With the new main battle tank Abrams X, the US company General Dynamics Land Systems wants to replace the models from the Cold War. A special feature is the vehicle’s hybrid drive, which enables it to be driven quite silently. The completely new generation also features a fully automated tower.
The armaments company General Dynamics Land Systems has released a video showing the new Abrams X: the US Army’s future battle tank. This is not a series model or a prototype, but a demonstrator. Such a life-size metal model shows where the journey is going and is far more than a rendering or a model for the exhibition stand.
On top of the turret, the Abrams X carries a remote-controlled weapon station, as you would expect. However, this is not equipped with a heavy machine gun, but with an automatic 30 mm cannon. The tank can thus engage numerous targets without using the main weapon.
The main weapon, on the other hand, remains at the 120-millimeter caliber. This is surprising, since the trend at Rheinmetall, for example, is towards significantly larger calibres. The new 120 mm gun should be significantly lighter than its predecessor. The main gun is also operated fully automatically and can therefore be spatially separated from the crew. The soldiers can then be accommodated in a specially protected survival room.
The crew should be reduced to three men – it is unclear whether there is room in the room for a fourth man for special tasks such as drone operations. From a technical point of view, the hybrid drive of the Abrams X is the most exciting. The additional electric drive should result in 50 percent less fuel consumption. This is made possible by recovering energy when braking.
The entire combustion engine can be significantly smaller if the electric drive gets involved as soon as peak performance is required. But the era of the turbine ends in the Abrams. The Cummins Diesel (Advanced Combat Engine) is probably used as the combustion engine, the scalable machine was developed for integration into hybrid drive systems.
Other advantages: The tank remains fully operational even if the combustion engine is not working. It is not necessary to let the engine idle. In addition, the tank can drive quite silently without engine noise, at least for a short time. The angular and expansive tower consists of add-on modules from other systems on the outside. The protected structure is far smaller.
Today’s Abrams M1A2 weighs 73 tons. These heavy vehicles are a logistical nightmare. Many bridges are not designed for such loads, especially since the weight of a truck transporting the tank is added on the march. The Abrams X should therefore be significantly lighter.
The data system Katalyst is also completely new. It is the tank’s central data network and connects all systems together. It is more open than its predecessors and can be changed more quickly and integrate new subsystems more easily.
The Abrams X is a new generation main battle tank, like the M14 Armata from Russia. The performance of a data system like Katalyst can hardly be judged from the outside. But the fully automated turret and the physical separation of the crew and the main gun and its ammunition are key features of the next generation. Since the control in such a tank is done solely via the sensors, such models can in principle be further developed into drones or fully automated robots.
This text first appeared on stern.de.