillating type and consisted of two pieces. The bottom part functioned as the base of the turret, which also contained the turret ring which moved the turret horizontally, while the top part (containing the cannon) was joined by a hinge and was capable of moving up and down to elevations of -6˚/+13˚.

The tank was equipped with a total of 16 periscopes and one fixed binocular. The tank commander was also fitted with a priority device using which he could take control of the cannon from the gunner in case he needed to shoot urgently and the gunner wasn't ready.

Armament
The main gun was a 90 mm D.911 APX gun fed by an automatic loader. It used the same ammunition as the T119 gun used in the American M47 Patton (later designated 90 mm M36) but with a longer barrel, resulting in a higher muzzle velocity of 930 m/s with a 10.91 kg projectile, giving better range and armor penetration with kinetic ammunition. The total amount of main ammunition that was stored inside the tank totaled to 52 shells, 16 of which were found in the turret.

The tank was also equipped with two 7.5 mm machine guns for close range anti infantry fire and/or estimating the range to the enemy target, as well as four smoke grenade launchers (two on each side) which could be deployed for extra shielding while retreating from a difficult situation.

Surviving examples
There were at least 2 prototypes of the Char 25T of which one is at the Musée des Blindés in Saumur, France. The fate of the other prototype is yet unknown.