With MPF, the Army is looking to give its airborne and light infantry units something they haven’t had since the 1990s: a light tank to augment their firepower and help them penetrate lightly armored, medium-gunned defenses in natural or urban terrain. The outcome of those tests-and the opinions of the soldiers themselves-will likely crown the winner of the Army’s Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) acquisition program. Army soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division are testing the limits of a new generation of light tanks at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. troops from light armored vehicles, mortars, and heavy machine guns throughout WWII and the Cold War. They may be smaller and no match for main battle tanks, but light tanks like the M3 Stuart and the M551 Sheridan protected U.S. While heavy main battle tanks like the Abrams have slugged it out in classic cinematic tank battles, it’s the light tanks that have often been a foot soldier’s best friend. The popular American image of a tank is the Army’s M1A1 Abrams. Fingers crossed for this new generation of military vehicle.BAE Systems MPF prototype during a test fire. The US Military is currently at the point where it has to consider more than just firepower and must consider facts such as tactical mobility, survivability along with cost. Inspired by how X-plane programs have improved aircraft capabilities over the past 60 years, we plan to pursue groundbreaking fundamental research and development to help make future armored fighting vehicles significantly more mobile, effective, safe and affordable.’ According to Kevin Massey who is DARPA program manager ‘GXV-T’s goal is not just to improve or replace one particular vehicle – it’s about breaking the ‘more armor’ paradigm and revolutionizing protection for all armored fighting vehicles. The GXV-T has been dubbed as ‘X-Planes for Tanks’ and has been designed so that a number of other variations of new vehicles can be manufactured. The vehicle is being called the GXV-T (Ground X-Vehicle Technology).Īccording to DARPA ‘For the past 100 years of mechanized warfare, protection for ground-based armored fighting vehicles and their occupants has boiled down almost exclusively to a simple equation: More armor equals more protection.’ The issue at hand is the fact that the weapons’ ability to penetrate armor is rapidly growing as well and that is exactly why what’s needed can be stated in a nutshell as armored and yet fast vehicle. So what is US Army going to do? The answer is quite simple they are going with smaller, off-road vehicles that embody smart armor. Tanks, the conventional ones, are slow and out-dated, right? But we all know that the modern warfare is about agility and to move rapidly while delivering the necessary firepower.
0 kommentar(er)
