One of These Two Designs Will Be America's Next Tank
The U.S. Army has chosen two of the nation’s largest defense contractors to compete for the service’s new light tank program. BAE and General Dynamics will each receive up to $376 million to develop and build 12 light tanks in fourteen months. After field testing, the Army will choose one design in 2022, building up to 504 Mobile Protected Firepower vehicles, otherwise known as light tanks.
The U.S. Army has more than a dozen infantry brigades: light infantry, airborne, and air assault brigades of 2,000 to 4,000 soldiers that lack heavy equipment like the M1A2 Abrams tank and M2A3 Bradley fighting vehicle. These brigades are designed to be rapidly deployable, flying overseas on short notice. This strategic mobility comes at a cost. The units lack armored vehicles capable of scuttling quickly across the battlefield to support ground troops and engaging other armored vehicles.
The Army’s solution is a new program called Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) that will purchase 504 light armored vehicles armed with big guns. MPF will be in the 30-ton class, carry a 105 or 120-millimeter gun, and fit two at a time into C-17 Globemaster III transports. The level of armor protection is classified but a likely requirement is for the vehicles to withstand the equivalent of 30-millimeter autocannon fire.
Technically, MPF is a tank but the U.S. Army does not like the term light tank. The Army has had mixed success with the light tank platform since World War II with its last light tank, the M551 Sheridan, a bit of a failure. The use of the term “tank” also implies a vehicle that has tank-like duties, namely spearheading mechanized attacks to penetrate deep within enemy lines. MPF will be more like an assault gun, an asset light infantrymen will call up to the front lines to blast away at a stubborn bunker, fortification, or enemy vehicle patrol.
Unlike some defense programs, MPF is growing more relevant all the time. The nature of warfare-or at least the wars the U.S. Army is willing to prepare for-is shifting away from the guerrilla wars of the 9/11 era to big power competition and preparation for the Army to fight full scale land battles. U.S. light infantry primarily rely on anti-tank missiles and artillery to beat back enemy tanks and armored vehicles, and giving them vehicles of their own would bolster their firepower against a variety of threats.
General Dynamics Land Systems’ vehicle is the Griffin, a modified version of the British Army’s new Ajax tracked reconnaissance vehicle equipped with a version of the M1A2 Abrams tank turret. BAE will produce an updated version of the M8 Buford (see top), an air-droppable light tank the Army flirted with buying in the 1990s but ultimately cancelled. A third competitor, designed by SAIC, was not chosen to proceed in the competition. The Army will buy 504 of the new vehicles--about enough for eight battalions.
Source: Breaking Defense
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