In the mid-thirties of the last century, Nazi Germany began to build its armed forces, and was also actively engaged in the development of new weapons and equipment. In just a few years, a wide range of different armored vehicles for various purposes was developed, primarily tanks. In 1936, there was a proposal to build tanks not only for themselves, but also for export supplies. Among other combat vehicles, the M. K. A. medium tank was offered for sale.
The history of the M. K. A. (Mittlerer Kamfpanzer Ausland - "Medium Tank - Foreign Countries") goes back to the program of developing a promising medium tank for the Wehrmacht. At the beginning of 1934, a project was launched to create a new armored vehicle, in which Daimler-Benz, Krupp, MAN and Rheinmetall were involved. The result of subsequent work was the emergence of several new tank projects. The vehicle, created by Daimler-Benz specialists, entered service in 1936 under the designation Panzerkampfwagen III Ausf. A. Other projects, including the development of the company "Krupp", in turn, were out of work.
Not wanting to lose potential orders, Krupp continued to develop its medium tank variant. At the beginning of 1936, there was a proposal to develop new models on the basis of existing armored vehicles, originally intended for delivery to foreign countries. The idea of creating a special export light tank has already received the approval of industry leaders and military commanders. Thanks to this, it became possible to offer a medium tank project.
The only prototype of the M. K. A.
According to reports, initially the Krupp company planned to offer potential customers an already existing medium tank, which failed to bypass competitors in the competition of the German army. However, such plans did not receive the approval of the command. The military considered that too many new components were used in this project, which could not be transferred to third countries. The export of armor made using new technologies, sighting devices and other optics was prohibited. As a result, the specialists of the developer company had to change the project and remove the required components and assemblies from it.
Also, the army demanded to provide a gap in characteristics between tanks for the army and for export supplies. Their PzIIIs and other vehicles were supposed to have a noticeable advantage over tanks for third countries. As a result, the company "Krupp" had to make significant changes to the project several times related to certain design features. In addition, this led to a significant delay in work. The final version of the new project was approved only in 1939.
In addition to improvements related to the need to maintain secrecy, the new project proposed to take into account the characteristics of potential competitors. It was assumed that on the international arms market, the new German tank would compete with British Vickers vehicles, the French Renault R35 tank and some other types of equipment that were actively bought by different countries. As a result, in terms of the main characteristics, the German export tank was not supposed to be inferior to the existing market leaders and even surpass them.
The project of a tank for export deliveries received the symbol M. K. A. (Mittlerer Kamfpanzer Ausland). This name was chosen by analogy with the already developed project L. K. A. (Leichter Kamfpanzer fur Ausland), whose goal was to create a light tank for sale abroad.
In connection with the requirements of the military, the authors of the project had to significantly redesign the armored hull of a promising tank. One of the main tasks in the creation of the corps was to reasonably reduce the level of protection necessary to maintain the advantage of the latest German tanks. In this case, however, the finished hull of the M. K. A. turned out to be very similar to the units of the new PzIII. In particular, the layout, traditional for German tanks of that time, was preserved: the transmission was located in the front of the hull, the control compartment and the fighting compartment were located behind it, and the feed contained the engine with the necessary equipment.
The hull was proposed to be assembled from rolled sheets of different thicknesses. The forehead was protected by 25 mm sheets, the sides were 18 mm thick, and the sides of the turret were made of 16 mm parts. As part of the body, only flat sheets of various shapes and sizes were used, bent parts were not provided. It was proposed to connect the body parts by welding. An interesting feature of the hull, related to the requirements for the level of protection, was the use of an inclined front plate. The rest of the details, however, were located horizontally or vertically, or with a slight slope.
Serial tank Pz. Kpfw. III Ausf. A
The frontal part of the body was formed by two inclined sheets of different sizes. The upper one was installed with a greater inclination in comparison with the lower one. In the rear of the upper frontal sheet, at the left side, a small protruding wheelhouse of the driver was attached. Its details, like other elements of the upper part of the forehead, should be installed with a minimum deviation from the vertical. The driver's cabin and the frontal plate installed next to it formed the front part of the large turret platform. She had small zygomatic parts and sides slightly inclined inward. The hull feed had a narrowed upper part, on which the necessary units were mounted.
It was proposed to mount a rotating turret with weapons on the turret platform. The shape of the tower was determined taking into account the existing experience in creating such products. Provided for a relatively small frontal sheet, installed with an inclination inward. On the sides, the sides and stern should be attached to it, made in the form of a single curved piece. Above, the crew and weapons were protected by an armored roof.
Initially a project by M. K. A. implied the use of a Maybach HL 76 carburetor engine with 190 hp. As the project developed, it was decided to use a more powerful power plant. The result of these changes was the fact that the prototype received a Maybach HL 98 engine with 230 hp. Replacing the engine should have a positive effect on the characteristics of the tank. The engine was located in the aft compartment of the hull, where fuel tanks, radiators, etc. were located next to it. A propeller shaft, laid under the floor of the fighting compartment, was connected directly to the engine. Its task was to transfer torque to a mechanical transmission located in the front of the body.
The undercarriage of the export tank was developed on the basis of existing technical solutions. On each side, it was proposed to mount six road wheels, interlocked in pairs. Each bogie with two rollers was equipped with its own shock absorber. Support rollers were placed above the axles of the bogie attachment. The large drive wheel was located in the front of the hull, and the guide, which had a spoke-based design, was proposed to be installed in the stern.
Machine-gun and cannon armament was to be installed in the turret of the tank. According to various sources, for use on the M. K. A. considered two options for the weapon. These were a 45 mm semi-automatic gun with a 50 caliber barrel and a 50 mm gun with a barrel of the same length. Some sources mention that the 45 mm gun was developed by the German industry based on the results of a study of captured Soviet-built BT series tanks captured in Spain. Apparently, such weapons interested German specialists, which resulted in the emergence of a similar system of its own design.
In one installation with a cannon, a rifle caliber machine gun was to be mounted. To aim the cannon and machine gun, common mechanisms and one telescopic sight were used at the gunner's workplace. In connection with the required reduction in combat characteristics, the armament of the export tank was supposed to consist only of a cannon and a machine gun. Machine gun in the frontal sheet of the hull, smoke grenade launchers, etc. were not provided.
The crew of the M. K. A. was supposed to consist of four (according to other sources, five) people. These were the driver (and his assistant), commander, gunner and loader. For the driver and his assistant, seats were provided in the front of the hull. The rest of the crew were to be located in the fighting compartment, in the tower. In the control compartment, two roof hatches were provided for access to the inside of the hull, as well as several inspection hatches. The driver had three viewing devices in the details of his wheelhouse, and his assistant could observe the situation only through a hatch in the cheekbone of the hull. At the disposal of the commander, gunner and loader there were hatches in the roof of the hull, as well as several observation devices in the sides of the tower. To service various components and assemblies, hatches were provided for the engine (in the rear of the hull) and transmission (in the frontal sheet) compartments.
At the request of the military, a tank for third countries was not supposed to be equipped with a radio station for communication with other vehicles. In addition, for this reason, the radio operator was removed from the crew. Instead, in front of the hull, on the starboard side, the driver's assistant was supposed to be located. The machine gun mount on the right side of the control compartment was not used.
The medium tank developed by Krupp was supposed to have a combat weight of 12.1 tons with a total length of 5.1 m and a width of no more than 2.4 m. The relatively powerful 230-horsepower engine was supposed to accelerate the car to 40-42 km / h highway. Other indicators of mobility were supposed to be at the level of other German-made vehicles.
M. K. A. project creation due to various difficulties, it was completed only in 1939. The completion of the design work allowed Krupp to start assembling a prototype, which was supposed to confirm the calculated characteristics. It was at this stage that the next project change took place, which led to the use of the Maybach HL 98 engine with 230 hp. The use of a more powerful engine could lead to a significant increase in mobility in comparison with the calculated parameters.
M. K. A., side view
In 1940, the first prototype of the new tank was tested. During the tests in polygon conditions, the car showed its best side. At the same time, it was found that the tank turned out to be not just good, but too good for deliveries to third countries. In terms of mobility, the vehicle was not inferior to equipment for the German army, and also had some advantages in protection and firepower. For example, M. K. A.'s frontal projection. was slightly better protected than that of the PzIII, and the 45- or 50-mm cannon was significantly more powerful than the 37-mm cannon. The lack of communications, in turn, could not compensate for this gap and ensure that the export tank lagged behind other vehicles for its own troops.
In the second half of 1940, the new M. K. A. was ready for sale to foreign countries. However, by this time Germany was already waging a war in Europe, which made it difficult to find potential buyers. In addition, there were risks associated with the workload of the industry with its own orders. Attempts to sell new equipment to the allied states were unsuccessful. Italy, Spain, Japan and other friendly countries showed no interest in the new German-made medium tank. The opportunity to offer the development to other states from a certain time was simply absent.
After a failure on the international market, Krupp attempted to offer the M. K. A. German army. However, this vehicle did not initially meet the technical requirements for the Wehrmacht, which is why it could not become the subject of a contract. An attempt to sell an export tank to his army naturally ended in failure.
Having passed the tests and did not interest potential buyers, the only copy of the M. K. A. was left out of work. The machine no longer had any prospects, and its very existence was considered meaningless. At the end of 1940, the only prototype of the export tank was dismantled for metal. The construction of other machines of this model was not started or planned.
In the second half of the thirties, Krupp made two attempts to develop armored vehicles specifically for sale to foreign customers. The first project of this kind resulted in L. K. A. light tanks. and L. K. B. and the second led to the construction of the M. K. A. Despite all the positive qualities, such a technique was never able to interest customers. The construction of export tanks was limited to only a few prototypes, after which all such work ceased, and the Krupp company concentrated its efforts on working in the interests of the German army. No more attempts were made to create a special export tank.
