Hybrids and mutants. European tank of the future
Upgraded Leopard
For many lovers of military equipment news last week has become solemn ceremony of transferring to the Bundeswehr the first modernized main battlefield tank Leopard 2A7V. We recall that it was held on October 29 in Munich. “Tanks are sexy, this is the quintessence of an annoying offensive start with a brazenly sticking long gun,” said Pavel Felgenhauer, a journalist and military columnist. It's hard to argue.
But we have a lot of room for other discussions about armored vehicles and everything connected with it. What is the best main battle tank? Do I need to switch to the caliber 152 mm? Do I need a new lightweight tank like Griffin? As shows story, answers to these questions can only be given by practice, and many "beautiful" theories often end in nothing. It is enough to recall that before World War II, many considered light tanks to be the basis of armored forces ...
Modern Germans, unlike the Germans of those years, do not like to experiment. At least if it concerns military equipment. We recall that until now there is not a single fifth-generation fighter of their own or bought from other countries. There are no atomic submarines and, of course, there is no analogue of “Almaty”. But there is a proven and adored all over the world Leopard 2.
What is the new version? In short, nothing revolutionary. However, the latest electronics, excellent protection and a powerful L55 / L55A1 gun (apparently, both versions of the gun will be used by the Leopard 2A7V) will make the German car even better at the end of the 2020's. Add here the MKM programming system, which allows you to fire high-explosive DM11 programmable shots and comfortable conditions for the crew, and you will get perhaps the best serial tank of our time.
Franco-German "miracle"
But then a few questions pop up. First of all, sooner or later the technology will have to be changed for something anyway: the Leopard 2 is after all produced since the 1979 of the year. Secondly (and this, perhaps, is more important), Berlin is trying to join large-scale military projects of other, primarily European allies. And above all, the French. In this regard, the most indicative project is the sixth generation pan-European fighter, known as Next Generation Fighter or, if convenient, FCAS (this is the name of the entire program).
With tanks, everything is not so clear. At last year's Eurosatory, KNDS Group, a joint venture between French Nexter Defense Systems and German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, introduced the EMBT (European Main Battle Tank) program. Behind the formidable name is a strange and mysterious "character." This is nothing more than a hybrid of the French Leclerc and the German Leopard 2, which is not very popular in the world. From the German tank they took the hull, chassis, engine and transmission. From Leclerc - a tower with a gun, fire control system, automatic loader and other equipment.
The logic is this: the chassis of a German tank is famous for its reliability, and Leclerc - for the fact that it has an automatic loader. Needless to say, not everyone liked this “original” approach. “You can’t just mechanically cross two tanks of slightly different concepts,” said military expert Viktor Murakhovsky on this occasion.
It’s hard not to agree. The idea is not cheap enough, but there are almost no real conceptual advantages. An automatic loader is, of course, good. But manual loading was never a problem for the Germans, and they could provide a high rate of fire. But whether the French automatic machine will work reliably and “as it should” is hard to say.
Large caliber
The next direction of development of the European tank looks more natural. This is an increase in the caliber of the main gun. In January of this, at the International Armored Vehicles 2019 conference, it was announced that the French defense giant Nexter was testing a modified Leclerc armed with an 140-millimeter gun. Already then modernized in this way Leclerc made more than 200 successful shots. At the same time, Nexter claims that the new 70 gun is percent more efficient than the western 120-millimeter tank guns.
By the way, one involuntarily recalls the Soviet “195 Object” with a carriage layout, which they wanted to equip the 152-mm gun 2А83. As well as rumors about the possible installation of a gun of this caliber on the T-14 tank. Now, in the light of the financial and technical problems of the Russian defense industry, all this is clearly not on the agenda. The maximum you can count on is the small-scale production of T-14 and other samples based on "Almaty". We recall that the T-72Б3 was chosen as the basis for the armored forces of the Russian Federation.
New generation
Most important: the project of equipping the Leclerc tank with an 140-millimeter gun did not arise from scratch. This is part of the larger Main Ground Combat System, or MGCS program, designed to give Europe a brand new tank. Which will not be a modernized version of Leclerc or Leopard and can give the EU countries a conceptual advantage in battle.
What is MGCS, in a broad sense? At the beginning of 2016, the joint French-German enterprise KNDS presented the first information. According to the first information, we are talking about a tank of the so-called classic layout: it will become the embodiment of many years of experience of European tank builders.
However, everything is not so simple. The first serious stumbling block was the choice of tools. Recently, Die Welt wrote in her article “Mehr Feuerkraft und Ladeautomatik - Wettstreit um die Superkanone” that a serious debate flared up around the main caliber. While the German Rheinmetall offers an 130-mm gun, French partners want the aforementioned caliber - 140-mm. The Germans focus on the competitive advantages of their guns, in particular, the possibility of its installation on the Leopard and Abrams. At the same time, Rheinmetall announces an increase in firepower by 50% due to an increase in caliber. For the first time, recall, Rheinmetall showed a new cannon in the 2016 year: since then, its confidence in its righteousness has only strengthened. According to the data presented, during testing, the gun at a range of 1000 meters laid all ten shots on a sheet of A4 format.
At the same time, of course, the French 140-mm gun is potentially more powerful and "revolutionary." On the other hand, if selected, the mass of ammunition will be higher, and the load on the gun barrel and its wear will increase. So here the choice of tools for a European tank is a debatable issue. As well as equipping the T-14 with a new 152-mm caliber gun.
What is the end result? The new tank, like the sixth generation fighter, the Europeans want to get in the 2030's. This is a very realistic time frame for which you can create a fundamentally new car and bring it “to mind”. If you look broader, the fate of MGCS is directly dependent on Russia. After all, both the new tank and Next Generation Fighter were, in a broad sense, the answer to Russia's annexation of Crimea and military operations in the Donbass. All this gave a huge incentive to both the American and the European military-industrial complex. And most importantly, money that can be used to implement new programs.
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