EXHIBIT#18 USA

MBT-70 Medium Tank

This was to have been the “Tank of the Century”. It was under development by West Germany and the United States since 1963, and it was planned to have many state-of-the-art features. It was a grand idea, and should have worked, but as an international effort it was a dismal failure. Each side wanted to protect its own defense industries and get as large a piece of the pie as possible. Having completed the first pilot models, the co-partners by 1970 had agreed to disagree, and the project dissolved. The MBT-70 was to have all kinds of features on it to make it the tank of the century, such as a 152mm gun/missile launcher, a hydraulics system that permitted it to “squat” so the tank could make max use of cover, fast speed, powerful armor, and many other features. Putting three on a prototype works well, but putting everything on a prototype increases its complexity and expense. We (USA and West Germany) spent 6 billion dollars on all of our MBT-70s. (Note that only six were built.) Of the five built by Allison Division of General Motors, only two survive. One is in Aberdeen Proving Ground, and the other (the one we have) was used as a low-profile target. Our MBT-70 has been hit with armor-piercing bullets, and even a HEAT round. The HEAT round went through one side of the turret and melted a hole out the other end. There is no hope of restoring this tank because of a lack of spare parts and where to find spare parts. One of the unique things about this tank is that the driver is in the turret rather than the chassis. The driver had a good view as long as the MBT-70 wasn’t in any combat, but as soon as the tank enters combat, the driver has to squeeze into a cramped little hole and look through periscopes. This didn’t make the test drivers happy and nausea could be induced because the driver’s seat moved with the turret. The other main feature was the tank’s ability to “squat”. From a high of 28 inches while moving and 4.5 inches when firing, both to lower the silhouette and to provide a stable firing platform.

DATA

Length: 29 ft, 8 inches Range: 400 miles

Height: 7 ft, 5 inches Crew: 3

Weight: 110,000 lbs

Width: 11 ft, 5 inches

Speed: 40 mph

Power: Continental AVCR 12-cylinder air-cooled multi0fuel engine, 1475 hp

Armament: one 152mm rifled/smoothbore gun/missile launcher, one 20mm cannon, eight grenade launchers

Armor: thickness unknown, prototypes were cast from mild steel