Sabre is a variation of the

Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) The Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) (CVR(T)) is a family of armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) developed in the 1960s and is in service with the British Army and others throughout the world. They are small, highly mobile, air-transportab ...

, featuring the turret from a wheeled

Fox Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle The FV721 Fox Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Wheeled) (CVR(W)) was a 4 × 4 Armored car (military), armoured car manufactured by ROF Leeds, deployed by the British Army as a replacement for the Ferret armoured car, Ferret scout car and the Alv ...

mounted on the hull of a tracked

FV101 Scorpion The FV101 Scorpion is a British armoured reconnaissance vehicle and light tank. It was the lead vehicle and the fire support type in the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked), CVR(T), family of seven armoured vehicles. Manufactured by Alvis, ...

Development

This UK hybrid vehicle was introduced as a less expensive way of producing a similar vehicle to the 30mm cannon armed FV107 Scimitar tracked reconnaissance vehicle, but with a slightly lower profile

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

. It was brought into service in 1995. During initial combat exercises, several flaws were identified. In particular, the vehicle lacked defensive capabilities. As such, modifications were made to the turret of the Sabre to include redesigned

smoke grenade A smoke grenade is a canister-type grenade used as a signaling device, target or landing zone marking device, or as a screening device for unit movements. Smoke grenades are generally more complex and emit a far larger amount of smoke than sm ...

launchers and the L94A1 7.62 mm

chain gun A chain gun is a type of autocannon or machine gun that uses an external source of power to cycle the weapon's action via a continuous loop of chain, similar to that used on a motorcycle or bicycle, instead of diverting excess energy from the ...

replacing the standard 7.62 mm FN MAG

general-purpose machine gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered fo ...

, for

anti-personnel An anti-personnel weapon is a weapon primarily used to maim or kill infantry and other personnel not behind armor, as opposed to attacking structures or vehicles, or hunting game. The development of defensive fortification and combat vehicles gav ...

use. An

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

hopper sits on the side of the machine gun allowing the weapon to be more quickly reloaded than a belt-fed machine gun. The UK initiated the Tactical Reconnaissance Armoured Combat Equipment Requirement (TRACER) to replace the Sabre and

Scimitar A scimitar ( or ) is a single-edged sword with a convex curved blade of about 75 to 90 cm (30 to 36 inches) associated with Middle Eastern, South Asian, or North African cultures. A European term, ''scimitar'' does not refer to one specific swor ...

. In 1996 the U.S. joined in on the project. In 2001, both the UK and U.S. dropped out of the joint program. The marriage of the Fox turret and Scorpion chassis was not successful, and Sabre was withdrawn from British Army service in 2004.

Additional specification

* Smoke grenade dischargers * Ammunition: ** 30 mm: 160 rounds

Armour-piercing Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate armour protection, most often including naval armour, body armour, and vehicle armour. The first, major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the t ...

Enhanced Penetration (APEP) and

High Explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

(HE) ** 7.62 mm: 3,000 rounds

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Light tanks of the United Kingdom Post–Cold War tanks of the United Kingdom Reconnaissance vehicles of the United Kingdom Military vehicles introduced in the 1990s Alvis vehicles