[Coming soon] CA Lorraine platoon: Wheels and tracks

CA Lorraine Platoon (Rank V)

Historical note

In the post-war years, France was actively engaged in the development of new vehicles. One of those initiatives was the creation of a light tank destroyer weighing up to 25 tons, entrusted to the Lorraine company. Engineers, inspired by the German Jagdpanther and Jagdpanzer IV, took their configurations as a basis. To reduce weight, the designers significantly minimized the armor and used an innovative track system with pneumatic tires instead of traditional road wheels. The armament, named Canon d'Assaut Lorraine (CA Lorraine), included a powerful 100-mm gun developed as part of the AMX-50 program.

The construction of the singular prototype was carried out from 1950 to 1952. However, by the time it was completed, military doctrines had begun to change. The experience of the Korean War showed that the era of specialized tank destroyers was coming to an end. In 1953, the project was closed. Despite this, the work done on the CA Lorraine chassis formed the basis for the promising Lorraine 40t medium tank.

CA Lorraine

The leader in the new French platoon will be a very unusual vehicle, a tracked tank destroyer with pneumatic wheels instead of regular road wheels. The CA Lorraine is a powerful 100-mm gun on an incredibly mobile platform!

The CA Lorraine was designed with a configuration inspired by the famous German tank destroyers. However, the French vehicle had to be light and maneuverable. By reducing the weight of the armor, it was possible to achieve impressive specific power. The innovative solution of using rubber inflatable wheels instead of road wheels ensured the tank destroyer's high mobility. The CA Lorraine could accelerate from a standstill to a speed of almost 70 km/h in no time!

The vehicle is armed with a 100-mm gun in the front of the hull. The gun has only two types of shells: APCBC and HE shells. Although the armor-piercing performance of its HE shells is lacking, the high muzzle energy ensures good penetration — the CA Lorraine is capable of penetrating almost any enemy in its class head-on. However, it is worth aiming more carefully to avoid ricocheting off the sloped or rounded armor of the enemy's hull.

In battle, the CA Lorraine is best suited as a second-line support vehicle. Its weak armor limits its effectiveness in close combat, but at longer ranges, this French tank destroyer is very good — its heavy shells, rushing at a speed of 1 km/s, will pierce any target that comes into your sights!

Here are the other vehicles in the platoon!

Panther “Dauphiné”

A captured Panther with its own name “Dauphiné,” in honor of the Alpine region of France. This is a good medium tank with excellent frontal armor and an accurate 75-mm gun with HE and APCBC shells.

ELC bis

The test ELC bis light tank features a low profile, good mobility, and a powerful 90-mm gun with HEATFS. Almost no enemy has any protection against them at rank V!

AMX-10P

This mobile IFV from the Cold War period serves as a platoon's anti-aircraft gun. The vehicle's 20-mm cannon has a very high rate of fire: it literally “shreds” aircraft in-flight!

*Platoon vehicle lineup, vehicle specifications and camouflages are still under development and may differ from those in this article.

The CA Lorraine Platoon (Rank V) will be available in War Thunder Mobile (WTM) in the Medium Trophy of the Tank Campaign with the start of the new Season.