Posted on 03/02/2017 3:16:53 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee
The Army is now performing concept modeling and early design work for a new mobile, lethal, high-tech future lightweight tank platform able to detect and destroy a wider range of targets from farther distances, cross bridges, incinerate drones with lasers and destroy incoming enemy artillery fire – all for the 2030s and beyond.
The new vehicle, now emerging purely in the concept phase, is based upon the reality that the current M1A2 SEP Abrams main battle tank can only be upgraded to a certain limited extent, senior Army officials explained.
The Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, or TARDEC, is now immersed in the development of design concepts for various super high-tech tank platforms, Maj. Gen. David Bassett, Program Executive Officer, Ground Combat Systems, told Scout Warrior in an exclusive interview.
Bassett emphasized the extensive conceptual work, simulation and design modeling will be needed before there is any opportunity to “bend metal” and produce a new tank.
“We’ve used concept modeling. What are the limits of what you can do? What does a built from the ground up vehicle look like? We are assuming, if we are going to evolve it, it is because there is something we can't do in the current vehicle,” Basset explained. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at scout.com ...
I say mount the Rheinmetall L55 that the Leopard 2A6 has... It would have better range and MV.
Abrams variants will still be in service long after 2030. It’s an apex design at this point.
Probably a modular system like the latest Merkava.
You are talking about the M113FSV. They mounted a turret off the Saladin armored car with a 76mm gun.
Mmmmmm.....Ursula Andress.....
More spending. The only way tanks will be used is against an inferior opponent, such as Iraq, and what is in use now is pretty efficient. If there is a real war against a major power, it won’t involve tank battles. The military is always preparing for WWII.
Correct, and known as the *beast* or *beastie* by the lads out bush. The later FSV follow-on was the M113MRV with a Scorpion turret, also with 76 mm gun, and with better sights, a rangefinder for the main gun and passive night vision equipment. But the Sheridan turret version was also developed, though I'm unaware if it was ever deployed or saw combat.
My foggy old memory tells me there was also a prototype M113 fitted with a Bradley turret as well- can't recall if it was one of the stretched versions or earlier shortys, but the old aluminum bathtub has been so modified and hotrodded over its life, most anything is possible.
Never saw one with a Sheridan turret.
I know the M113 OSV (Opfor Surrogate Vehicle) that they have at Ft Irwin have a modified Bradley turret on them to act as BMP’s or tanks.
The MTVL was offered with a turret.
The videos I watched and reports I read seemed to indicate the tanks were total losses. Some crew members did escape.
The first thing I thought of was the Army of the Southern Cross!
I always thought that if I ever raised my own army, that would be a great name for it.
Great name for an army.
Southern Cross was the weakest of the three.
The third series was my favorite but the end wasn’t that great. I loved the Cyclone motorcycle.
The Saudi tanks don’t have the advanced armor that ours have. IIRC they have straight steel armor with none of the layered ceramics and depleted uranium.
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