VK 30.01 (P)

At the beginning of 1937, the Weapon Testing Office () of the German Army's Ordnance Office () contracted with Henschel & Son (chassis) and Krupp (turret) for a heavy breakthrough () tank with armor on the front and sides of the hull and the turret. The turret was to be based on that of the Panzer IV and was to use the same 24-caliber KwK 37 gun. Development proceeded slowly and only two chassis and one turret had been delivered by mid-1939. The program was later renamed as VK 30 and were developed to varying degrees by four different companies: Porsche, Henschel, MAN, and Daimler Benz. The Porsche version was thus named the VK 30.01 (P). and the Henschel design was the VK 30.01 (H). ==Development==

Shortly after the beginning of the war on 1 September 1939, Ferdinand Porsche was appointed chairman of the .(an advisory group of engineers and industrialists created by Adolf Hitler to advise him on future tank designs).Through his membership in the group, Porsche likely became aware that Daimler-Benz had received permission to design a tank outside the normal process where the design office issued specifications that designers had to meet in October. He decided to do the same for the VK 30 program in December using his preferred air-cooled engines. While independent of the testing office, Porsche did receive advice and funding from it for the prototypes. By the end of March 1941 the company was placing orders for major components of the prototypes. Porsche chose to use a gasoline-electric drivetrain in his Type 100 tank to eliminate the need for a mechanical transmission, which he felt weren't strong enough for such heavy vehicles. Two air-cooled V-10 Porsche Type 100 gasoline engines, mounted in the rear of the tank, were each connected to an electric generator. These drove electric motors that were connected to the front drive sprockets for the tracks. The engines produced a total of . Krupp were directly contracted by Porsche to produce the turret to house the 57-caliber KwK 36 gun and the two teams worked together to develop it for the VK 30.01 (P) chassis. A fully developed drawing with the Krupp turret was completed, dated 5 March 1941. ==Notes==