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2022 MBT-X Double Tank

In mid-October 2022, China’s state television [CCTV] announced that China will soon acquire a new 4th generation main battle tank. In general terms, against the background of a photo of a “canvas-covered” tank and the same amount of information provided, China announced the news. BulgarianMilitary.com dug into Chinese sites and blogs to collect a few rumors about the new Chinese tank. Rumor had it that a crew of just two will operate the tank. This meant a fully robotic turret and automatic ammunition loading system.

Some sources suggested that the Russian T-14 Armata tank inspired the Chinese. The new Chinese tank was to be mobile and fast. In today’s technological race, that meant lighter armor. Against the background of what is happening in Ukraine, speed was a key factor, but light armor will not be able to save the tank from being hit by an anti-tank missile. Rumors claimed that the tank will have low fuel consumption. However, there is no information about what engine and with what power will power the tank, as well as details about the weapon systems. But Chinese bloggers suggested that for a tank to be categorized as a 4-top generation, it must carry very advanced combat and joint engagement systems.

The maximum weight cannot exceed 60 tons, the height does not exceed 4.5 meters, and the width does not exceed 3.5 meters, which meets the requirements of Yun-20 air delivery and improves the maneuverability of deployment. To realize the unmanned turret, in fact, the turret seat ring is reduced and moved back, leaving a space for the crew cabin in front, and there is an armor barrier between the turret and the crew cabin. Hybrid power, small gas turbine + Kirin battery + multi-motor drive, pure electricity can complete a silent raid with a mileage of 100 kilometers. For tanks, the benefits of hybrid power are numerous. In a purely electric state, with low infrared characteristics and low noise, it is simply the best assault weapon at night.

The main gun needs to increase the diversity of ammunition, such as the precise top attack at a longer distance. Increase the tethered sighting UAV, assuming that it can fly to a height of 100 meters to have a theoretical observation distance of 35km. According to the attack distance of modern anti-tank missiles of 10 kilometers and smoothbore armor-piercing projectiles of 2 kilometers, it can greatly improve Alert reaction time and optionality of attacks. Increase the ability of air defense and anti-drone, upgrade the unmanned weapon station, increase the launch capability of programmable grenade on the basis of 12.7 machine guns, and use programmable grenade to realize the task of anti-drone in fire control, which can be used in the rear of the turret integrates vertically launched anti-aircraft missiles, not many, 2 are enough to avoid the embarrassing situation where the armed helicopter has no ability to fight back.

An active defense system is added to the defense, and new concept armor such as active electromagnetic armor is used to reduce the weight of the vehicle. But it would be expensive to do so. It is not worth the loss to make such an expensive main battle tank. There are too many weapons that can threaten the main battle tank on the modern battlefield. It is a bit uneconomical to make such an expensive main battle tank.

In recent years, Russia, Japan, China, India and other countries have launched a new generation of main battle tanks, but the US Army has not seen any movement. Some analysts believe that, on the one hand, this is because the U.S. military strategy’s emphasis on the navy and air force affects the procurement of traditional army equipment, and it is also because the U.S. Army is still unclear about the role of tanks, the “king of land warfare” on the future battlefield. But this situation has caused the US media to worry about "losing ground advantage".

According to the "Global Strategy Network" report on 04 January 2010, the main difference between China's new generation of main battle tanks and traditional tanks is the use of a 2-man crew, while Western and Russian tanks usually have 3 or 4 people. This means that China's new generation of tanks has a more advanced level of automation. In addition, this new tank has added high-precision missiles as the main weapon in addition to traditional artillery. Compared with the 60-ton Type 99A2 main battle tank, the new tank is lighter and smaller and more suitable for China's combat environment. In addition, it is also equipped with an active defense system that can directly intercept incoming missiles and shells.

Today, in the high-tech warfare under the guidance of the "air-ground integration" combat theory, no new weapons and equipment have been found that can replace tanks in ground warfare. Under complex ground environment conditions, tanks can actually complete combat tasks such as assault operations, offensive pursuits, reconnaissance and counter-breakouts, and holding positions, which determines the main battle for the use of high-tech in future ground warfare and ground battlefields. Tanks remain at the heart of Army operations. Therefore, both developed countries and neighboring countries are equipped with tanks in large numbers. After World War II, tanks were widely used even in local wars.

The development of China's main battle tanks has entered a new stage of independent development from imitation and improvement, which shows that my country's tank and armored vehicle development capabilities and levels have leapt to a new level, and its comprehensive performance has reached the world's advanced level. The ability to compete with the new main battle tanks currently equipped abroad. On the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the new type of main battle tank participated in the National Day military parade.

The main problem existing in the current main battle tanks is that the volume and mass are getting bigger and bigger (some advanced main battle tanks are as high as 2.4~2.6 m, and the combat mass is about 62 tons), which seriously affects its theater maneuver and strategic maneuver; The application level of vehicle electronic technology can not meet the requirements of high-tech warfare; the development of new protection technology poses a severe challenge to the 120 mm caliber artillery; problems such as air defense and mine defense also need to be resolved urgently.

The crew is a big problem in tank development. On the tank's performance table, the number of tank crews is the second largest indicator after the total combat weight. A tank is a weapon system that combines man-machine to complete combat tasks. In this system, people are the commanders and manipulators, playing a leading role. Without the people (crew), the tank is a pile of scrap metal and a living target (at least for now); however, the tank is the material basis, and if there is no tank, the tank crew will also be "heroes useless".

With the development of tank technology and the improvement of automation, the number of tank crews has also undergone a process of change from many to few. The early British Type I tanks had 8 crew members, and only the driver had 3 people. The German A7V tank even has 18 crew members, creating the largest number of crew members in the century-old tank development history. During World War II, the typical tank crew was 5 people-the commander, the gunner, the loader, the driver, the co-pilot (and the electromechanical officer or the former machine gunner), such as the Soviet T-34 tank, the American M4 "Sherman" tanks, German "Panther" tanks, etc. By the 1950s and 1960s, the typical tank crew was four, and the co-pilot was eliminated.

After the 1970s, a three-person tank represented by the Soviet T-72 tank appeared, using an automatic loading machine and canceling the loading hand. Today, more than four decades later, the typical crew of a main battle tank is three to four. In today's world main battle tank family, the main battle tanks that realize the three tanks are: Soviet T-64, T-72, T-80, T-90 and T-14 "fleet" main battle tanks (can Said that the Soviet/Russian military already has mature technology in the development of three-crew main battle tanks); France's "Leclerc" main battle tank; Japan's Type 90 main battle tank and Type 10 main battle tank; my country's Type 99/99A main battle tanks, etc.

As early as 40 years ago, the tank engineers of the United States, Germany, Britain, France and other tank powers not only paid attention to the development of three-person main battle tanks, but even discussed the feasibility of two-person tanks. Dr. Philip Wright, known as the "father of the American M1 tank", proposed the structural form of future tanks more than 30 years ago. Only later war practice and tactical exercises showed that the M1 series main battle tanks of the United States and the "Leopard" 2 series main battle tanks of Germany are advanced enough, and after further improvement, they are enough to continue to be used until 2030. This slowed down the development of three-person tanks and two-person tanks.

The tank crew has a dual nature, they are not only the commander, the manipulator, but also the object to be protected. A tank crew takes up 1.0-1.7 cubic meters of valuable interior space, and the crew position is the thickest armored part of the tank. Under the premise of ensuring the completion of combat tasks, reducing the number of tank crews has always been the goal pursued by tank designers. The author said 23 years ago that the problem of reducing tank crews is a bit like the "Goldbach's Conjecture" in mathematics. The further you go, the more difficult it is to solve.

Through system optimization, a new design would realize the comprehensive application of unmanned turret technology, low-profile power cabin technology, robot technology, and new fire control technology on tanks, so as to reduce the height and weight of the vehicle , improve battlefield survivability. Through modularization and combination technology, it would develop new composite armor, reactive armor, etc., to improve the battlefield response and adaptability of main battle tanks.

The new type of powerful artillery is equipped with a new type of weapon system composed of a new type of fire control system and an automatic loading system. It would increase the caliber of the artillery, from the current 120-125 mm to 130-140 mm, and develop matching kinetic energy bombs, shaped energy bombs, and high-power blasting to meet the needs of urban combat and damage new main battle tanks shells and artillery-launched missiles that can damage new main battle tanks at a long distance. Research on new energy artillery, such as electromagnetic guns, electrothermal chemical guns, electric thermal guns, etc. Whether the next-generation tanks can achieve engineering applications also depends on breakthroughs in key technologies and system miniaturization technologies.

Development of new fire control system and automatic loading mechanism would feature a new fire control system that would change from manned turret to unmanned turret to realize the search, observation, tracking, aiming and shooting of targets. The automatic loading mechanism should develop highly reliable, digital, two-way feeding technology.

The new tank would further develop and improve high-performance traditional propulsion system technology. By reducing the height of the diesel engine (gas turbine), the height of the mechanical-hydraulic transmission device and the high-performance suspension device technology are reasonably matched to achieve a compact and low-profile traditional propulsion system. The new hybrid electric propulsion system has entered the research stage. It has good adaptive ability to road surface changes, and is characterized by low noise, small heat radiation, and strong battlefield survivability. It can be predicted that as the technology matures, it will be a strong competitor of traditional propulsion systems.

Future main battle tanks are facing attack from all directions. In order to make the next generation of tanks adapt to the requirements of future wars, it is necessary to further study and solve the following problems on the basis of the existing comprehensive protection system to freduce the height of the vehicle and reduce the impact area. Research on anti-armed helicopter anti-explosive bombs, artillery-launched missiles or vehicle-mounted missile technologies should be strengthened. The threats to tanks in the future, in addition to today's armor-piercing projectiles and armor-piercing projectiles, may also be attacked by powerful anti-injury explosive projectiles and missiles. For this reason, active protection devices and anti-caving secondary effect technology research should be carried out.

Anti-mine technology. for landmine protection, in addition to traditional mine plows and heavy mine rollers, research on the application of buried mine detectors and mine removal systems to tanks should be carried out. The next generation of main battle tanks should be researched on the application of technologies such as reducing the detection by the enemy's naked eyes, reducing noise, reducing heat signals and anti-radar on tanks.

In future wars, the electro-optical countermeasure system will achieve the same status as the three major performances of firepower, mobility, and protection. Vehicle electronic equipment is developing in the direction of command, control, communication, reconnaissance, and surveillance functions, making tanks and armored vehicles adapt to the ability to win electronic warfare.