Centurion Mk.5 AVRE

Centurion Mk.5 AVRE

Centurion Mk.5 AVRE

Britain

V Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
8.0	7.0	7.0

Class:

PREMIUM

Medium tank

Purchase:8 200

STORE

This page is about the medium tank Centurion Mk.5 AVRE. For other uses, see Centurion (Family).

Description

The Centurion Assault Vehicle, Royal Engineers Mk.5, or simply the Centurion Mk.5 AVRE is a gift Rank V British medium tank with a battle rating of 8.0 (AB) and 7.0 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.79 "Project X".

General info

Survivability and armour

Overall, the armour on the AVRE is similar to that on the Centurion Mk 3 gun tank with three major differences: ROMOR-A ERA, composite side skirts and a dozer blade. The ERA provides additional protection (300mm HEAT, 30mm KE) on key areas of the tank, namely the turret face and upper glacis plate, but this has little impact against most opponents due to the majority of shells at this rank being of the kinetic energy (KE) variety. It also changes the visible profile of the turret, obscuring the weak points beneath the standard Centurion turret. The composite side skirts provide a significant increase in protection against small calibre HEAT and auto-cannon fire, increasing it to the point where rounds can no longer penetrate the side armour. They do not change the effect of MBT rounds however as the additional protection simply isn't enough to stop them. The dozer blade may seem unimportant at first glance as it consists of 70mm of structural steel, not RHA, but this is not the case. The blade acts as spaced armour against most rounds aimed at the hull, adding around 60mm against KE and 200mm against HEAT. This can also be added to by the ERA on the front plate, overall providing greater than 400mm of protection against HEAT rounds.

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	39	14	52.2	1007	1,240	19.29	23.75
Realistic	35	13		575	650	11.02	12.45

Armaments

Main armament

165 mm ORD BL 6.5in L9A1 demolition charge projector
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
53			-10°/+18°	±180°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	17.1	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__
Realistic	10.7	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
27.7	__.__	__.__	__.__

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
L33A1	HESH	203	203	203	203	203	203

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
L33A1	HESH	259	30.6	0.4	2.0	20,310	+0°	73°	77°	80°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the Centurion Mk.5 AVRE.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
53	XX (X+)	(+)	(+)	(+)	(+)	(+)	no

Machine guns

7.62 mm L3A1
Pintle mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
1,250 (250)				500	-10°/+80°	±180°
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
3,250 (250)				500	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).

The Centurion Mk.5 AVRE, despite the additional armour, is still essentially a Centurion. The tank must be driven carefully to take full advantage of the environment and avoid being shot until it is able to close in to the enemy and take full advantage of its 165mm gun. It's relatively low speed for a medium is not ideal with flanking, so simply getting into a safe position and ambushing unaware enemy tanks often leads to success. Your long reload speeds and lack of stabilizer limits your ability to advance and fire at the same time, and so coupled with your relatively weak armour means you should only advance when the area is clear, so that you can move to a new ambush position.

While the rangefinder can be used in conjunction with gun-sight range adjustment, the tank will struggle in medium to long distant combat, as the HESH shells lack any semblance of accuracy past around 400 meters, with shells arcing such that shell placement becomes quite difficult along with shell travel time becoming increasingly high. However, against a completely static target and with good rangefinding crew skill, it is not impossible to land a direct hit up to 800 meters. However, if you miss, your long reload speed means you may completely miss your chance at destroying your target., which can easily maneuver away without threat of damage, or simply return fire freely.

The tank is best played as a support tank in conjunction with the rest of your team. Becoming isolated while playing the Mk.5 AVRE is extremely dangerous, as your long reload speed, low speed, and weak armour means that you cannot withstand an attack by anything more than a single tank. If you fire at an enemy tank and are then caught by another tank, you are most likely done for. Additionally, failing to instantly destroy a target with your first shot is also extremely dangerous, whether your missed or have damaged an enemy. In that situation, you will want an allied tank to cripple the enemy or finish them off until you are able to either reload or retreat. The extra crew member over the other Centurion models may allow you to survive an extra shot, but an isolated Mk.5 AVRE is a dead Mk.5 AVRE. At the same time, a Mk.5 AVRE that ambushes a lone enemy will almost always win, assuming you shoot first.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Has a powerful 165mm gun that fires shells with the explosive mass of 15.87 kg, equal to 20.31k g TNT, one hit can always deal serious damage to the enemy vehicles
• ROMOR-A ERA equivalent protection against 30 mm kinetic energy munitions and 300 mm chemical energy munitions
• The dozer blade in front it can provide additional protection, especially protect the lower glacis
• Low muzzle velocity can allow the trajectory to hit some enemies hide behind the slope, especially in AB
• Composite side skirts
• Acceptable reload time
• Can help repair teammates
• Very useful in the close range combat, especially in urban warfare
• Good reverse speed
• Smoke grenade can be released twice
• A five-man crew, unlike other Centurion designs

Cons:

• Terrible muzzle velocity makes this vehicle not very useful in the open area, especially in RB
• Low top speed
• Centurion is a large tank = larger target
• Side armor is still very weak
• Only has HESH as its only ammunition
• Based on Centurion Mk 5, which is similar as the Centurion Mk 3, so it has the similar weak spots as the Centurion Mk 3 (like the turret ring)
• Top of the engine deck can be easily penetrated by planes

History

In the 1960s, the British army felt the need for a modern multi-functional engineering vehicle. They chose the Centurion Mk 5 main battle tank base to replace the outdated engineering tank, which used a Churchill chassis. Since the engineering vehicle’s tasks were rather specific, the Centurion chassis was given special equipment: the tank received a bulldozer scoop, a device was mounted above the scoop for laying fascines, the altered rear armour plate was equipped with a tow hitch, and a seat was installed next to the driver’s seat for a new, fifth crew member – a navigator. The engineering vehicle, which was called the Centurion AVRE (abbreviated from Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers) was designed to carry a special engineering gun capable of destroying fortifications, pillboxes and other fortified defensive positions. That gun was the short-barreled L9, a 165 mm caliber cannon with low recoil. The vehicle received an ammunition complement of 53 shots with high-explosive squash head (HESH) shells with huge destructive force – each charge contained almost 16 kilograms of explosives. The Centurion AVRE became the standard engineering vehicle for the British Army and participated in several armed conflicts, including the 1991 Gulf War. In the 80’s, Centurion AVRE’s were modernized, receiving additional armour including ROMOR reactive armour - this modification was used in operation “Desert Storm”. The vehicle was retired in 1993.

- From Devblog

Media

Skins

• ' Skins and camouflages for the Centurion Mk.5 AVRE from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

Premium Vehicles: Centurion Mk.5 AVRE - War Thunder Wiki

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] Centurion AVRE: Engineer at War