Future Tanks Will Be Unmanned-Optionally Manned
Just some of the features required by the US Army in its "Optionally Manned/Unmanned Tank" program. The US Army is now thinking beyond the Abrams, the newly unveiled AbramsX and the Russian T-14 Armata, and is designing the next generation of tanks that will fight for decades to come.
Firing lasers, launching drones and targeting and destroying enemy vehicles with high-speed, AI (Artificial Intelligence) enabled targeting... These are just some of the features required by the US Army in its "Optionally Manned/Unmanned Tank" program.
The US Army is now thinking beyond the Abrams, the newly introduced AbramsX and the Russian T-14 Armata, and is designing the next generation of tanks that will fight in the coming decades.
AbramsX
The new "tank" will be part of an integrated effort to prepare US ground forces for combat in the 2040s and beyond. This new unmanned main battle tank will fight alongside and eventually replace the Abrams tank.
T-14 Armata
Military and civilian authorities with experience in armored vehicles refer to this project as the "Unmanned-Optional Manned Tank", a platform that is expected to fully emerge in the coming years. Weapons designers and developers for the US ground force say that the work is primarily conceptual and focused on research, but that the first step forward in terms of configuration and design will be taken in the next few years.
This desired next-generation tank would likely use laser weapons, control drones, move at high speeds, destroy enemy helicopters, penetrate enemy armored formations, and perform highly lethal robotic operations while facing enemy fire. The US military's new and currently ongoing Manned Tank on Demand project is a new and emerging project that aims to lead the military into the next generation of "combined arms warfare".
The idea, which is already attracting a lot of attention, is to ensure that the vehicle is designed with robotic capabilities and a degree of autonomy that may be required for a given mission. The rationale behind the engineering of this tank is based on the broad understanding that the army will need to fight "outnumbered" and therefore achieve combat superiority with fewer vehicles. This is one reason why the unmanned capability is prominently featured, as there may be threats that manned teams need to stay at safer distances while making decisions.
The US military is making rapid progress in defining and developing the manned-unmanned tank concept. This means that robotic systems will be able to operate with more and more autonomy, while being operated by human decision-makers performing command and control. Forward-looking robotic vehicles can directly attack mechanized enemy vehicles at close range, fire their weapons, perform high-risk surveillance missions and provide ammunition support when needed.
Weapon designers are conducting much of the ongoing experimentation and technological exploration in a virtual environment. The experiments and lessons learned from them will provide further insights into the development of the unmanned main battle tank.
