Although the russian-Ukrainian conflict is in full swing, Russia still holds a "tank two" military competition as usual, which makes people have to sigh the calm willpower of the fighting nation.
KF-51 Panther main battle tank
Probably stimulated by the Russo-Ukrainian War and the fact that the Russian T-14 "Armata" tank is close to mass production and service, the enthusiasm for developing new tanks has begun to rekindle in Europe. At the recent European Defense Exhibition, France presented the latest improved version of its AMX-56 Leclerc main battle tank XLR main battle tank, while France and Germany also jointly launched a new version of the EMBT main battle tank, and Germany's Rheinmetall also launched its own self-financed new main battle tank KF-51 "Panther" main battle tank. Three new main battle tanks were launched at one defense show, which was rare at previous European defense shows.
In fact, looking back, our ZTZ-99 tank first appeared in public at the 1999 military parade, and 23 years have passed today, although it has been modified many times, but the potential is gradually being tapped, so the development of a new fourth-generation tank is also a project that "Army Big Brother" must put on the agenda. So what will the PLA's fourth-generation tanks look like?
(Another one jointly launched by France and Germany - EMBT tank)
Conventionally speaking, tanks are the result of the comprehensive balance of three major performances, the so-called three major performances are: firepower, protection and maneuverability. So we refer to the above several Western tanks to speculate on the approximate level of the plaster's next four generations of tanks.
(Russia's T-14 Armata tank is the first "fourth-generation" tank))
First, firepower. The T-14 "Armata" tank, which is close to mass production, still uses a 125 mm 2A82-1M smoothbore tank gun, but due to the length of the barrel, its muzzle kinetic energy is more than 20% stronger than that of the active Western tank guns, which can easily tear apart the current Western tanks. Although Russia once announced that it would replace the T-14 with a more powerful 140 mm tank gun, it seems that as long as the design performance of the 2A82-1M tank gun can be met, at least in the short term, there is no need to replace it. The three tanks displayed by France and Germany this time use three different caliber tank guns, of which the French "Leclerc" XLR tank uses a 140 mm tank gun, the Franco-German EMBT tank uses the traditional 120 mm tank gun, and the KF-51 tank uses the 130 mm tank gun of the German Rheinmetall company.
(The last knight at the European Defense Show: the KF-51 "Panther" tank developed by Rheinmetall with self-financing)
It can be seen that increasing the caliber of tank guns and increasing the power of ammunition are the inevitable options of the fourth generation of tanks. Increasing the power of a tank gun can increase the length of the barrel, increase the caliber of the gun, increase the amount of charge or use better propellant. Personally, I believe that increasing the caliber of tank guns may be a common trend in the future, this is because: processing thicker barrels, thinner and longer barrels than processing, is easier to achieve in process and less costly; In addition, the probability of large-scale battles of tanks in flat terrain in the future is greatly reduced, and the probability of using lethal grenades is much higher than that of armor-piercing grenades in the face of combat environments such as mountains, hills and cities. Therefore, the combination of the two is easy to infer that the future tank gun increases the caliber is an inevitable trend. As the army big brother in the late stage of "insufficient firepower phobia", it is really impossible to say that he did not get a 140 mm large-caliber smoothbore tank gun!
(The current Army Big Brother's treasure of the town house - ZTZ-99G main battle tank)
Second, protection. The biggest difference between tanks and warships is that warships float at sea, and the sea can provide sufficient buoyancy, so we see that aircraft carriers can build up to 100,000 tons, while giant ocean-going ships can even build 500,000 tons! But tanks are not the same, tanks are fighting on land, the ground support capacity for heavy mechanical equipment is far less than seawater, and too large land combat equipment for power machinery requirements are also higher, which means that to improve protection, it is necessary to strengthen armor; The weight of the armored vehicle will increase, and the increase in the weight of the vehicle will require a larger engine, and the engine will become larger, the volume of the vehicle will increase, which in turn requires the improvement of armor protection, which is a "water more surface, more surface plus water" cycle.
(Even the innermost layer of homogeneous steel, cut open to see, is such a thick piece)
So the current tank takes two more routes: first, the use of lighter composite armor; Second, develop an active defense system. Take the KF-51 tank displayed by Germany's Rheinmetall as an example, which claims to use three layers of protection: the first layer is the active defense system, which can actively intercept incoming anti-tank missiles and armor-piercing shells and destroy them outside the tank hull; The second layer is composite armor, which can effectively defend against anti-tank missiles using tandem warheads; The third layer is ordinary homogeneous steel armor, which provides the most basic bulletproof protection. At the same time, due to the large number of applications of modern drones, the KF-51 tank also specially strengthens the armor protection of the top of the tank, which is specially used to counter the popular "top munitions".
(The 3 members of the T-14 tank all sit inside the hull, so its protection can be greatly improved))
Referring to the development of German tanks, I personally believe that the total combat weight of 65 to 75 tons is close to the limit of tank weight, and if it is further aggravated, it will only cause frequent mechanical failures, thus affecting the combat capability of the tank. Then, at the current level of weight restrictions, it is a good idea to improve the protection of tank unit area. In this regard, the Russian T-14 tank is more avant-garde. The T-14 tank adopts a new unmanned turret, although the tank is still 3 crews, but all 3 people sit inside the hull, so that all the armor originally used for turret protection can be "transplanted" to the hull, which not only reduces the area of the tank, but also greatly strengthens the armor protection. Because the previous tank, its front turret is actually the most vulnerable part to hit, so the tank front turret has always been the thickest, now the turret is changed to unmanned, then the entire tank no longer need to top this thick "turtle shell", on the contrary, all the armor can be directly strengthened to the hull, which will allow the crew to get far more than the previous armor protection.
(130 shells are so big, there is no way to manually load, must be automatically reloaded, similarly, 140 shells are larger, but also can only be automatically reloaded)
So for the People's Liberation Army, this idea is indeed worth referencing, and most importantly, China's level of electronic automation technology is significantly higher than Russia, so if our new generation of tanks also use unmanned turrets, then there is no doubt that the contract axis juxtaposition machine gun, smoke screen grenade launcher, and even the UAV launcher, so that the tank can carry the UAV itself, in wartime through the UAV to indicate its own target, but also through the UAV to find and lock the threat, so as to fire the enemy first. At the same time, all the armor was added to the hull, providing unparalleled armor protection for the occupants, which tanks that still use manned turrets cannot do anyway.
(High-speed mobile PLA Type 96 tank)
Third, maneuvering. As mentioned above, since the design weight limit of the tank can only be maintained at about 65 to 75 tons, if it is overweight, it will have a serious impact on the maneuverability of the tank. During World War II, although the German "Tiger" tank and "Tiger King" tank had excellent firepower and protection capabilities, due to their excessive weight, poor mobility, and frequent mechanical failures, many of them were not destroyed by tank battles, but by artillery fire, aircraft bombing and even abandoned because of lack of oil.
(In fact, the People's Liberation Army has already realized the vehicle-mounted UAV, and it is basically a "historical necessity" to equip tanks with UAV in the future)
However, if we change our thinking and use unmanned turret tanks to replace the current manned turret tanks, it will allow the limited protection to be concentrated on the hull, while ensuring the protection, but also to ensure that the weight of the tank itself will not "exceed the standard". Then since the "weight" can be guaranteed, the engine and transmission of the tank can basically not be replaced, or further excavate the potential of the diesel engine on the current basis. However, in addition to diesel engines, tank-specific gas turbines are also a potential option. Of course, the gas turbine is an oil tiger, and the problem of fuel consumption needs to be solved by new technologies such as diesel hybrid, or more advanced gas turbine + fly-by-wire.
(Let's make up for the new generation of tanks of the People's Liberation Army!) ）
Therefore, in summary, the basic outline of the future PLA's fourth-generation tanks can be outlined: the total weight of the battle is 60 to 65 tons, and the limit is 70 tons; Equipped with a 140 mm smoothbore tank gun with an autoloader that can fire armor-piercing, armor-piercing and lethal grenades; Unmanned turrets are used, and tank guns have an elevation angle of up to 30° for combat in urban areas; Equipped with small unmanned aerial vehicles, which can be released and recovered by themselves, they can be used to detect various targets within a radius of 5 kilometers around them, and provide reconnaissance services for tanks; All personnel are seated inside the hull, the armor protection is all concentrated on the hull, and the "active defense system + multi-layer composite armor" configuration is used; Using a gas turbine engine, the power is about 1500 horsepower, and the maximum road speed of the tank can reach 70 km / h; The tank is less than 3 meters high and less than 4 meters wide, and can be airlifted with the Y-20 (the maximum load of the Y-20 is 66 tons), with strategic mobility capabilities.
Well, the future four generations of tanks of the People's Liberation Army are probably like this, and everyone can make up the image of the fourth generation tanks of the People's Liberation Army on their own.