Commanders!
With the information of the first two Rough Riders Battle Path vehicles (ELKE, RDF/LT Ares) out in the open, it’s time to take a look at the final prize of the event, the XM1302 Light Tank.
But, as usual, a little history first.
The XM1302 Light Tank prototype was developed by BAE to participate in the Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) program, which was a U.S. Army program to replace the aging Stryker platform. U.S. Airborne forces needed a highly mobile fire support platform, which effectively called for a reincarnation of the old Light Tank concept that had ended in active service with the M551 Sheridan.
Two companies answered the call – BAE Land Systems with its prototype based on the old M8 Thunderbolt II Light Tank, and General Dynamics with a Light Tank based on the Griffin demonstrator. The first was the XM1302. The first iteration of this final incarnation of the M8 appeared in 2015 and was gradually upgraded until the launch of the MPF program in 2019. Twelve prototypes were in February 2021 and were thoroughly tested that year but, despite showing some quality, BAE was disqualified from the program in March 2022. Some say that the game was rigged from the start in GDLS's favor but regardless of how things went down, that was the end of XM1302.
The fate of all prototypes is unknown but at least one ended up in the U.S. Army Armor & Cavalry Collection museum in Fort Moore. The winning proposal by GDLS was renamed to M10C Booker and went on to be initially approved for mass production, only to be unceremoniously cancelled in 2025, once again leaving the U.S. Army without a highly mobile Light Tank the third or fourth time around. Time really is a flat circle.
In Armored Warfare, the XM1302 will become a Tier 10 Premium Light Tank and the third and final new vehicle prize of the Rough Riders Battle Path.
Those of you familiar Armored Warfare’s many vehicles will likely immediately draw comparison to the MPF. That’s right; the current MPF Tier 10 Premium Light Tank was the competing project that became the M10C Booker. However, while meeting the same requirements and therefore being similar to one another in real life, these vehicles couldn’t be different in the game.
The MPF in the game is one of the heaviest Light Tanks around and is protected by layers of NERA. The XM1302 is effectively the opposite. We modeled the basic configuration without additional armor (which can be seen on most photos) and, instead of protection, we made it about speed.
But let’s get the armor out of the way first. The vehicle has basic armor and that’s about it. Its protection lies in its special ability (described below), mobility, and the Iron Fist active protection system mounted on its turret with the Supercharged APS ability available. The APS, while not present on the real-life prototype, is quite realistic as it could be found on earlier BAE prototypes). The smoke grenade launcher is also improved compared to other vehicles of its class.
The main weapon is the 105mm M35 soft recoil cannon that can be found on the XM8. The main difference is its ability to deal a lot of damage in a short period of time thanks to it having a large magazine and a very high rate of fire when it’s loaded. Granted, you won’t be penetrating most MBTs in their upper frontal plate, but that’s not how you are intended to play anyway. The gun will also offer excellent depression and elevation angles (-13/+20) so the vehicle will be easy and convenient to use.
But the main point is its mobility. The XM1302 will be very fast and agile – that’s a given as its lack of armor needs to be compensated somehow. However, there’s one more trick to it. The XM1302 will offer a special new passive ability called Mitigation.
Very simply put, the faster the tank goes, the less damage it takes. The current work looks roughly as such:
- If you are going 32 km/h (or faster) upon shell impact, you receive only 50% damage
- If you are going 50 km/h (or faster, almost at maximum off-road speed) upon shell impact, you receive only 25% damage
- If you are going 70 km/h (almost at maximum speed) upon shell impact, you receive only 10% damage
There are of course downsides to this ability as well. For one, the mitigation does not affect module damage so it’s perfectly possible to become immobilized. Damage dealt by ramming and fires is not mitigated either. And last but not least, the numbers above are not final yet, we are still in the process of implementing the ability and it will require additional testing.
And that’s still not everything. Owning this vehicle will be very useful because it’ll become a prerequisite to owning ANOTHER vehicle in an unannounced upcoming system, but it’s too early to talk about that. For now, please take the vehicle “as described above”.
We hope you will enjoy this amazing machine as much as we enjoyed making it for you. We’ll tell you more about the rest of the Battle Path in the very near future, but for now:
See you on the battlefield!
