So, the Army wants a new tank. The current champion is the M1 Abrams, a tank adopted in the 1980s and used to great effect all over the world. The M1 is a great tank. Let me establish my bona-fides.
I am a graduate of the US Army Armor Officer Basic Course, a graduate of the US Army Armor Officer Advance Course, and a graduate of the US Army Cavalry Officer Advance Course. Below is a video that details the newest and fanciest tank that the Army is acquiring.
From a tank officers perspective this thing has a few drawbacks.
Crew size - In WWII and Korea, the Army's standard tank had a crew of five (bow gunner, loader, driver, gunner, and commander). In the Vietnam/Cold War era, that was reduced to four (driver, loader, gunner, and commander). I always considered four as the minimum crew for a tank. When you have maintenance issues, or when you have thrown a track in a mired location, you need every bit of manpower to get the tank us and running. Three people may simply not be a big enough crew.
That autoloader - Replacing a crew member with an autoloader injects complexity in a place where simplicity is key. As a tank commander, I could tell the loader which round to grab, and we could change types of rounds during an engagement. Unless the Army is going to one main gun round, the loading process may become overly complex for a mechanical machine. I hope the technology has improved, but the autoloader was a bad idea in the 80s. I doubt it's any better now.
Technology - Technology is a grand thing. Right up until the second when it's not. The old M60 series tanks had the ability to do what we called "degraded gunnery". That is, the ability to operate the gun manually even when all systems had failed. We actually had manual cranks, a telescope, and a hand-crank igniter to fire the cartridge. If the turret was still on the tank, we could lay the gun and fire it. That ability was very handy.
I do think that the new power pack is a good idea. I was never really a fan of the turbine engine. I think that moving the crew our of the turret into the automotive bed is bad idea. I think that reducing the crew size is a bad idea, and the increased reliance on technology is wrong-headed. When systems start going down, it's a good idea to be able to fight the tank without those systems.
I do think that the M10 Booker is a great idea, and should provide the punch that light infantry lacks. I would love to get the chance to crawl around on one of those.
6 comments:
As a once 12B my only experience with tanks was fixing bridge decks after some idiot driver locked a tread while steering. In modern idiom, most tankers are a taco short of a combination plate.
If I ever was in combat my opinion would likely change.
"Auto Loader" might have been mainstreamed with the expectation of putting women into the tank. Most women are not going to be strong enough to load nine rounds a minute for extended periods.
Shrinking crew means you can shrink the volume you put armor around and thereby reduce profile and weight.
Yep, manual reversion IS an desired backup... At least to the folks that are manning the equipment!
The US has experimentad with auto loaders before. There are 2 main reasons the Abraham's doesn't have one:
- the autoloader is slower than a person and in critical situations a person can speed up; an autoloader can't. IIRC the difference is a fixed 12 seconds versus as little as 4 seconds when an experienced loader hurries.
- an autoloader has to use 2 piece ammo; it can't use single piece ammo and still fit, so you have more pieces to handle and more importantly, a longer kinetic energy penetrator can't be used because it takes the whole length of a single piece round. This is critical because it makes sure the Abrahms can kill anything from any angle - if it's in range, it's dead. Period!
This is a concept that I'd be surprised to see fielded, but it's a part of exploring different options and some features from this could make their way to the battlefield.
Jonathan
And what is the expected cost of the Lexus Abrams ?
we can't build cars that work right...too many electronics...
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