[ad_1]
- Germany’s Rheinmetall has unveiled a brand new, next-generation tank for the fashionable battlefield.
- The tank, KF51, is named the “Panther,” sharing its identify with a World Conflict II-era tank.
- Panther provides a bigger gun, suicide drones, and a brand new system to defeat top-attack anti-tank weapons.
Germany has unveiled a brand new principal battle tank—its first in additional than 40 years.
The KF51, often known as the “Panther,” is bristling with new expertise, together with a bigger principal gun, a digital pc spine, and a full suite of defensive options. The Panther even has the power to counter so-called “top-attack” munitions, just like the American-made Javelin missile, which are decimating Putin’s military in Ukraine.
On Monday, Düsseldorf, Germany-based Rheinmetall, an arms manufacturing agency, unveiled the KF51 Panther at France’s Eurosatory arms present. The present, held each two years, is a showcase for Europe’s arms producers to promote their newest tools. Rheinmetall unveiled the Panther (pictured on the high of this story) that includes a grey, black, and neon yellow digital-camouflage sample.
If the identify Panther is acquainted, that’s as a result of it’s. The Panzerkampfwagen V, often known as the “Panther,” was designed in 1942 to counter Russian tanks, together with the T-34 medium tank. The Panther was the most effective tanks of the struggle, however was severely hobbled by mechanical and reliability points. The Panther made its debut within the Battle of Kursk in 1943, and served on each the Japanese and Western fronts, together with D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge.
The KF51 is the successor to the Leopard 2, a up to date of the American M1 Abrams tank. The Leopard 2 debuted within the early Nineteen Eighties and continues to be in service right this moment with over a dozen armies worldwide. The Leopard II has been steadily upgraded for many years, with the most recent model being the German Military’s Leopard 2A7. Sadly, like many upgraded methods, finally there comes some extent when it turns into impractical to maintain including new stuff to the previous system. The one approach to transfer ahead is to design one thing utterly new.
Panther is that new tank. It seems to make use of the essential hull design of the Leopard 2, although the form of the hull suggests newer, thicker armor alongside the entrance and sides. The Panther retains the Leopard 2’s strains over the engine compartment, however with a pronounced bulge. Regardless of this, the Panther reportedly nonetheless has a 1,100 kilowatt/1,500 horsepower engine, the identical quantity of energy accessible to the Leopard 2, so there won’t be a lot distinction to the facility pack.
The Panther’s turret is larger with sharper angles and a a lot bigger overhang over the engine compartment, the latter to each retailer bigger, heavier principal gun ammunition and to behave as a counterweight to the brand new 130-millimeter principal gun. The KF51 is the primary manufacturing tank geared up with a 130-millimeter principal gun, a break from the present 120-millimeter normal. Though the NATO nations—significantly the US, Germany, and France—experimented with the bigger 130-millimeter caliber within the Nineteen Nineties, the tip of the Chilly Conflict and comparatively good relations with Russia made that pointless.
The brand new gun, named Future Gun System (FGS), is essentially in response to the new Russian T-14 Armata tank, which was first unveiled in 2015. Rheinmetall claims FGS has a “50 p.c longer kill vary” than the older 120-millimeter weapons. In keeping with Europäische Sicherheit & Technik, the brand new gun is a 130-millimeter/L52 gun, which means the barrel size is 52 instances the diameter of the barrel. That comes out to six,760 millimeters, or 22.1 ft lengthy. The barrel can be fitted with a futuristic-looking shroud, nevertheless it’s not clear the way it contributes to the effectivity or effectiveness of the tank.
The KF51, just like the Leopard 2, makes use of an autoloader for the principle gun. This ends in a three-man crew consisting of the tank commander, gunner, and driver. (The American M1 Abrams tank makes use of a human loader as a substitute of an autoloader, leading to a crew of 4.) KF51, nevertheless, has room for a fourth crewman, in accordance with Rheinmetall, performing as both a company-level commander or a drone operator.
The KF51 is provided with a 12.7-millimeter (.50 caliber) coaxial machine gun mounted subsequent to the principle gun. It is a bigger and heavier gun than coaxial machine weapons on older tanks, which usually mount a 7.62-millimeter machine gun. The bigger machine gun offers the gunner the power to have interaction softer, less-protected targets similar to vans, gentle armored autos, artillery items, and floor troops with out losing 130-millimeter gun rounds on less-heavily-armored targets.
The Panther is provided with a lot of different new options. The tank consists of outward-facing digital cameras, giving the crew 360-degree visibility with out exposing themselves to enemy fireplace. A second 7.62-millimeter machine gun could be remotely operated from contained in the tank to focus on drones and floor targets. The KF51 can launch 4 reconnaissance quadcopters from the turret, permitting the tanks to conduct their very own native reconnaissance. A drone launcher is constructed into the turret, able to launching 4 Hero 120 loitering munitions. The Israeli-made Hero 120 has a flight time of 60 minutes and packs a nine-pound warhead. Hero 120 will permit Panther tanks to have interaction targets past their line of sight, similar to behind hills and tree strains.
Prime-attack weapons just like the Swedish NLAW and American Javelin have confirmed devastatingly efficient in Ukraine, firing an explosive cost down right into a tank’s skinny roof armor. Most Western tanks are equally weak, and Panther’s top-attack protection system is the first-known system dedicated to tackling top-attack weapons. It’s not clear how the brand new protection system works, with rumors it might contain the quadcopters transferring to intercept incoming rockets and missiles.
This content material is imported from YouTube. You could possibly discover the identical content material in one other format, otherwise you could possibly discover extra info, at their site.
One of the fascinating issues about KF51 is that it weighs simply 59 tons. That’s comparatively svelte by trendy requirements and can make for an agile, sprightly tank. The newest model of the M1 Abrams weighs 73.6 tons with out options like a bigger gun, loitering munitions, and drones. Rheinmetall states that the tank makes use of lively defenses (lively safety methods that shoot down incoming anti-tank rockets and missiles), reactive defenses (explosive tiles that deform a molten anti-tank formed cost), and passive defenses (metal composite armor) to guard the tank. KF51 might lean extra closely on lighter lively and reactive defenses than heavier passive defenses, reducing the general weight of the car.
The large query is whether or not anybody wants a brand new tank just like the KF51. Russia’s armored forces have carried out abysmally of their invasion of Ukraine, with dated tanks and poorly skilled crews. Russia’s tank corps has been badly decimated and poses much less of a menace than ever earlier than. Then once more, KF51’s new, modern options and greater gun are past what the West’s present crop of tanks—first developed within the Nineteen Seventies and Nineteen Eighties—can carry to the battlefield. Overmatching the menace is a protected guess, however an costly one.
This content material is created and maintained by a 3rd celebration, and imported onto this web page to assist customers present their electronic mail addresses. You could possibly discover extra details about this and related content material at piano.io
[ad_2]
Source link