the US Army has a shiny and unbeatable new tag the leadership of the US Army
is taken with the idea transforming hell and with what the army finds the US Army
is on an intensive quest for an array of new technologies with which to design and build
new armored fighting vehicles particularly a replacement for the long-serving brand however
much it might yearn for a new tank the army lacks the critical technologies that would
justify the time and expense pursuing such an objective moreover it doesn't need to make
the effort the Army's current main battle tank the Abrams is the tank of the future
the army is just beginning to receive the first of the latest Abrams upgrade the system enhancement
package version 3 set v3 with additional upgrades and development instead of searching
for the elusive holy grail of ultralight armor or laser weapons technology that would justify
building a brand new tank the army would be best served by aggressively pursuing a
major redesign and improvement program for the Abrams and m1 a3 the leadership of the US Army
is taken with the idea of transforming pound and with what the army finds they particularly
want new armored fighting vehicles and not just another family of metal boxes with a
turret and cannon technology enthusiasts including many of the Army's new futures
command wax eloquently about the potential for hover tanks that shoot laser beams and
are autonomously guided by artificial intelligence housed in quantum computers
brigade general Ross Hoffman the leader of the next generation combat vehicle
cross-functional team CFT responsible for the bradley replacement and a future tank is
determined to think outside the box regarding what the future tank might look like and the
capabilities it might incorporate according to general Kaufman it might not be attend the CFT
has been thinking about everything from a ray gun to a Star Wars like four legged creature
that shoots lasers but the reality is that everything is on the table we have to get
away from these paradigms that we created that decisive lethality must come from a 10
the major problem with this vision is that some in the army want to make a decision about a new tank
in 2023 fortunately cooler heads including that on the shoulders of the chief of staff general mark
Milley understand that it makes no sense to pursue a clean sheet design for a new main battle tank
until the requisite technologies are available in particular this means discovering a new material
from which to fashion vehicle Armour as general Milley recently noted the real sort of holy grail
of technologies that I'm trying to find on this thing as material is the armor itself if we can
discover a material that is significantly lighter in weight that gives you the same armor protection
that would be a real significant breakthrough there's a lot of research and development going
into it indeed there has been progress in the field of materials that equal or exceed the
ballistic protection of advanced steel but way less there is promise in sophisticated ceramics
but the costs are still too high University researchers have developed a composite metal foam
that is less than half the weight of the amount of rolled homogeneous steel armor needed to achieve
an equal level of protection unfortunately the foam is only suitable for stopping small arms
for the next few decades at least the solution to the Army's problem of ensuring decisive lethality
in its main battle tank is to continue the process of upgrading what is still the best
tank in the world the a-primes since it was first fielded in 1980 the Abrams tank has undergone near
continuous upgrades and improvements on average there has been a new improvement package every
seven years today there is almost nothing in the most advanced Abrams variants that was part
of the original vehicle the current upgrade the m1a2 set v3 will improve the vehicle's
lethality survivability responsiveness power generation sustainability and maintainability
the army should begin a program to develop a new version of the Abrams the a3 this program should
have two goals first and foremost reduce the weight of the Abrams tanks with all
the new capabilities that have been added the tank now weighs just shy of 80 tons the most
straightforward way of making the Abrams lighter is to develop an auto loader turret this would
reduce the crew size by one and free up space allowing the turret to be made lighter while
still having room for an advanced weapon system or other capabilities the army should initiate
automated tyrunt R&D funding in fiscal year 2021 as the pacing development for an n1 a 3-under
second make the Abrams as much a sensor platform as a shooter the Abrams III version should be
the platform for advanced sensors and electronic systems the army was already planning to introduce
a third-generation forward-looking infrared sensor on a future SCP upgrade to this could be added
an advanced active protection system based on a fully formulated requirement the Abrams already
possesses or will soon receive additional sensors that when fully integrated will allow the crew to
have a sophisticated tactical operating picture the army should look at ways of inserting autonomy
into the a3 variant to reduce crew workload and improve performance as the poet Robert
Browning once said a man's reach should exceed his grasp this saying should apply in general to the
development of a future tank but there needs to be common sense in the modernization process until a
revolution in materials is realized the army needs to exploit the potential resident in the Abrams