TAM

TAM

DF105

JaPz.K A2

TAM

DF105

JaPz.K A2

Germany

VI Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
9.0	9.0	9.0

Class:

Light tank

Research:160 000

Purchase:450 000

Description

The Tanque Argentino Mediano (shortened to TAM, English translated as: Argentine Medium Tank) is a rank VI German light tanks with a battle rating of 9.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.81 "The Valkyries".

It's arguably the best BR 8.7 tank that Germany has to offer, with slightly better mobility than the A1A1 and the ability to scout. The minimal armour and hullbreak detract from it though. Similar to the A1A1, it shares a horrible stock grind against the hordes of new 8.7 premiums, but holds its own very nicely once APFSDS is unlocked.

General info

Survivability and armour

The armour is composed of welded steel, providing protection up to 32 mm.

The front can defend against 12.7 mm machine gun ammo, but the side armour is only proof against standard machine guns of 7.62 mm. However, most enemies that can be faced will usually have a 12.7 mm machine gun or larger in their possession, making it so even a burst of bullets could riddle the TAM with holes. With this in mind, take caution when flanking a tank with a disabled gun to get a side shot, as you can easily lose a few crew members to machine gunfire. This becomes less of an issue after unlocking the APFSDS round when side shots are rarely as necessary.

The TAM also is hull-breakable, and so rounds that hit have a chance of instantly destroying the vehicle.

Armor Composition:

• Rolled Homogeneous Armor
• Cast Homogeneous Armor - Gunner's Optics Port (Turret Roof)
• Structural Steel - Fenders
• Structural Steel of Chassis - Suspension
• Tracks

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	11 mm - 32 mm (77°) Upper Glacis 32 mm (29° - 60°) Lower Glacis	15 mm	11 mm	5 mm - 32 mm
Turret	30 mm - 50 mm (6° - 35°) Turret front 30 mm (51° - 63°) Mantlet Front 25 mm (7° - 10°) Mantlet Sides	25 mm Crew Compartment 15 mm Bustle	15 mm	11 mm - 30 mm
Cupola	35 mm			11 mm

Notes:

• Main Gun - 25 mm
• Machine Guns - 5 mm
• Tracks and Suspension - 20 mm
• Fenders - 4 mm
• There is a 25 mm ring around the gun where it meets the mantlet.
• The mantlet covers most of the turret front

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	84	84	30.5	1116	1,374	36.59	45.05
Realistic	75	75		637	720	20.89	23.61

The mobility is not bad, with a max of 75 km/h (RB) on the road in forward and -50 km/h in reverse. Off-road mobility is quite average, especially on flat terrain, but there is a poor steering response. The TAM is powered by a MTU (Motoren- und Turbinen-Union Friedrichshafen GmbH) MB 833 Ka-500 520 kW (720 hp) that produces a good 720 hp at 2,400 rpm.

Armaments

Main armament

105 mm FMK.4 Modelo 1L
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
50			-7°/+18°	±180°	Two-plane
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	22.85	31.62	38.40	__.__	45.18
Realistic	14.28	16.80	20.40	__.__	24.00
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
8.7	7.7	7.1	6.7

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
DM13	APDS	303	302	296	277	257	252
DM502	HESH	127	127	127	127	127	127
DM12	HEATFS	400	400	400	400	400	400
DM23	APFSDS	337	335	330	322	314	306

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%
DM13	APDS	1,478	4.00	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	75°	78°	80°
DM502	HESH	730	14.85	0.4	0.1	4,310	+0°	73°	77°	80°
DM12	HEATFS	1,173	10.50	0.0	0.1	1,270	+0°	65°	72°	75°
DM23	APFSDS	1,455	3.79	N/A	N/A	N/A	?	78°	80°	81°

Smoke characteristic
Ammunition	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Screen radius in m	Screen time in s	Screen hold time in s:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):
M416	730	11.4	20	5	25	50

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the TAM

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
50	41 (+9)	30 (+20)	21 (+11)	1 (+49)	No

Notes:

• Racks 3 and 4 are first stage ammunition racks, meaning they will deplete first (in the order of 3 then 4) but will replenish from the other racks, starting with rack 1 and then rack 2.

Machine guns

The TAM is equipped with two machine guns with a total of 4,000 rounds.

7.62 mm FN MAG 60-40
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
2,000 (200)				600	N/A	N/A
Pintle mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
2,000 (200)				60	-__°/+__°	±__°

Usage in battles

The TAM is a classic light tank, in that it has high mobility and a powerful armament with thin armor.

Characteristics

The mobility of the TAM is quite good, allowing it to out accelerate allies and enemies alike, as well as to reach the battle much quicker. This comes with a drawback though; the TAM has very little to speak of in terms of armor. Nearly every shot will penetrate the armor, and it is also vulnerable to hull break. Heavy machine gun rounds can even penetrate the side of the tank, and aircraft with cannons or machine guns are a great threat. Many autocannons from tanks or SPAAGs are able to penetrate the TAM from the front, although the steep slope of the upper glacis is able to bounce rounds.

DM23 APFSDS can penetrate most - if not all - enemies that can be faced by the TAM, making it the main ammunition choice of most TAM commanders. Despite having access to a decently powerful APFSDS round, there is more ammunition that should be considered. The DM12 HEATFS round can be used to hull break lightly armored vehicles, and also has a penetration of 400 mm - enough to penetrate anything but composite armor or ERA. The DM502 HESH round is probably the least useful of the ammunition choices, due to it being situational. It can be useful, but will often have trouble penetrating the front of enemy tanks; it is best used to hit the roof of a tank to splash down into the crew compartment. The M416 smoke round, while nearly useless against enemy tanks, can be incredibly useful in the right situation. It can be used to lay down visual cover for teammates or the TAM itself, to blind the enemy, or to lay a path to a well defended capture point. The -7° of gun depression is usable, but the commander must be careful not to put the TAM in a position where it has insufficient gun depression to fire without exposing too much of the tank.

Playstyle

Due to its characteristics, the TAM is a very versatile tank. The flanking and scouting gameplay style uses all the advantages of the TAM, while negating the disadvantages, making it one of the best ways to drive the TAM. The TAM's high mobility allows it to assume strong, advanced positions before the enemy expects it to. From there, the scouting ability and powerful armament can be used to mark enemy tanks on the map for friendly tankers to be aware of, or to annihilate them tanks from the side or front. It can do this either by sniping from longer ranges or by ambushing at closer ranges. The versatile ammunition selection allows practically any enemy tank to be engaged effectively from any angle. In closer range areas of a map, the TAM can use its high mobility to hit the enemy where they don't expect it or before they expect it. Hit and run tactics are good because it helps to prevent the enemy from honing in on the TAM's location to knock it out. Due to the low armor of the TAM, the best way to ensure survival is to not be hit. This is why ambushes, sniping, or flanking are the safest and most successful tactics, although aggressive pushes can work as well. Overall, the heavy firepower, scouting ability, and good mobility allow the TAM to be successful in any sort of map or situation.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks		Parts	Horizontal Drive	Laser rangefinder	DM502
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire	Airstrike	DM12
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism	M416	NVD
IV	Transmission	Engine	Smoke grenade	Artillery Support	Improved optics	DM23

After Parts and FPE, the most important modules are the DM23 shell and the NVD upgrade. After that, the focus should be on the Laser rangefinder or mobility upgrades, depending on personal preference.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Good firepower for such a light vehicle
• Very accurate gun, lands rounds with pinpoint accuracy
• Faster and more manoeuvrable than the Begleitpanzer 57
• Wide variety of ammo - APFSDS, APDS, HEAT-FS, HESH, and smoke shells
• Unlike other tanks, the gun doesn't bounce at high speed - very good stabilizator
• Commander's machine gun has a very high elevation limit, letting you shoot at planes and helicopters passing by
• Little armour sometimes lets you survive AP shots as they pass through the tank without dealing much damage
• Absurdly fast traverse and elevation rates
• Turret is on the back, by reversing out of cover, you don't expose the whole vehicle
• First ammo rack has more than enough shells for a battle
• Cheap repair cost

Cons:

• Very thin armour providing little to no protection
• Ammunition price is quite high (APFSDS shells are 600 Silver Lions each), each round fired from the TAM is much more expensive than the same shell from a Leopard A1A1
• Impossible to depress the gun when facing backwards
• Turret is on the back, in some situations, you will have to expose the whole tank to shoot, especially if you need gun depression (engine deck stops the gun from depressing)
• Unlike other German tanks, TAM does not have a great zoom capability (just x8.00)

History

During the 1960s, Argentina was looking far and wide for offers to update its ageing fleet of WW2-era tanks. After obtaining some vehicles, the U.S. refused to make further vehicle sales. This forced Argentina to shift their attention towards the European market, resulting in the purchase of a number of French AMX-13s and its variants.

In 1973 however, the Ministry of Defense drew up a set of requirements for a completely new combat vehicle that would be produced domestically and would to enter service by 1980. Despite knowing what they wanted, Argentinian engineers lacked the technical know-how in order to actually design and produce such a vehicle. Faced with this problem, the Argentinian government sought collaboration with a foreign company in order to design and build the vehicle they wanted. Eventually, a contracted was signed with the German Thyssen-Henschel company, a joint development effort soon ensued.

The TAM (Tanque Argentino Mediano, eng: Argentinian Medium Tank), as it would be designated, was based off the German Marder IFV and equipped with a modification of the British, the Royal Ordnance L7A3 cannon that was produced in Germany. The first two prototypes of the TAM were built in 1976 and 1977 respectively and underwent extensive testing over the course of two years.

After successfully passing testing, the TAM was put into mass production in 1979. The vehicles were armed with FMK.4 Modelo 1L cannons, which was a domestic licensed copy of the original German cannon. The government ordered 200 vehicles of the IFV variant. However, economic difficulties resulted in the order being only partially fulfilled before production was restarted later on. Argentina was also very keen on exporting the TAM to other countries, but despite interest and some contracts being signed, the TAM was never widely exported for various reasons.

A total of around 280 TAMs were built and most of them still serve in the Argentinian army, albeit with upgraded equipment. The TAM was never deployed in any combat operations to this date.

- From Devblog

Media

Images

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Videos

The Shooting Range #123 - Pages of History section at 05:10 discusses the TAM.

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

• MTU Defense Brochure
• [Devblog] TAM - Replacing The Old Guard
• [Devblog] TAM and M247 Sergeant York