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"The Future Of Tanks" Topic


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Tango0120 Aug 2014 1:06 p.m. PST

"* Small vehicles set to be 100% faster and 50% lighter than current tanks
* Smaller footprint will enable 'stealth' mode

The US Army has revealed plans to replace tanks with small, 'off road' vehicles covered in smart armour.

Military bosses says the current tanks are hindering soldier's ability to get into battle.

They say the future is a small vehicle called the GXV-T.

'For the past 100 years of mechanized warfare, protection for ground-based armored fighting vehicles and their occupants has boiled down almost exclusively to a simple equation: More armor equals more protection,' Darpa said…"

picture

Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Tankrider20 Aug 2014 3:05 p.m. PST

Kinda' hard to take an article seriously when they show a picture of SP Arty and call it a tank.

Char B1 bis20 Aug 2014 3:12 p.m. PST

Hey lets put some HEMI's in some FT-17's! That'll work like an M1A1. Yeah that's the ticket!

Personal logo Legion 4 Supporting Member of TMP20 Aug 2014 3:14 p.m. PST

Regardless AFVs of many types will be around in some shape or form for sometime to come IMO …

kallman20 Aug 2014 4:18 p.m. PST

While I agree that smaller, most likely robotic AFVs will be the thing of the future I agree with Legion 4's comments that the big boys are far from being obsolete. One of the issues is the limits of technology in that you currently need a big tank to deliver big bang in terms of infantry support, as well as taking out the enemy's AFVs. Yes air assets such as say an Apache gunship can put down a ton of pain in a small area but they are not always available and having the ground support of an AFV cannot be underestimated.

Fizzypickles20 Aug 2014 4:51 p.m. PST

It's based upon this project outlined here link

Lion in the Stars20 Aug 2014 8:00 p.m. PST

GXV-T's technical goals include the following improvements relative to today's armored fighting vehicles:

Reduce vehicle size and weight by 50 percent
Reduce onboard crew needed to operate vehicle by 50 percent
Increase vehicle speed by 100 percent
Access 95 percent of terrain
Reduce signatures that enable adversaries to detect and engage vehicles


I don't think that reducing the crew by 50% is going to be a workable option. After all, the tank will still need the same amount of man-hours of maintenance, but with a crew of 2 it will take the crew twice as long to do all the maintenance required.

But reducing weight would be excellent for multiple reasons. That would let a vehicle be transported in more ways. If you could get an AFV down to 20 tons at full combat load, you'd be able to deliver it via C130. A 35-ton AFV will be able to traverse more ground, and has the potential for a higher speed.

I can't believe DARPA is trying to get AFVs that do 120+kph, but talk about having a huge tactical advantage!

And reducing the various signatures is also a great idea, but I'm not sure how much can be done. I mean, millimeter-wave radar is more like light than like longer-wave radars.

The GXV-T program provides the following four technical areas as examples where advanced technologies could be developed that would meet the program's objectives:

Radically Enhanced Mobility – Ability to traverse diverse off-road terrain, including slopes and various elevations; advanced suspensions and novel track/wheel configurations; extreme speed; rapid omnidirectional movement changes in three dimensions
Survivability through Agility – Autonomously avoid incoming threats without harming occupants through technologies such as agile motion (dodging) and active repositioning of armor
Crew Augmentation – Improved physical and electronically assisted situational awareness for crew and passengers; semi-autonomous driver assistance and automation of key crew functions similar to capabilities found in modern commercial airplane cockpits
Signature Management – Reduction of detectable signatures, including visible, infrared (IR), acoustic and electromagnetic (EM)


"Active repositioning of armor?" I hope they mean "automatically aligning the turret to take the hit on the mantlet," because anything else implies something out of Transformers!

The enhanced awareness is a good one, I bet tankers would kill to have the setup David Drake described in the Slammer's tanks (basically a 32" bigscreen TV with cameras all over the vehicle). I'd thought about using a helicopter-style helmet-mounted display, but I think that a tanker's head gets rattled around too much on the move for those to work.

Personal logo Legion 4 Supporting Member of TMP21 Aug 2014 8:59 a.m. PST

I sure would have liked to have had Slammer M9 CBT CARs in my Mech Co. instead of M113s ! evil grin Sold all my M113 models and got these M9s !

picture

Tango0121 Aug 2014 11:13 a.m. PST

Very nice! (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Personal logo Legion 4 Supporting Member of TMP22 Aug 2014 8:00 a.m. PST

Tanks !!!! thumbs up

Tango0122 Aug 2014 12:01 p.m. PST

No mention my friend.

Amicalement
Armand

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