Tank Chats  

The retirement of Scorpions due to fumes was only part of the story. Under the Conventional Forces In Europe Treaty (CFE treaty), the Scorpion was classified as a "Heavy Armament Combat Vehicle" due to it's 76mm gun, while the Scimitar, with it's 30mm gun, wasn't covered by the treaty at all. The treaty set separate limits on "Main Battle Tanks" and "Armoured Fighting Vehicles", the latter including AIFVs, APCs and Heavy Armament Combat Vehicles. This meant that NATO could have as many Scimitars as it wanted, but every Scorpion would come at the expense of a Warrior, Bradley or Marder. Since AIFVs numbers were important and Scorpion's recon duties could be performed just as well by a Scimitar, the Scorpion lost out and they were all converted to Sabre "pseudo-Scimitars". This isn't to say the fume problem wasn't real, but it explains why no serious effort was made solve it.

We hope you enjoy this week's episode from David Fletcher on Scorpion & Sabre.

Worked on these for 7 years. Great fun and fast as F.

Like so many military's, the people who will never crew the vehicle make all the decisions about how comfortable it will be for the crew.

An adopted relation of mine was part of the design team on these vehicles. It was his idea to use aluminium to build the chassis and armour and the Jaguar engine to power it. If it was uncomfortable, got a bit smokey inside and broke down a lot, don't blame Johnny Brewer, blame the penny pinching civil servants!

I have a special place in my heart for the CVRT Family since I did a video series on the CVRTs in the Falklands war a while back on my german channel. Quite an interesting bunch of vehicles. And of course for many years they were also indigenous to northern Germany, just like I am :)

Ive never heard of Sabre. I heard of Scimitar. Scorpion was my favorite as a boy. My friend got the action man one and.I was most jealous of him lol. Cheers for the vid.

They're ideal for popping to the shop when you're short of a pint of milk.

David = insta-like. Thank you all for the great content. A visit for a tank fest event is on my bucket list.

Sabre driver here! Best job I had in the army, loadsa fun 😊

I spent the last few months of my Royal Armoured Corps experience at Lulworth. There I often witnessed the Fox being rescued by Scorpions from being bogged down. I left in May 1972. The Scorpion and Fox were coming into service at that time. I was always confused as to why they adopted the 4.2 Jaguae engine, when the 5.3 has just come out. Seems curious. The smoke inhalation problem of the 76mm was nothing compared to the 17 Lb'er, that thing was lethal ! In my first trade test firing at Warcop in 1965 I fired 7 rounds and couldn't see the hand in front of my face at 6 inches. It was like breating pure Amonia. My Troop Sgt went through the Korean War and claims to have fired 53 rounds from a 17 Lb in one firing battle !!! God knows how he managed that ! I just want to state that I had the privilege and honour of crewing a Centurion for 3 years. Jan 66 to Sept 69. What a tank that was, I loved it to bits :) Gonna shut up about the Chieftain !!!

I'm from Honduras and the army here still uses these old Scorpion tanks along with the Saladin armored cars, pretty old stuff for a mountainous country that doesn't need tanks lol, I guess they're relics from the Cold War, I've climbed into the Scorpion it's a very cramped vehicle

Cheers to our beloved National Treasure, Mr. David Fletcher!

'It was got at by a firm...." what a throw away. Marvellous.

I feel like making the A/C unit mandatory would've been more cost-effective than doing away with an entire gun and turret assembly and then re-designing the turret ring to fit a modified turret from another vehicle and then deciding to throw that idea out the window as well. All that trouble because the British military didn't want to spring for an optional feature.

David Fletcher is a gem. he will be missed.

Scorpions were still used in the Republic of Ireland upto 2017 then replaced by the MOWAG Piranha III

That Jaguar engine looks super efficient just sitting still on a block. Thanks for the great research and presentation.

David Fletcher a treasure in himself for all mankind.

I absolutely love the scorpion it is one of my most favourite tanks I also love scimitar and spartan

My favorite millsurplus vehicle 👍

A meeting gun that could defeat contemporary armor. Talk about an eggshell armed with a sledgehammer!

Another enjoyable moment with the tank museum. It really is a world class asset.

Seems it would have been cheaper and less of a hassle to simply install a fume extractor in the 76mm. Hell, they could just put an air extractor fan in the roof if they wanted a cheap solution for that matter.

Fantastic stuff. I love the Scorpion and David is a treasure.

I actually got to drive a German Scorpion and a Leopard 2 when I was stationed in Germany. The Scorpion was a blast!

Scorpion is like someone was designing a M551 then came to their senses in time.

It was not the 76 mm that was the problem it was the fumes (toxicity) from the co-ax 7.62 machine gun. People would pass out due to the fumes and after a day on the ranges you would do cordite farts.

First vehicle I ever learned to drive at 17 in 1973.

Thank you . 🐺

Remember the Scorpion when it came out ... it was featured on 'Blue Peter' the kids programme, and my brothers and I spotted one (covered in a tarp) on the back of a transporter in the carpark of a transport cafe on the A1. There was a tatty-but-mainly-working Sabre for sale very recently on Trademe, the NZ equivalent of ebay, going for NZ$75K (about 45,000 Euro). Didn't sell, probably still available.

Top job guys as always

I had the Palitoy Action Man one, which can also be seen used in an ancient Doctor Who episode. Top quality 1970s special effects!

my neighbour as a kid,lived near Ipswich,was a captain in the 22nd tanks reg (captain/Mr Smith.stocky build and Scottish as they come). he brought a scorpion tank and a fox carrier to our school ,parked em on the sports field, and we all got to inspect and climb around them..awesome.. love at first sight and still my favourite shell firing tracked thing to this day..

Wonderful video as always.

The CVRT range had Controlled Differential steering which made it much easier to drive ( especially as it had a seperate brake unlike 432 ) but a bit hard to understand how it works. As trainee VM's we were told that to turn left you pulled the left lever which applied the right brake which made the right track speed up, the left tract slow down and you turned left! As you can imagine it took us a while to get our heads around how that worked!

9:33 now I’ve got Jeremy Clarkson leaning forward and saying drolly to Captain Slow & Hamster *”A **_Jaaaaag_** “* 😄

good report. loved the scorpion since the seventies!

Everything exists within a context and the cost of a vehicle has wider implications. As other militaries have seen, having the technologically "best" isn't always a good idea if you have less of them or have to wait longer for them. Everything is a compromise.

Scorpion - Sir David's daily commuter vehicle.

I was a REME gun fitter, I was on detachment to 1RTR to help their gun fitter in modifying the traversing gear on the Scorpions. I was testing one that had been modified. My only vision was through the gunners sight. A group of black berets suddenly appeared. So I shouted "Turret traversing, get your f***ing heads out the way". Next thing I heard was someone climbing up on the tank and the RSM's head upside down peering through the commanders hatch, "Next time you tell the colonel to get his f***ing head out the way remember to say SIR". Another notable time with a Scorpion was with a Field Workshop. We were doing another modification where the gun was removed using the overhead crane in one building and the main work being done in another, on the far side of the workshops. I was the worse for ware after a very enjoyable night of boozing. I was suppose to be working at the shed with the crane, our staff sergeant took pity on me and sent me to the other shed so I was out the way in case someone senior appeared, the other shed was too far from the offices for any one senior to wander over to. I climbed in one the tanks being moved from one shed to the other, sitting in the gunners seat. Having a hangover and peering through a moving gunners sight (which wasn't attached to the gun) wasn't a good idea. Boy did I feel poorly. That modification program meant most days were we still working after everyone else had left the workshop. With no one around when moving the tanks we would race each other, sometimes it would be the army verses the MOD police who were our gate keepers. Complaints came in about tanks being raced from the civvies living near the workshop. Of course we knew nothing so the MOD police were asked if they knew anything about tanks racing , oddly they hadn't seen anything either.

Wonderful job.

What a splendid, nippy jumpy little machine!

The brick kit in the shop looks so cool. I'm going to have to save up for that one.

I had no idea the Scorpion was so badly treated. Always reminds me of when I lived in Aldershot, early to mid 70s, you'd see them on the road occasionaly. On Army day you'd be able to get up close to all the vehicles. Especially remember being there in hot summer of '76.

Brilliant ❤️👀👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Changing gears with the foot... Like a motorcycle? The little video clip of the gear pedal immediately reminded me of my motorcycle riding days.

The transmission is sequential and the pedal shifter is similar to what motorcycles used. In many ways it functions like modern flappy-paddle automobile gearboxes, just with a different clutch arrangement. As to the fumes... that was an excuse used to justify retiring them early as part of an arms treaty since they could be classified as tanks... and thus the british army didn't need to get rid of any chieftains or challengers to meet their treaty obligations. Canada used the same turret and gun on their locally manufactured Mowag Piranha I 6x6 variant known as the Cougar, and never experienced a fumes problem, nor did Australia which fitted the turret to a M113 hull and used them for twenty years. The fume "problem" for the british ones could have solved by simply fitting an extrator fan in the turret roof, or a bore evacuator to the barrel but it was a fake reason to politically justify their retirement and they never wanted to actually fix them. And when they tested the "fumes" they basically did it with the hatches closed and rapid fired thru the entire forty round main gun ammunition capacity and the forced air NBC system was turned off (which otherwise would prevent fumes from entering the fighting compartment when the gun breech opened and thus prevented them getting the evidence the politicians WANTEd to be found). As to the 30mm rarden guns used in the sabre and scimitar... they too produce fumes inside... as does firing the coax MG... but like I said...the politicians needed a fake cause to justify their removal from service of the 76mm gun armed ones. Singapore and Iran had their Scorpions fitted with the long barreled Belgian made Cockerill 90mm gun which could fire HEAT rounds capable of dealing with MBTs up to roughly T-62s.

Happy new trousers.

Great video very interesting

i remember seeing one of these at a local army show in the late 70's , always liked them since , and didnt "action man" have one of these too ?

Very informative

Extraordinario carro de combate como este fabuloso Museo de Carros de Combate. Un saludo desde España.

We had the Scorpions in the New Zealand 🇳🇿 Armoured Corps at QAMR Queen Alexandra’s Mounted Rifles

The Scorpion was a light tank, fast yes but you could knock it out by firing a tin opener at it from a catapult.

It would be so much fun to use one of those to drive to work in.

New Zealand had power traverse fitted and stowage for an extra five 76mm rounds.

if I had the money, I'd buy a Scorpion. I love tanks :D

I remember it as my 'action man' tank as a kid.

Neat looking little critter.

Man I sure would like to tip a pint with sir Fletcher. Knight this man already

Cant wait for a samson chat

the retirement of the Australian M113 MRVs had less to do with the turret fumes (although they were a concern and training on the firing range was always conducted with the turret hatches open for ventilation) and more to do with the adoption of the ASLAV vehicles in the mid 90s, the 25mm gun vehicles being its direct replacement as a fire support vehicle for the Cavalry

I passed my Cat H in a Sabre, loved driving them.

*everyone in the sealed tank smoking a cigarette* Crew: "Goddamn these minor gun fumes, mate."

oh god bless it

It's so cute!

A superb video. Are these vehicles going to be in running order in 2066 for the 1000th anniversary?

The biggest thing that Scorpion has going for it is that it's just so cute!

Given the penchant for pinching pennies, wouldn’t it have been cheaper to refit the barrel with a smoke extractor? It’s a solid state piece of kit.

When I was in the military a local army/navy store had one of these in their shop on the floor. It’s crazy small. American SUVs are larger

Fletcher's alive..we'll make it!

Tank einstein....legend..

I was one of the last courses to fire the 76mm

This needs to be redesigned to be 5-6 tons, two man crew, 30mm auto cannon, rubber tracks, with a missile defense systems like on the latest M1ABRAMS, 5 large Switchblade drones, and modern armor . It could be transported by helicopters or dropped by parachute. It could be used with infantry, armored units, convoy protection, recon, protection for support units in the rear.

3 sec in the video and YES! that is a like

Thank You. Budget restraints... no.. That can't be right 😂😂

Scorpion, light tank of the GLA.

Changes gear like a motorcycle!

God Bless Dave!....However.....Sometimes......I'm left more confused than when I started

We have few of these in the Philippines 🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭

I fitted the the 1st diesel to the scorpion it was a Perkins diesel the Cummins diesel was fitted after I had left. The hull needed no modification to install the Perkins diesel so it was not possible to tell the difference from the outside.

You would think you guys would do the Scorpion and Scimitar together

I’m hoping the Scimitar and Striker are coming along soon to round out the series.

There us absolutely a need for a small cheap vehicle that fits between a truck and a full on APC/IFV. Needs to be cheap so you can have a lot of them everywhere. These days they have to have an antimissile/antidrone system like TROPHY but the concept is still sound.

13:12 "Dampers nicked" means 'shock absorbers stolen' - right?

Fumes in the Turret? LOL! and the crew used to "off gas" a lot after live and blank firing......

Is it me our did the production model's have a foot snapped G.C.P. because that one looked like a Chieftain one. Also we had a guy from 4 R.T.R. nicked one from Catterick to show his friends and family in Glagow 1984 I think.

My dad worked at Alvis making these.

We got a modified extractor system put in Scorpion in mid 90s in Ireland, Improved the smoke problem a bit but not much. I fired a lot of ammunition from the 76. QFC out to 4 km by a Troop was impressive

Air conditioning doesn’t remove fumes. It cools the air inside a sealed system.

It's surprising the XK engine was used in these vehicles.

Somewhat ironically, back in those days, I imagine they could smoke ciggies inside and good %age probably did.

It has a motorcycle shifter

These vehicles were incredibly small and thin armour, ideal for covert work but any confrontation with enemy armour and you were toast. I favour the the fight for information concept

Looks strange without the ammo bins bolted to the front and sides

Where where the penny pinchers when thay where deciding to scrap the original turret, manufacture new turret, rework/replace the turret mounting ring, repositioning of electric in turret ,ammo stowage and lot more I have not thought of. The cheapest solution would be the mid east version missing its compressor so the fan/air replacement works but no cooling. I would give them the cooling troops would love you for it. Second solution keep the turret replace it with gun from sabre!! What where they thinking???

Poor Scorpion. Passive smoking claims another victim!

Cool....

This famly of vechiles was used as the basis for the Action Force /G.I. joe "Wolverine" toy... It was also released as the Action Man Tank