E-50 Standardpanzer

The Entwicklung series (from German Entwicklung, "development"), more commonly known as the E-Series, was a late-World War II attempt by Germany to produce a standardised series of tank designs. There were to be standard designs in six different weight classes, from which several specialised variants were to be developed. This intended to reverse the trend of extremely complex tank designs that had resulted in poor production rates and mechanical unreliability.

The E-series designs were simpler, cheaper to produce and more efficient than their predecessors; however, their design offered only modest improvements in armour and firepower over the designs they were intended to replace, such as the Jagdpanzer 38(t), Panther Ausf.G or Tiger II; and would have represented the final standardization of German armoured vehicle design. Indeed, nearly all of the E-series vehicles — up through and including the E-75 — were intended to use what were essentially the Tiger II's eighty centimeter diameter, steel-rimmed road wheels for their suspension, meant to overlap each other (as on the later production Tiger I-E and Panther designs that also used them).

The E-5 was supposed to be 5-10 tonnes in weight and form the basis of a family of light tanks, reconnaissance vehicles, casemate-form turretless Jagdpanzer-style tank destroyers and armored personnel carriers. So far no evidence of this tank is found in primary sources, and is quite likely to be a purported design of potential post-war origin.

Said to have been designed by the Klockner-Humboldt-Deutz Magirus AG firm in Ulm, the E-10 project was developed as a replacement of the Jagdpanzer 38(t). The designs based on this new chassis would all be in the 10 to 25 tonnes weight class, and using only four Tiger II-style but larger all-steel road wheels per side in an overlapping layout for its main "slack-track" suspension with no return rollers and a rear drive sprocket. Much simplified was the suspension which consisted of Belleville washers. These were simply bolted on to the chassis and could be easily removed for repair or replacement. This suspension system was later used on the Swiss Panzer 61. Most interesting aspect was the ability to lower the hull by rotating the pivot points of the suspension units via cranks driven by hydraulic actuators. This reduced the height of the vehicles from 176 cm to 140 cm.

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Wikipedia