The FV101 Scorpion was designed to be an armored fighting vehicle that could be rapidly airlifted to trouble spots.
The scorpion is one deadly arachnid, and there is also the highly venomous scorpionfish. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that these creatures have become the namesake for a fair share of weapons systems. Some of these are of the old-school Cold War-era Eastern Bloc/Warsaw Pact persuasion, such as the Czech vz. 61 Skorpion 7.65mm machine pistol and the Soviet Foxtrot-class diesel submarine Scorpion (on display next to the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary in the Port of Long Beach, California).
Not to be outdone, the NATO nations’ military forces produced their fair share of war machines bearing the names of these deadly denizens of mother nature during the Cold War. The U.S. Navy had the tragically ill-fated nuclear attack submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589). And Great Britain (apparently being true to the land-dwelling invertebrate as opposed to the sea-dwelling vertebrate) bestowed the name upon a tank. The National Interest now takes a look at the FV101 Scorpion light tank/armored reconnaissance vehicle.
FV101 Scorpion early history and specifications
Built by Alvis Car and Engineering Company Ltd (originally headquartered in Coventry but now headquartered in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England), the FV101 Scorpion was the lead vehicle and the fire support type in the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked), CVR(T), family of vehicles. It was first produced in prototype form in January 1969, accepted by the British Army in May 1970, and officially entered into operational service in January 1972. It was designed to fulfill the British Army’s requirement for an armored fighting vehicle that could be rapidly airlifted to trouble spots.
The tank had the following tech specs and vital stats (courtesy of Jon Guttman of HistoryNet):
- Crew: Three (commander, driver, gunner)
- Mass: 7.8 tons
- Hull Length: 14 feet 4.75 inches
- Height: 6 feet 10.5 inches
- Maximum Speed: 51 mph (Note: this is the Guinness world record for the fastest production tank, attained at the QinetiQ vehicle test track, Chertsey, Surrey, on January 26, 2002)
- Powerplant: Jaguar J60 4.2-liter gasoline, dual overhead camshaft military version, six-cylinder
- Operational Range: More than 370 miles
- Armament: One 76mm L23 main gun; coaxial 7.62mm GPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun)
A total of 3,000 of these tanks were built.
Operational History
The Scorpion had the advantage of being capable of making an amphibious landing or water crossing using a flotation screen. Another plus was its compactness, which enabled them to be transported in pairs to combat zones by a C130 Hercules.