(1/n) I sadly cant be at #Eurosatory2022 this week, so a thread, largely for myself, of interesting things people are tweeting for reference/follow up #eurosatory#eurosatory22
(2/n) Rheinmetall finally unveiled the long-rumoured tracked Boxer. Many questions on this one as the week goes on, but light summary is compatibility with standard Boxer modules.
(3/n) They say mobility is "almost similar" to an IFV, which is spectacularly open to interpretation. The hull certainly looks like wheeled boxer, so assume this is a wheels to tracks modification like Stryker +Tr (pictured). Wheels and tracks have radically different core...
(4/n) ...design considerations, so thus far have never been a good approach to flip one hull design to the other. The turret is interesting, will wait for more info on the hull and design before making a clear judgement.
(5/n) KMW's EMBT is back, this time with more than just Lecerlc turret + Leopard 2 hull = new tank. Arguably the first AFV actually showing some genuine 'next gen' concepts in action
(7/n) Nice to see some genuine innovation in the tank domain with a 2-person turret with 2-person hull being a novel approach, the second hull crew is a 'systems operator' handling the BMS, RWS and hosted UAS.
(8/n) 62 tonnes as presented, which is big, but a step down from the 70+ that current top tier tank designs are sitting at or beyond. If nothing else lets applaud the lovely system integration on that turret, very clean given the volume of kit mounted up there.
(9/n) Redback at a European show at last, still waiting for news on L400P3. Seems a very capable bit of kit and a nice disruptor to the market norms
(11/n) Early shots of Rheinmetall's KF51 Panther tank. Seems to be a 2A4 with a new turret, but lets reserve judgement until the info packs are out. Interesting it appears to be the only tank (of a surprisingly tanky show so far) with >120 mm gun
(12/n) I'm not sure what I think of Plasan's new Wilder yet, but its certainly interesting, especially with the matching trailer and a heck of a lot of firepower for a small vehicle
(13/n) Compact 4-person vehicle with mid-engine and monocoque body. Keen to see more and work out the obvious usage cases
(14/n) A bit more KF51. Still feels more like a rebrand of the MBT Revolution lineage than an all-new tank, on instinct. Not a problem, just not the all-new beast I expected (so far).
(15/n) Leopard 1 with a Cockerill C3105 is an interesting one to see. Potentially a cheap way to boost up some older tanks for some market segments.
(18/n) New renders of Boxer Tracked, which looks radically better in green and better shows its not just a Stryker +Tr esque wheels to tracks conversion. Interesting.
(19/n) Elbit's Sabrah light tank, being bought by the Philippines
(21/n) CT40 on a truck, as TD says, a good example of how investing in a capability leads to a common set of solutions and lots of efficiency in R&D/spend
(1/n) A neat bit of thermal footage of Challenger 2 firing and driving. A couple of obvious takeaway comments on tank heat signatures:
Engine is peak sustained source of heat, particularly once underway & exhaust blooms. Its at the rear which is good for classic head on engagements, but modern all-aspect attacks mean its increasingly a concern that you can't do much to mitigate. (cgi image but representative)
Barrel once fired is a big hot spot from the front. One part of the reason for these trendy shrouds we see on concept AFV is to limit that signature (and thus far has been dismissed as until you shoot barracuda coverings are good enough, and once you have who cares anymore)
Some fervent discussion about KF51 in one of my tweets yesterday, a quick thread on the 130 mm main gun and its ammunition handling system in the KF51 concept vehicle to answer some of the question that came up.
Reminder this is a prototype vehicle still and everything is in active development and would be subject to user requirements if it gets bought by anyone. Notional data follows.
Main weapon is Rheinmetall’s new (though its almost 10 years old already – development started in 2015) 130 mm L51 smoothbore gun, often referred to as the Future Gun System (FGS).
80 years since D-Day, so I thought a (rather long, it turns out) thread of the various interesting AFV things that were around that day, and a bit of a look at what they have evolved to today as spiritual successors. #tanktwitter #dday80 #tanks
Specialist AFV are ubiquitous now, but the D-Day landings were some of the first outings for many of these capabilities or at the least cemented their utility upon which several generations have evolved since.
Actually getting onto the beach is itself a challenge, as double-digit tonne AFV are not inherently seagoing things (aside dedicated amphibians).
A brief summary🧵of the Manned Ground Vehicle (MGV) element of the aspirational US Army Future Combat Systems (FCS) programme. A bit of a "what they almost got" for the US Army of the late 90s and early 00s.
MGV was a common family of AFV that were bold in their vision - baseline 24 ton hull (later upped to c.30t) with hybrid drive & CRT track, loads of data & sensor fusion, a lot of automation (most variants were 2-man crews), with less passive armour and more smart solutions.
A few more details of the core base platform that the family would build on. Lots of bold capabilities that many 2020s AFV still lack, and all with the strategic benefits of a single common platform across an entire Army fleet, which are substantial.
A long-requested (long) overview of the UK’s wheeled vehicle strategy – the Land Mobility Programme (LMP) and Boxer Strategic Pipeline (BSP).
Its actually rather good as a plan, being well considered, framed in reality and funded. Well done Army!
So, broad strokes. LMP and BSP form a full spectrum of wheeled vehicle capability for the Army. LMP comprises three strands – Light Utility, Light Protected Mobility, and Medium Protected Mobility. Boxer sits above as a de-facto Heavy Protected Mobility of sorts
In all we are talking a 20-year pipeline of >12,000 vehicles with a combined budget likely well over £7Bn. This is also the big test whether MoDs new Integrated Procurement Model is all talk or not – buy simple and fast, iterate and export, or not.
1/ 2024 is shaping up to be a bit of a year of the Leopard, a brief summary of plans afoot to make even more Leopard 2 users and variants a reality, which is always a good thing.
An open-ended, non-exhaustive list of actual & speculative users going on as of February 2024:
2/ 🇮🇹 Italy: Leopard 2A8
The Italians are looking at a medium-term successor to the Ariete (pictured), despite that tank still being in the midst of an MLU, with long term aspirations to join MGCS (or whatever emerges when it finally gives up).
3/ They plan to do a lot of the work domestically, building at a Leonardo production line in La Spezia and fitting with Italian industry components including sights, radios, C2 suite and potentially domestic manufactured barrel for L55A1 gun.
Anticipated production run: 130x 2A8.