Posted on 06/13/2022 6:16:22 AM PDT by RomanSoldier19
Rheinmetall is debuting its new KF51 Panther at Eurosatory 2022. The latest member of Rheinmetall's family of tracked vehicles (KF is short for "Kettenfahrzeug", i.e., tracked vehicle), the KF51 Panther is destined to be game changer on the battlefields of the future. The main battle tank concept sets new standards in all areas - lethality, protection, reconnaissance, networking and mobility. Rheinmetall will be unveiling the vehicle at a ceremony on Monday, 13 June 2022 at 14:00 at Stand F241-240.
All weapon systems are connected to the commander's and gunner's optics and the fire control computer via the fully digitalised NGVA architecture. This enables both a hunter-killer and a killer-killer function and thus instantaneous target engagement - in the future also supported by artificial intelligence (AI).
Lethality: With its main armament, the 130mm Rheinmetall Future Gun System, the KF51 Panther offers superior firepower against all current and foreseeable mechanised targets. In addition, further armament options are available to provide concentrated firepower for long-range strikes and against multiple targets.
The Rheinmetall Future Gun System (FGS) consists of a 130 mm smoothbore gun and a fully automatic ammunition handling system. The autoloader holds 20 ready rounds. Compared to current 120 mm systems, the FGS delivers over fifty percent greater effectiveness at significantly longer ranges of engagement. The FGS can fire kinetic energy (KE) rounds as well as programmable airburst ammunition and corresponding practice rounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketscreener.com ...
Cool target for anyone with air assets.
I could watch those SABOT rounds going all day.
In tank battles, whoever acquires and shoots at his target first, wins.
It remains to be seen how well even new-generation tanks will do against swarms of cheap drones armed with anti-tank warheads.
Your comment about drones got me thinking why tanks haven’t gone the way of becoming unmanned vehicles......sure enough it’s being explored.
https://www.militaryaerospace.com/unmanned/article/14188408/unmanned-tanks-armed
The idea of a tank is outdated.
What is needed is a redundant frame and mainly redundant propulsion means combined with and partially providing good protection for a two-man crew.
The vehicle should be hard to hit and survive most hits.
This could be a Photoshop of an old Rooskie KV-2 tank. Or it could be some kind of new secret weapon. I haven’t decided yet.
The age of tanks is over. The Germans just manufactured an expensive target coffin.
“holds 20 ready rounds”
That many rounds can likely kill the crew if hit.
Tanks are obsolete in today’s battlefields. Ukraine has showed us that...................
> Tanks are obsolete in today’s battlefields. <
Governments are oh so slow to learn. The other day I was reading about the last battleship ever built, the HMS Vanguard.
The Vanguard entered service in 1946. That was four years after the Battle of Midway, the battle that showed that the future belonged to the aircraft carrier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Vanguard_(23)
Planes can be shot out of the sky.
Ships can be sunk.
Helicopters can be shot down out of the sky.
Tanks can be destroyed.
Submarines can be sunk.
Drones can be destroyed.
Artillery can be destroyed.
An Infantry Soldier can be killed with a stick.
What weapon is impervious to attack?
A 12.7 mm coaxial machine gun complements the main weapon. Several options for the integration of remotely controlled weapon stations (RCWS) offer flexibility for proximity and drone defence. The KF51 Panther presented at Eurosatory 2022 is equipped with Rheinmetall's new "Natter" (adder) RCWS in the 7.62 variant.Integrating a launcher for HERO 120 loitering munition from Rheinmetall's partner UVision into the turret is equally possible. This enhances the KF51's ability to strike targets beyond the direct line of sight.
Survivability and force protection: The Panther has a fully integrated, comprehensive, weight-optimized protection concept, incorporating active, reactive and passive protection technologies. Without a doubt, the concept's most compelling feature is its active protection against KE threats. It increases the level of protection without compromising the weight of the system.
Rheinmetall's Top Attack Protection System (TAPS) wards off threats from above, while the fast-acting ROSY smoke/obscurant systems conceals the KF51 from enemy observation. Moreover, its digital NGVA architecture enables integration of additional sensors for detecting launch signatures. Thanks to its pre-shot detection capability, the KF51 Panther can recognize and neutralize threats at an early stage. Designed to operate in a contested electromagnetic environment, the KF51 is fully hardened against cyber threats.
...or even cheaper drones that have homing signals like an Apple Tag instead of anti-tank warheads. Land on the tank, broadcast the "I've landed on the enemy tank signal", and the anti-tank missile crew fires a missile that's locked onto the homing signal.
Larger drones could relay the signal and coordinates back to the launching crews for long distance launches.
The mark II versions could be designed so they can triangulate the tanks position instead of landing on it.
Or relatively cheap anti-tank missiles that can go up then come down on top of the weakly armored tank upper side, fired by troops with computer controlled, shoulder-fired mobile launchers.
LOL
Just what this world desperately needs, more war materials.
And there were plenty of antecedents, Midway just cemented it. Taranto and Pearl Harbor most obviously, the sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse, etc.
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