One could be forgiven for thinking that the former Commander Joint Forces Command,General Sir Richard Barrons,had never been a British Army officer as his article in today's Sunday Times newspaper about the current unpleasantness in Ukraine not only lacks the acronyms and buzzwords which make so many sound like teenage management trainees but also appears to have been written by a man who understands the bloody business of land warfare,however,this otherwise very sensible piece must be challenged on the claim that tanks need to be "made lighter".
Protection against modern infantry weapons weighs hundreds of pounds per square foot,protection against tank fire is even heavier,and a modern armoured vehicle is further burdened by the increasing volume and weight demands of weapons,sensors,communications,countermeasures,battle management systems and their associated power and cooling requirements,a problem which would be exacerbated by the adoption of electric propulsion.
Unless the laws of physics change,the trend for ever bigger and heavier tanks is likely to continue and heavy losses of medium tanks in Kuwait,Chechnya,Iraq and Ukraine demonstrate the consequences of ignoring the reality of armoured vehicle design.
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