Posted on 03/20/2024 1:12:07 PM PDT by hardspunned
The AbramsX, an advanced variant of the M1 Abrams tank, represents a significant technological leap with its hybrid electric diesel engine, reduced crew requirement, and AI integration. While promising improved fuel economy and modernized capabilities, its adoption faces Pentagon skepticism over the relevance of tanks in future conflicts, particularly against China. The AbramsX's development underscores attempts to adapt to modern warfare's evolving landscape, balancing innovation with strategic considerations.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalinterest.org ...
Sorta, kinda like the battleship vs aircraft carrier divide prior to WWII.
Aren’t tanks just mobile targets? Seems like a waste of money. How about a new verison of an A-10? Lots of them.
We waste money on this crap but kill the A10?
Maybe the US should buy the T-14? Oh, wait...Russia canceled it.
LOL.
It will double the fuel economy to 2 miles per gallon! I don’t know what pinheads though a turbine engine in a tank would make sense.
Tanks would be a useful piece of hardware if you could protect them from drones and anti-tank missiles, perhaps some type of directed energy weapon or close in weapons system, otherwise tanks appear to be just large moving targets easily taken out by newer cheaper weapons.
People at liberal think tank publications had issues with just about every weapon in the US inventory prior to Desert Storm. Then US hardware demonstrated its superiority by helping to clean Saddam’s clock and then some.
Maybe they were Chrysler engineers in the early 69s.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J4QVMYPy5co&pp=ygUQY2hyeXNsZXIgdHVyYmluZQ%3D%3D
You need mobile infantry to take territory, or at least to hold the line to defend territory. But what do they say- always fighting the last war?
AI is moving very fast. I just a video of a humanoid robot. This particular model had a head and neck and torso, arms and fingers. That was probably to make it relatable to humans but the head and neck don’t need to be there. Anyway it was not programmed to do anything. It just had AI to teach itself. And so after a short while it sorted garbage from edible food and knew how to do the dishes. This robot was built very recently - in the last year or so. It won’t be long before this same model will know how to fire rockets, mortars and machine guns. Built it as a tank instead of a robot, it didn’t need people at all. At least not inside it. And since it is self learning once one learns what to do it will teach all others almost instantly.
Makes me wonder if the 3 laws of robotics are even relevant. They should be, but People unconcerned about human life will build these things and it won’t be very long before they are deployable.
$900 billion a year for the MIC.
We could cut all defense spending to $25 billion and have all the bullets, beans, and bandages we would need.
You have to reduce their ground direct fire profile by making them flatter. However by doing so you make them more vulnerable to a top attack from a drone, helicopter or guided artillery munitions. You give the enemy a large flat surface to attack. Interesting design problem!
America’s defense industry can best be described as a bloated DC bureaucratic kleptocracy
One model is the completely state-run, state-controlled version used by China or Russia
An opposite version is free-market, contract-bid, private technology and capital model.
Much like American health-care, we’ve created a bizarre hybrid - government dominated, heavy DC political/ideological interference, limited competition, but with nearly unlimited costs for connected cronies, paid for with massive debt.
Shouldn’t we be developing Drone Tanks? Every accommodation for a crew can be eliminated. “Harden” them defensively and load more shells in them.
Oh, I see. Calling out the MIC touches you where you are tender. I don’t see why, they’re wasting your money as well. They’d be of more use than a $110 million F-35 that can’t get off the ground. If you want to pile on we can talk about those $600 million littoral ships that are giving the Houthis what for. Going down that route is just too infuriating to continue though.
“Russia’s military expenditure has tripled compared to pre-war times. By 2023, the government intends to spend $160 billion”!!!!! (Wilson Center 9/23)
One Fifth what the US spends. And the Ruskies are involved in a life or death war! Add in the Euroweenies $350 billion and, incredibly, the Russians are still kicking NATO’s arse.
Almost like the BOLOs from the last century’s science fiction.
If nothing else the war in Ukraine is revealing the weakness in our weapons before it could have been us under attack.
If you haven’t noticed, there aren’t any calls for A-10s on the Uke battlefield. When you put them up against Russia’s modern air defense system, they’re probably obsolete too. Good against hapless, hardly trained irregulars with zero air assets or air defense, suicidal against the Russians or Chicoms.
Pretty much. The era of tanks is over in modern warfare unless you are truly fighting a third world primatives.
Russian infantry now stay far away from tanks due to drones. (I’m sure the Ukrainians do, too. But I don’t know.)
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