MARS 15

MARS 15

MARS 15

Description

The MARS 15 is a rank French light tank with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It was introduced in Update "Ixwa Strike".

General info

Survivability and armour

The MARS 15 does not have any armor to talk about, it's only protected againt 7.7mm bullets but anything bigger than that will go through the vehicle with ease even at range.

Armour type:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	15 mm	___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom	___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Turret	___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Cupola	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm

Notes:

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				_,___		__.__	__.__
Realistic				_,___		__.__	__.__

Armaments

Main armament

Give the reader information about the characteristics of the main gun. Assess its effectiveness in a battle based on the reloading speed, ballistics and the power of shells. Do not forget about the flexibility of the fire, that is how quickly the cannon can be aimed at the target, open fire on it and aim at another enemy. Add a link to the main article on the gun: {{main|Name of the weapon}}. Describe in general terms the ammunition available for the main gun. Give advice on how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage.

90 mm CN90 F4					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	30	-8°/+18°	±180°	N/A	__._	__._	__._	__._	__._	_.__	_.__	_.__	_.__
Realistic					__._	__._	__._	__._	__._

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
OCC 90 F2	HEATFS	__	__	__	__	__	__
OE 90 F1	HE	__	__	__	__	__	__
OFL 90 F1	APFSDS	__	__	__	__	__	__

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
OCC 90 F2	HEATFS	___	_.__	__	_._	___	__°	__°	__°
OE 90 F1	HE	___	_.__	__	_._	___	__°	__°	__°
OFL 90 F1	APFSDS	___	_.__	__	_._	___	__°	__°	__°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
OFUM 90 F1	___	____	__	__	__	___

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
30	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__

Machine guns

Offensive and anti-aircraft machine guns not only allow you to fight some aircraft but also are effective against lightly armoured vehicles. Evaluate machine guns and give recommendations on its use.

7.62 mm A-A-F1N
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
	___ (___)	___	__°	__°

Usage in battles

The MARS 15, like all light tanks, relies heavily on early positionning to perform. It is advised at the beginning of the game to reach for an advanced position and provide intel to your team by spotting ennemy targets. Mid-game, thanks to its combination of good mobility, good firepower and good rate of fire, it can be a very effective flanker or a sniper. Indeed, the MARS 15 thanks to its APFSDS ammunition does not have to engage the ennemy from the sides if it want to penetrate their armor and is not as limited asx previous French light tanks in this regard. Its APFSDS shot will go through most ennemies with ease even at range bar few notable ones such as : Maus, IS4, IS7, Object 279, T55 AM1, T62 M1, Conqueror Mk 2, other vehicle will be easily penetrated on their hulls and turret even if some turrets can be tricky like the ones found on the Cheiftain or soviets heavy tanks. The way you will play the vehicle will heavily depends on the map as well as the situation on the battelfield but thanks to its mobilty and firepower it can adapt and be useful in most situations. That being said, keep in mind that you are not a brawler and that anything will penetrate your armor so you are very much advised to plan your movements quite ahead and most importantly try to not be spotted as it'll almost always result in a rapid death.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Low profile
• Good mobility
• Very good RoF of 12 shots per minutes when aced
• Powerful APFSDS rounds which allow the tank to also act as a sniper with the laser rangefinder

Cons:

• No gun stabilization
• Very light protection
• No night vision devices

History

The MARS 15 was private venture undertaken by Creusot-Loire Industrie (Property of GIAT Industries now NEXTER) in the late 80's whose purpose was to propose already existing customer of the AMX 13 a new generation of low cost/high efficiency modular platform that could mound a wide array of weapons system as well as be assigned to several purposes ranging from anti-air, infantry fighting vehicle and light tanks. 3 prototypes were built; one using the GIAT TS 90 turret housing the CN 90 F4 90 mm gun, one using the two-axis stabilized DRAGAR turret ( DRAGAR turret is the early development and version of the TARASK turret found on the VBCI IFV vehicle) housing a 25mm chain gun and one using the TML turret housing a CN 105 G2 105mm gun. The platform as well as its various equipment options were proposed on the export market for few years without attracting any potential buyers. Indeed, already existing customers of the AMX 13 preferred to modernize it rather than ordering a whole new vehicle they were not familiar with and the French Army had a huge (and still has) preference for wheeled vehicles for its light reconnaissance units due to tracked vehicle being more expansive both to operate and maintain and was not interested as a result. Seeing the vehicle failing to attract foreign customers as well as not receiving any interest from the French Army, GIAT definitely shut down the project in the early 90's

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

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

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.