AMX-50 (TO90/930)

This page is about the premium French medium tank AMX-50 (TO90/930). For other versions, see AMX-50 (Family).

AMX-50 (TO90/930)

AMX-50 (TO90/930)

France

V Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
8.0	8.0	8.0

Class:

PREMIUM

Medium tank

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

MARKET

Description

The AMX-50 program started in 1945 as a requirement called NOM 141 (Project 141) as a 30 ton weight class medium tank. NOM 141 was to replace the then-new ARL-44 as the next generation of indigenous French tanks, but development was protracted and went through many design iterations. The AMX-50s received their signature oscillating turrets in 1949 as the AMX M4, equipped with a 90 mm cannon which was deemed inadequate by that point which led to an upgunning program. This resulted in two 100 mm equipped AMX-50s being produced, one being a conversion of the AMX M4 and the other being a new vehicle built from the ground up to AMX-50 (TOA100) standard. The AMX-50 (TO90/30) is an AMX-50 with the turret of the Char 25t - developed in 1950 and still retaining the 90 mm gun. An intermediate step, it unfortunately did not make it far into development as the French were looking towards a larger caliber and longer gun - something which eventually led to the development of the AMX-50 Surblinde and AMX-50 Surbaisse.

The AMX Char Moyen de 50 tonnes (TO90/930) was introduced during Update "Apex Predators" as a reward for Battle Pass: Season X, "Royal Guard". Veterans of the French tree will quickly notice that this vehicle shares a turret with the Char 25t, an extremely potent light tank, which is sure to spark a smile for anyone in the know. The TO90 fires M82 APHE like the Char 25t does, but unlike American M82 fired from the US 90 mm, the French rendition has a longer barrel, meaning they penetrate over 20 mm more armour and break the 200 mm+ threshold in penetration. Alongside the slightly faster shell velocity and 4 second autoloader of the turret and using your extreme mobility you can shred the flanks of an unaware enemy team with ease. The only things to note are your lack of armour against anything above autocannon fire and the fact that too much firing at once can empty your ready racks - if you can compensate for both, this vehicle is a beast that offers one-shot potential unlike any other tank in the tree down to its APHE round with high filler while also being incredibly nimble.

General info

Survivability and armour

Smoke grenades

Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle

Armourfront / side / back

Hull90 / 40 / 40

Turret50 / 25 / 20

Crew5 people

Visibility120 %

Though not thick, the armour is highly angled and can bounce some hastily placed shots. It will not bounce APDS or HEAT rounds, so be wary of enemy tank fire. However, it may be preferable to be hit by APDS or HEATFS over APHE, as APHE will usually kill you instantly while rounds like APDS can sometimes only knock out a single crew member. It is recommended to stay out of enemy line of fire if possible using your excellent mobility, as your strengths are in fast flanking manoeuvres, not bouncing shells.

Armour type:

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

Notes:

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB58 / 22 km/h

RB and SB52 / 20 km/h

Number of gears5 forward

2 back

Weight46.1 t

Engine power

AB1 908 hp

RB and SB1 000 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB41.4 hp/t

RB and SB21.7 hp/t

The AMX-50 (TO90/30) has excellent mobility. It is only around ~1 HP/t worse than the M18 in terms of horsepower per ton despite the vehicle weighing nearly three times as much, meaning it exhibits near light-tank levels of agility and reactivity. Its reverse gear is also more than adequate, with a -20 km/h reverse speed allowing for quick repositioning. This is the vehicle's strongest asset, so use it wisely.

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	58	22	46.1	1,550	1,908	33.62	41.39
Realistic	52	20		884	1,000	19.18	21.69

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB2 828

RB3 241

SB4 518

Crew training10 000

Experts490 000

Aces1 200

Research Aces1 440 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 130 / 200 / 220 %

2 × 196 / 196 / 196 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Suspension Brake System Filters Transmission Engine	Improved Parts Improved FPE Crew Replenishment	Horizontal Drive Adjustment of Fire Elevation Mechanism 90mm_us_M82_APCBC_ammo_pack Smoke grenade Artillery Support

Armaments

Main armament

90 mm D.911 APX cannon

Autoloader

Automatically feeds projectiles into the breech. The speed does not depend on the skills of the loader

Ammunition52 rounds

First-order12 rounds

Reload4.0 s

Vertical guidance-6° / 11°

The D.911 APX (90 mm) is a cannon capable of firing the M82 APHE round. Unlike on American vehicles using the same shell, this gun is longer and adds another 20 mm to the penetration and around 80 m/s to its velocity, making it even more lethal. The cannon may not go through every tank's frontal weakspots, especially Soviet MBT designs and heavy tanks, but you have the mobility to flank around them and lay an ambush. The 4 second autoloader leaves much wiggle room in case of a missed shot, which also means you can go for a disabling shot first if in a pinch.

90 mm D.911 APX					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Autoloader
Arcade	52	-6°/+11°	±180°	-	34.3	47.4	57.6	63.7	67.8	4.00
Realistic					21.4	25.2	30.6	33.8	36.0

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
T33 shot	APBC	198	195	182	168	155	143
M71A1 shell	HE	19	19	18	16	16	16
M82 shot	APCBC	209	207	195	182	170	158

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%
T33 shot	APBC	930	10.91	-	-	-	47°	60°	65°
M71A1 shell	HE	800	10.55	0.2	0.1	1,210	79°	80°	81°
M82 shot	APCBC	930	10.91	1.2	14	137.2	48°	63°	71°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the AMX-50 (TO90/930)

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	7th rack empty	8th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
52	49 (+3)	42 (+10)	35 (+17)	28 (+24)	21 (+31)	17 (+35)	13 (+39)	1 (+51)	No

Machine guns

7.5 mm MAC 31 machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition4 800 rounds

Belt capacity150 rounds

Reload5.0 s

Fire rate551 shots/min

7.5 mm MAC 31 machine gun

Ammunition1 200 rounds

Belt capacity150 rounds

Reload5.0 s

Fire rate551 shots/min

7.5 mm MAC 31
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	4,800 (150)	551	-	-
Pintle	1,200 (150)	551	-5°/+20°	±180°

Usage in battles

The AMX-50 (TO90//30) is, in a way, a light tank in a medium tank's clothing, with the acceleration and mobility of something more akin to a M18 than any other medium tank in its weight class of 46 tons. Playing the TO90 is fairly straightforward - you have a 4 second autoloader and incredible mobility and adequate gun depression for what your gun is capable of, and as such the best tactic is usually to pick a flank and pick apart the enemy team from their vulnerable sides.

The higher penetration M82 round compared to its American contemporaries means that some weakspots are more easily penetrated (the best example being the ability to go through the entire turret face of the Tiger II (H) at closer ranges compared to the single, mostly inconsistent speck of armour the US M82 round has to hit accurately). One thing to note is the 12-round ready rack in the style of a drum magazine; in longer engagements you can very much run out of ammunition in the rack, so be wary when firing continuously. Retreat to a capture point or relocate if you're running low on ammo, both to reduce your chances of dying due to being unable to fire back and to confuse your enemies even more.

Vehicles you may want to be wary of are heavily armoured behemoths such as the Maus or IS-4M. Ironically the higher BR T-10M has more frontal weakspots than the IS-4M against your gun; against the 4M you can't really do much frontally outside of nicking the commander, so destroying their barrel first is highly recommended. Against the other heavily armoured tanks however the advice is fairly straightforward; disable them or get on their flanks without them noticing, then shoot into their much thinner side armour to bypass that protection to begin with.

With this vehicle positioning is key, but unfortunately this is an acquired skill and not an advantage you can easily exploit like armour or firepower. Pick either an excellent flanking route or a route most people avoid because it gets them less kills (a good example being near the bottom side of Poland as people funnel into the town for kills), and you'll generally find success. If you see an enemy ahead, try and ambush them instead of immediately cresting the hill only to get shot in the lower plate and exploding like a firework, as oscillating turrets are generally horrible fits for gun stability and even the 4 second reload would be insufficient if they see you coming. Be more patient, peeking out only when they're distracted or if you are confident you can win the gun fight, and the enemy team will be wondering why they're being pushed back to spawn as their entire front line collapses to your side flank push. It is also to note to try and avoid shooting upwards - oscillating turrets generally allow gun depression but are not so kind when the turret wishes to elevate, in part due to the drum style loader sticking out the back of the turret.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Excellent mobility
• M82 APHE round has devastating post-penetration damage
• Armour can help bounce some poorly placed shots
• Turret rotation speed is good
• 4 second autoloader with 12 rounds in the rack is excellent for most engagements

Cons:

• Raw penetration power is somewhat lacking compared to the enemies it can face
• The armour is inadequate for consistent protection
• Pintle-mounted machine gun is rifle calibre, and can only raise 20°
• Prolonged combat can run the ready racks dry, which take a while to reload

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the AMX-50 (TO90/930) from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

Battle Pass: Royal Guard discusses the AMX-50 (TO90/930) at 02:34 - War Thunder Official Channel

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] Battle Pass vehicles: AMX-50 (TO90/930)