What is the difference between a tank and self propelled artillery?

Question

Well, I'm reading stuff about fighting vehicles since WWI, and the authors treatartillery mounted as part of a vehicle (like katyusha rockets and howitzers) as one kind of item, and tanks (including MBTs and heavy tanks) as a completely different one.

I would have thought tanks to be a subset of SPA, not a wholly separate category... So where is that distinction that I don't grasp?

Answer 1

SPA's can also be hand held ,like a bazooka,which would diqualify them from that category

Answer 2

Tanks were the first to be developed with the british Mk 1 (or mother tank) which was used effectively for the first time en-masse at the battle of Cambrai and broke the deadlock on the hindenburg line. The purpose of a tank is to provide direct firepower (although some have an indirect capability dependant on the sighting system, quadrant fire control etc), as well as mobilty, protection, communications and most importantly SHOCK ACTION across a wide array of battlefield tasks.

Self propelled Artillery etc is basically a highly manouvreable function of the artillery and allows a quicker response when supporting forward troops, as well as providing protection to the gun crews especially with the threat of counter battery fire.

In a nut-shell the difference is in the munitions. Artillery fire a lobbing round (steeper arc of trajectory) for distant targets that are usually given by a forward observer (FO). While tank rounds (especially modern rounds such as sabot/kinetic energy) have a flatter trajectory, and the target is usually seen by the gunner through his sights.

As a side note, for artillery the battlefield is split into three. On offensive ops they will support 2/3 forward and remain 1/3 behind, but on defence they will support 1/3 forward and stay 2/3 behind.

In relation to the types of tanks and armoured fighting vehicles, the variations are numerous, and generally designed for specific tasks.....too numerous to mention

Answer 3

tanks are designed to attack other tanks and mount a weapon that is designed for anti tank work and thus fires a flat trajectory ;IE level. A Self propelled gun is just that it lacks any real armor and the gun is designed to bombard a target miles away. Thus it's gun elevates to a very high elevation some times as high as 90 degrees. The weapon was chosen for it's HE capacity not it's armor penetration ability like on a tank. you should note that a self propelled is seen as a support vehicle not an attack vehicle in it's own right. tanks on the other hand are seen as the tip of the spear in the attack they make the break through in the enemies defenses not self propelled guns or rockets.

Answer 4

The basic difference is the self-propelled artillery piece (SP), combines the fire-power of the field gun to the mobility of the tank.
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Tank
A tank is a tracked and armoured combat vehicle (armoured fighting vehicle, AFV), designed primarily to destroy enemy ground forces by direct fire. A modern main battle tank (MBT) is distinguished from other AFVs primarily by its heavy armour and armament.
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Self-Propelled Artillery
, first appeared during the Great War and was developed further during the inter-war years. The Germans used their Sturmgeschutz ("assault gun") for direct infantry support early in the Second World War, but then realised the value of the mobile gun in an anti-tank role and discontinued production of the Sturmgeschutz in favour of various models of Panzerjäger ("tank destroyer"). One might well ask why more tanks were not simply produced, considering that the German tanks were able to mount guns, in the Panthers and Tigers at least, which were more than capable of destroying the best tanks the Allies had by the time of the Normandy campaign. A key factor was the relative expense of the tank as compared to the SP, which, lacking a fully-traversing turret, could be manufactured more cheaply and in larger numbers.

Answer 5

This is an answer from another forum about the same question - I'm copying and pasting since I couldn't say it any better.

Heavy armor allows a tank to get up close and personal; within line-of-sight of the enemy.

A mobile artillery piece can't do this. They don't have heavy armor. Mobile artillery depends on range, mobility (shoot and move), and hiding behind terrain for protection. Mobile artillery also depends on some other unit to spot the target (artillery forward observer, forward infantry, even armor).

In simple terms, tanks have heavy armor and fire direct. Mobile artillery pieces don't have heavy armor and fire indirect.

Answer 6

Tanks can fight on the move! Self propelled arty must stop and prep for fire missions. Tanks are also line of sight while SP arty has ranges well out of sight.

Tanks and SP artillery are to distinctive weapons systems. I do not know of any SP Arty that can be loaded and fired while moving.

Answer 7

tank has mobility , one light artillery gun beetwen[105 - 125 mm gun ] and can fire during it mobility and has anti aircraft mashine gun of caliber 50-75%inch , anti tank missiles and has direct fire to targets but artillery like catyusha, rockets and hwitzers are heavy weapones and have no direct fire. thay bombarding the war field. all the artillerys before shotting have to stop . tanks in the war staying in the first line of war but artillery stand far frome front of war. [ someone who served for 3 years in front of war as an officer in ground forces. ]