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The Army are planning to cut its number of front line tanks by up to a third, leaving Britain with fewer than Serbia, Russia and only a few more than Switzerland. As MailOnline reported earlier this month hundreds of Ajax mini-tanks are due to be supplied to the Army next year with the full order of 600 delivered to the Ministry of Defence by 2024 costing around £3.5billion. The Ajax armoured vehicles will travel at speeds of up to 40mph and have been touted as the first ever fully digital armoured fighting vehicle in UK military history. All you need...

When someone mentions a list of the best tanks in history, the names are always the same: Tiger, T-34, M-1 Abrams. And always from the same nations: Germany, Russia, America. But great tanks from Great Britain? Though the British were the ones to develop armored fighting vehicles in World War I, British tanks of the Second World War can generally be described in one word: awful. There were tanks that could barely move without breaking down. Tanks that were fast but too thinly armored, or heavily armored but too slow. Tanks with radios that didn’t work. Tanks with guns that...

Putin's new 'super tank': British intelligence warns Russian vehicle is 'the most revolutionary change in tank design in the last half century' and leaves the West totally outgunned British military intelligence officers have issued a warning over a new Russian 'super tank' which they claim is far superior to anything which is available to Nato. The document claims that Britain's Challenger II main battle tank could be overpowered by the Kremlin's new Armata tank. Officials believe the new Russian tank is 'revolutionary' and blames the government for failing to provide a proper response. The current policy is to not consider...

The Army’s long search for a small tank that packs a big punch seems to never end. Now, General Dynamics is looking to do something about that with their new Griffin tank technology demonstrator. Unveiled at this year’s Association of the United States Army (AUSA) convention in Washington DC, this little tank is meant to be a jumping off point for finally fulfilling the Army’s mobile protected firepower requirement. The 27 ton Griffin is a franken-tank of sorts, which is not a bad thing. It uses pieces of existing technology to lower costs and development time–and also return some investment...

LONDON --- An initial assessment phase portion for the British Army Challenger main battle tank upgrade program has elicited response from multiple bidders. The British Army's fleet of 227 Challenger tanks are to be upgraded under a program expected to reach £624 million ($816 million). Under the latest U.K. Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR) published in November 2015, the Conservative government opted to extend the service life of the British Army's Challenger II main battle tank - which began entering service in 1998 - out by 10 years to 2035. With the deadline for submitting industry proposals to the...

China's military is likely to deploy the Type-96B tank as the pillar of its tank fleet, replacing most of its old models, observers said. Gao Zhuo, a military observer in Shanghai who has close contact with the People's Liberation Army, told China Daily that the excellent capabilities of the Type-96B qualify it to be the backbone of China's tank force. "The Type-96B is the strongest variant of the Type-96 family and is truly an advanced, third-generation main battle tank," he said. "The PLA will use it to replace the old tanks such as the Type-59 and Type-69 models." His remarks...

The US State Department has approved the potential sale of more than 130 Abrams battle tanks, 20 armoured recovery vehicles and other equipment, worth about US$1.15 billion, to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. The approval for land force equipment coincides with Saudi Arabia leading a military coalition in support of Yemeni forces loyal to the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who are trying to oust Iran-allied Houthi forces from the capital, Sanaa. Human rights groups have criticised the coalition’s air strikes because of the deaths of civilians. The US Defence Security Cooperation Agency, which implements foreign...

Leclerc. Photo via Wikipedia “So what do you think of France’s new super tank, the Leclerc?” a retired colonel in the French army’s logistical brigade jokingly asked me in 2002. “You know, the one we paid a fortune for and that we’ll never use in battle.” So far his prediction has proved true. The French military has deployed light armored vehicles and air power in its combat missions in Afghanistan, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Central African Republic and Mali. But the French army’s main battle tanks haven’t fired in anger since the Gulf War. But in the summer of 2015, the...

Countries which use Russia’s most mass-produced second-generation main battle tank – the T-72 – need not worry about what to do with aging equipment and the transition of military operations from open to urban conditions. Russia's Uralvagonzavod Corporation (UVZ), manufacturers of the tank, has worked out how to modernize the T-72 for effective combat in urban environments. Vyacheslav Khalitov, UVZ's deputy director for special equipment, told Gazeta.ru that their project is based on experiences of the war in Syria. "If you look closely at the armed conflicts in the world, war is now fought mainly in the cities, no one...

Thailand’s military has inked an agreement with China to purchase tanks from the Asian giant, officials said earlier this week. Thai officials have confirmed that the Royal Thai Army (RTA) has formally signed a pact to buy the MBT-3000 main battle tank produced by China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO). Deliveries are expected to begin before the end of the year and continue within a two-year timespan. If the deal is realized, it would make Thailand the first known export customer of the MBT-3000, also referred to as the V-4. Specifics on the agreement, including the number of tanks to be...

Raytheon is pitching a new upgrade for the venerable M60A3 Patton main battle tank that would turn the elderly design into a competitive force on the modern battlefield—all at a fraction of the cost of a new vehicle. Named the Raytheon M60A3 Service Life Extension Program (SLEP), the upgrade is being offered for export to nations that need the performance to take on threats like a Russian-built T-90S, but can’t afford a top-of-the-line machine like the M1A2 SEP(v)3 Abrams or Leopard 2A7. At the core of the upgrade is a new 950-horsepower diesel engine—which replaces the original 750-horsepower unit. As...

Faced with the resurgent threat of Russian armor, Germany has embarked on a program to develop a next-generation main battle tank that has sometimes been called the Leopard 3. The long overdue move comes after Berlin neglected the Bundeswehr for over two decades following the end of the Cold War and reunification of Germany. In the short- to medium-term, Germany will have to rely on upgrading the already formidable Leopard 2A7 (+) to counter Russia’s next-generation T-14 Armata main battle tank. Longer term, Germany recognizes that it will have to replace the Leopard 2 with a new design in years...

The T-90 tank, among the newest pieces of military hardware to enter into service with the Russian armed forces, is having a baptism by fire on battlefields in Syria. Turkish and Iranian media first reported the presence of Russian T-90 ‘Vladimir’ tanks in Syria, after which sources in the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed their presence. Turkish pro-government newspaper Yeni Şafak cited a local commander called Mahmut Hasan as saying that they “had been attacked by more than 80 T-72 and T-90 tanks.” Syrian government troops are reported to have recaptured the towns of Nubul and al-Zahraa to the north of...

A recently-unveiled photo of the Chinese military’s new light tank is the first to show details of the vehicle from the front, including explosive reactive armor blocks. On Jan. 20, China’s Sina Military Network published a report confirming speculated information about the tank, which first appeared in blog photos in 2011. Dubbed “ZTQ” (ZTQ being the generic designation for Chinese light tanks) by some bloggers, the armored vehicle has a turret similar to that of the heavier ZTZ-99A2 main battle tank, which is currently China’s most advanced model. The ZTQ carries a 105-millimeter main cannon. Sina says that the gun...

YEKATERINBURG, February 3. /TASS/. Russia’s Uralvagonzavod company is ready to organize in Iran licensed production of the T-90S gun launcher-armed tanks if restrictions on military-technical cooperation with that country are lifted, the corporation’s deputy director general Alexey Zharich said on Wednesday. Russia’s main battle gun launcher-armed tank T-90S is equipped with an automated fire control system. It is a light tank (46.5 tons) with a low profile, which increases its survivability. "Cooperation with Iran was suspended in accordance with the presidential decree "On measures to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1020 of June 9, 2010". But if restrictions on military-technical...

ANKARA --- Altay, Turkey’s first domestic tank in the making, has received much interest from the country’s allies, said Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) head İsmail Demir said Jan. 7 during a presentation at parliament. “Including Pakistan and the Gulf countries, we can say that countries that we have good relations with are showing a large interest in the tank. Representatives of some countries are being invited to the ongoing firing tests,” he said, adding that the tests were extremely satisfying. “Lately, we have seen that Saudi Arabia’s interest was big,” he said. The SSM officials said at the briefing...

Thailand is considering buying an unknown number of Russian-made T-90S or MS main battle tanks (MBT). According to the website Defence Blog, a Thai delegation visited the Russian city of Nizhny Tagil, the site of the largest main battle tank manufacturer in the world. The Royal Thai Army delegation expressed interest in both the T-90(M)S and the T-14 Armata MBT – dubbed “Russia’s deadliest tank” (See: “It’s Official: Russia’s Deadliest Tank Will Be Ready for Battle in 2020”). However, the export version of the T-14 MBT is still in the development stage and would not be ready in time to...

Until the severance of the ties between Israel and Turkey, a deal was on the table – a new tank for the Turkish army based on the Israeli developed Merkava main battle tank (MBT). Preliminary talks began and the hopes were high, but then Turkey ceased to be a close ally of Israel and the hostilities between the two governments climbed to new peaks. Now Turkey is trying to do it alone. According to Defense News, a Turkish armored vehicle manufacturer with close ties to the Ankara government announced it would join a future competition for the serial production of...

The ZTZ-99A tank, known as China's king of land battle, will appear in the military parade at the Tian'anmen Square, Beijing, China, on the morning of September 3, 2015. This will be the grand debut of the ZTZ-99A tank in China, but it made its name long before. During the "Peace Mission 2014" multilateral military exercises of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), its maneuverability, power and speed wowed the world. Mao Ming, chief expert of China North Industries Group Corporations and chief designer of ZTZ-99A tank, said in a recent interview that the ZTZ-99A is in a leading position in...

The T-80 is a glaring lesson in why heavily-armored tanks can hide major weaknesses. Once considered a premium tank by the Russian military establishment, T-80s suffered savage losses to lightly armed guerrillas during the First Chechen War. The tank’s reputation never recovered. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The T-80 was the last main battle tank to come out of the Soviet Union. It was the first Soviet tank to mount a gas turbine engine, giving it a top road speed of 70 kilometers per hour and an efficient power-to-weight ratio of 25.8 horsepower per ton. This made the...