Earlier we talked about one thing in the video, and that is that the world is currently looking at the future viable path of the fourth generation of main battle tanks.
According to the speculation of foreign media, the fourth-generation main battle tank on the Chinese side may install a large radar or a large laser sensor on the tank, so as to improve the information processing capability of the tank, that is, in addition to the traditional tank attribute triangle, firepower, defense, and mobility, an additional fourth attribute is added.
Of course, aside from China, other capable countries around the world are also researching main battle tanks, such as the United States, Russia, Germany, France, and even South Korea and Poland, all of which are working on a new generation of tanks and want to become the rulemakers of the fourth generation of main battle tanks.
Today we will take a look at what the tanks of these countries really look like.
T-14 Armata
The first is the Russian T-14 Atama main battle tank, the biggest feature of the T-14 as Russia's new generation of main battle tank is the use of unmanned turrets.
The advantages of using an unmanned turret are twofold, the first of which is to reduce the crew size of the tank. There are four crew members of a modern tank: the driver in the front hull, the commander in the turret who is in charge, the gun commander who controls the gun, and the loader behind the gun commander who is responsible for loading shells. If an unmanned turret is used, the loader can be removed.
At the same time, since the turret does not need to be operated by a person, it can reduce the space for internal members, and the extra part can be equipped with additional ammo racks, or install heavier armor, and the free hull space can be used in many ways. According to rumors, Russia has built a large iron lump for the entire tank turret to strengthen the tank's defenses. After all, the weakness of the third-generation main battle tank is the most vulnerable to the overhead. In addition, Russia has installed more spare ammunition to enhance the sustained combat capability of the tank.
Then there is the American M1X main battle tank, this tank also uses an unmanned turret structure, but after vacating the space, it does not install more armor to enhance the defense capability of the top of the tank like Russia, but instead reduces the height of the turret, changing the tall and powerful image of the Western-style main battle tank in the past.
Abrams X
Personally, this is to improve the tank's battlefield concealment ability, but this design also has a disadvantage, that is, the protection of the entire turret side and rear is basically abandoned, so whether the design is valuable or its advantages are not worth the shortcomings of the tank to bear the side and rear of the attack, we do not know at present.
In addition, the United States is also equipped with a drone on this tank for auxiliary operations, which is used as an auxiliary equipment of the tank, mainly to provide better battlefield vision for the tank, and has strong information processing capabilities. There is still a big gap compared with large vehicle radars, but it is better to save power.
When designing a new tank, the French chose to install a 140 mm caliber cannon, which is still very rare. It's just that the problem of the tank now is not the ability to attack fortifications, if we only talk about the ability to attack fortifications, the current tanks are enough in urban combat, and the problem is survivability. Of course, in order to make up for this problem, the current positioning of tanks on major battlefields around the world is a close fire support point with a certain degree of protection. It is possible that the French chose to enhance the fire support capability of the tank from this perspective, which is somewhat similar to the infantry tank of the First World War. That is, to provide fire support to other units.
E-MBT main battle tank
Finally, there is the continental tank that appeared some time ago, although we ourselves did not give too many official explanations of this tank, but there are many people on the Internet who have made some speculations about the specific capabilities of China's new tank. The first is the information processing capacity that we mentioned last time.
The new tanks of the United States, Russia and other countries use some more advanced sensors and reconnaissance equipment at most, and the addition of a situational awareness system to the tank allows the commander to observe the battlefield situation from a larger angle. The United States and Germany use drones as a means of battlefield information gathering as tanks.
Foreigners believe that the radar should be directly installed on the Chinese tank, and compared with other detection methods, the large radar is more reliable and functional.
In addition, the continental tank has a large peculiar piece of monolithic armor on it, and many people speculate that this is the legendary electromagnetic armor in China. This concept has long existed on the mainland, which was publicized by Zang Kemao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who claimed that in the future, Chinese tanks are likely to improve the defense capability of tanks through electromagnetic technology.
Both radar and electromagnetic armor are very power-hungry equipment, so I still stick to my previous guess that the mainland must have made a major breakthrough in the miniaturization technology of some advanced power equipment. Let's just wait and see. Following the Navy's aircraft carrier Fujian and the Air Force's H-20 stealth bomber, I am afraid that it will not be long before we can see a big surprise on land.