Today’s video is going to cover the Saladin R concept from Alvis
This vehicle aimed at export for the middle east took the turret from the scimitar or fox and plonked it more or less on the Saladin. – armed with a 30mm Rarden gun with a 2-man crew it was designed for a variety of roles.
Although a nice shiny brochure was made, none were ever sold and the vehicle was forgotten about. Figured it might be good to dig it out for those who like the off weelies and model makers looking for something weird but legit to make.
#Alvis #Saladin #rarden #fv601 #armouredvehicle #armoured #Tanks #MilitaryVehicles #fredsmum #rare #experimental #wheels #30mm #weapons #british
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Interesting little design.
Was this turret used on anything else?
nice, just when WG kitbashed their own medium tank with wheels
Nice vid, thanks – love the look of this and the Fox.. Any chance of doing something on the M109 A2 in British service during the 80s? Thanks again and keep up the good work!
That’s a Fox turret rather than a Scimitar turret.
I always wondered if the Rardenwas to be a gun or a joke.
Very interesting concept
Given the number of export versions come up, I wonder how many times, if any, the home nation has looked at the export type and said 'yeah, we'll have that too'.
How did someone arrive at 189 rounds? Ignore the divisible by 3 answers please – why not 180 or 210?😮😊
The old Saladin was one of the first vehicles to see service in the Gulf War with Kuwait. Did quite well apparently.
Not sure about what advantage this would have over the Fox. More stable, I guess.
I also love how Alvis in the brochure writes their name as "Al-Vis" to make it sound Arabic.
why did they bother with fox when this looks better and could go round corners better.
I've always wondered what an updated version of the Saladin would be like.
Its hard to sell things when others are giving them away for free (US and USSR military assistance)…
"…who had a firm grasp on producing the unneeded…"
I swear, even if this channel didn't offer a wealth of information about obscure vehicles, brilliant writing alone would still warrant a subscription.
Noice video as always, thanks for your hard work!
The Saladin with the 90 mm gun, is that the version that will be used by Wargamming? Now that the line has been revealed are you allowed to share your information with us?
Well done as always! Now i know this probably isnt a priority, but could you please add your newer videos to your playlists? They're great to listen to
I simply like hearing about projects that simply don't have much available info. If an hour long dive into the details of something is a full meal, things like this are perfect little snacks.
Another inspiration for Warthunder developers? Thank you for an interesting video.
As there ever an armed version of the Stalwart?
All I ask is that you turn up the gain on your microphone.
A lot.
I literally have to turn my phone's volume to maximum to listen to these great videos.
If they had just made it bigger, they could have had the world's first AFV.
Yeah, some very interesting ideas, thanks from Canberra. 🦘
Would have been vastly more successful than Fox, probably not tipping over on side slopes.
Saladin production was severely impacted by the need to supply Saracen, a modern light APC to Malaysian forces, while also trying to get them into Kenya, where the main issue was lack of maintenance and repair facilities to accommodate the chassis.
By the time foreign deliveries were possible in large numbers, the moment had passed, a pity, because like the Hawker Hunter, and Ferret, probably throw in Centurion, second hand refurbished versions of these vehicles were gold on the International market, making money for some, just not rewarding the original designers and manufacturers.
The deployment of Saracen in Malaysia saw a likeiy pattern of employment mirrored all around the place, where the Saracen was used with the dreadfully dated Staghound, because we had them, cheap, and the mobility issues weren’t too much of a factor as armoured cars were not used in a direct assault role, more as oversight, being a Counter insurgent campaign.
As an aside, my Fathers’ mate was in 3RAR over in Singapore back then, and I once asked him what was the best part, the best thing about the Saracen ? He replied “the Bren mounted on the roof, at the back.”
Funny ? No, practical. He stated all vehicles make noise, the Commies would hear them coming, wait until the vehicle passed, then attack the least protected bit, it’s arse end. The Bren was deterrent to this tactic. Other than that, he called them a range target, because as an Infantry soldier, you can’t hide unseen inside a moving steel box. He felt that APCs were best at keeping mud from getting into the boots of Infantry, and stated that for long moves across country, aircraft and helicopters were preferred by the Diggers.
Don’t forget, ANZAC DAY, 25th, KAPYONG DAY Korea, 24th April, where The Third Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, 3RAR , earned The Swimming Pool, US Presidental Unit Citation, and became nicknamed ‘Old Faithful’, and rightly named the very best Infantry unit in the world.
Lest We Forget.
my attempts at kit-bashing have never been this good!
Another superb,informative video. Thank you
I think the Saladin R at the time frame in question would have made a fantastic afv. The only thing that would have improved it would have been powered traverse I think. I'm not a huge wheeled afv fan but Saladin was a nice looking vehicle.
The Saladen that could have been.
Do you do anything on the WW2 Humber Heavy scout car?
Is an episode on the Pipsqueak a possibility?
To be honest, it looks better than the Fox. The Fox was a great idea in theory, but of course the Rarden was just a bit too much gun for the 4×4. I suppose the German approach of using 20mm on everything would have been easier!
I really liked the concept of the Saladin & Saracen pairing (and of course the related Salamander & Stalwart), and it’s a shame we didn’t do something similar in the 1980s, instead of Saxon. While the Saxon is often unfairly criticised, having a new multi-role 6×6 family would have been great.
I had the old Tamiya's model, for those days was a nice one, it's a pity that this version wasn't build, perhaps with some modern improvments would've fared well as counter-insurgency/support vehicle.
when the TA upgraded to CVRT from Fox what else could the excellent 30mm cannon turrets be used on, an interesting idea for all those third world country's we sold the Saladin to. The gun is so good they even found a way to mount it on the 1960's FV432 variants whose motor hatches were still in place.
Thank you another great video.
If there is one out there I guess we may see it pop up in Ukraine.
I actually tried this almost as soon as I had a 1/76th Scimitar and Saladin in my paws, but I came to the conclusion that the Scimitar turret looked "lost" on the big Saladin hull and it would be be better (more room for the crew!) to put the RARDEN gun into the Saladin turret. Never actually got around to it though: it's somewhere on the list of 200+ what-if projects I'm about 5% of the way through…
Imagine something like this with more modern Depleted Uranium rounds.
Nice Vehicle the Saladin.
It is a shame it was never produced as it looked like a very useful version and a good support version for the 76mm cannon armed Saladin. A good Saladin in any version is needed in the modeling community in 1/76- 1/72 scales. Thanks for sharing this.
Jesus Christ, 170 mm of penetration from a 40 mm gun? Simply ridiculous.
Wargaming: introducing the new Lynx SR: a British captured lynx 6×6 modified to have a 3 shot 75mm autoloader and goes 65mph either direction (satire… Till they really do it)