From: Brian Bell <bkb@b...>
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 19:08:57 -0500
Subject: [DS2,SG2] Future Tank
Greetings, I found this article about Britain's proposed tank design. It has plastic armor, adaptive coloring, stealth, a guass cannon, runs on bateries, and has defensive screens! - Bri -------- Article ---------- London Sunday Times February 7, 1999 Plastic Tank Is Silent Killer Of Battlefield Assault by battery: Britain's conventional tank forces could be replaced with plastic vehicles built around stealth technology. by Hugh McManners, Defence Correspondent Prepare for the "Duracell" tank. The traditional heavy-armoured British model may be replaced with a plastic battery-powered vehicle protected by a magnetic force field that could detonate incoming missiles before they hit. The vehicle, nicknamed the Duracell tank because of its long-lasting batteries, would revolutionise the army's land battle strategy. It would eventually replace the present generation of Challenger tanks, which cost over £2m each. They are increasingly seen as a liability because their bulk, exhaust emissions and noisy engines make them an easy target for missiles fired from anti-tank helicopters. A senior spokesman for one defence company involved in the project said the new tank was being designed to dominate battlefields without even being seen. "It will have to be able to destroy helicopters before they even detect it," he said. The tank can remain hidden from aerial attack due to a polymer coating that changes colour to match its surroundings. Codenamed the Modifier, it is being designed by Vickers, the British company specialising in armoured fighting vehicles. Defence experts have been told the vehicles could carry a two-man crew or operate under remote control. They will probably cost several million pounds each. The first deployment would not be for at least 15 years. Nigel Vinson, an expert in tank warfare from the Royal United Services Institute, a Whitehall military think tank close to the Ministry of Defence, said strategists had long recognised that the days of massed tank battles were over. "We saw in the Gulf how precision weapons like anti-tank missiles can be used with deadly effect," he said. "Big traditional tanks stand little chance against helicopter gunships. In any case, the wars of the future will be won by destroying computer centres and communications systems, rather than through huge battles." Such considerations mean that the Modifier is being designed entirely around stealth technology. The polymer coating will cover a toughened plastic body that should be undetectable on most radars. The electric motors run almost silently.Even if the tank is detected, it should prove hard to destroy. Any missile would first have to overcome an electromagnetic force field. Its powerful pulses would disable enemy electronics and detonate missiles well before impact. If a missile did penetrate, it would have to overcome the tank's armour - made of layers of toughened plastics capable of resisting high explosives and the modern ultra-high-velocity shells. A defence industry source said such technology was still in an experimental stage but looked promising. The tank's armament would also be formidable, including missiles and a large gun. This would fire conventional explosive shells, but accelerate them to even higher velocities with an electromagnetic pulse - enhancing accuracy and increasing the range. Tanks have a long history, going back to the armoured battering rams built by the Romans to demolish the fortified gates of enemy cities. In Britain the first recorded use of armoured vehicles was by Boadicea, who used chariots to try to drive out the Romans. The first deployment of the modern mechanised tank came in the first world war during the battle of the Somme in 1916. The tanks broke through the German lines with such ease that the British were too surprised to take advantage, allowing the Germans to recover the lost ground. It was, however, the Germans who first realised their full potential when they used tanks as an integral part of their second world war invasions of Poland, Belgium and France with fast-moving columns of armoured vehicles. The Germans also made the largest tank in history. Called the Maus - German for mouse - it weighed 189 tons, more than three times the weight of a modern Challenger. The Modifier will, by contrast, weigh a mere 20 tons. Much of that reduction will be achieved by replacing the huge conventional engine with electric motors and using the light plastic armour. Its batteries will be recharged by a combination of fuel cells and a small diesel generator that can be started whenever danger is not imminent. One of the most innovative ideas is to store energy in a giant flywheel, enabling the tank to move without using even its electric motors. Ironically, such innovations mean that the Modifier, despite being designed to wreak destruction on a large scale, is likely to be one of the greenest production vehicles in Britain. A spokesman for Friends of the Earth, said he was delighted. "All they have to do now is remove the gun and ammunition to make this a genuinely environmentally friendly machine."