[DS2,SG2] Future Tank

Greetings,
I found this article about Britain's proposed tank design.
It has plastic armor, adaptive coloring, stealth, a guass cannon,
runs on bateries, and has defensive screens!

- Bri

-------- Article ----------
London Sunday Times
February 7, 1999
Plastic Tank Is Silent Killer Of Battlefield
Assault by battery: Britain's conventional tank forces could be replaced

with plastic vehicles built around stealth technology.
by Hugh McManners, Defence Correspondent
Prepare for the "Duracell" tank. The traditional heavy-armoured British
model may be replaced with a plastic battery-powered vehicle protected
by a
magnetic force field that could detonate incoming missiles before they
hit.
The vehicle, nicknamed the Duracell tank because of its long-lasting
batteries, would revolutionise the army's land battle strategy. It would

eventually replace the present generation of Challenger tanks, which
cost
over £2m each. They are increasingly seen as a liability because their
bulk,
exhaust emissions and noisy engines make them an easy target for
missiles
fired from anti-tank helicopters.
A senior spokesman for one defence company involved in the project said
the
new tank was being designed to dominate battlefields without even being
seen. "It will have to be able to destroy helicopters before they even
detect it," he said.
The tank can remain hidden from aerial attack due to a polymer coating
that
changes colour to match its surroundings.
Codenamed the Modifier, it is being designed by Vickers, the British
company
specialising in armoured fighting vehicles. Defence experts have been
told
the vehicles could carry a two-man crew or operate under remote control.

They will probably cost several million pounds each. The first
deployment
would not be for at least 15 years.
Nigel Vinson, an expert in tank warfare from the Royal United Services
Institute, a Whitehall military think tank close to the Ministry of
Defence,
said strategists had long recognised that the days of massed tank
battles
were over.
"We saw in the Gulf how precision weapons like anti-tank missiles can be

used with deadly effect," he said. "Big traditional tanks stand little
chance against helicopter gunships. In any case, the wars of the future
will
be won by destroying computer centres and communications systems, rather

than through huge battles."
Such considerations mean that the Modifier is being designed entirely
around
stealth technology. The polymer coating will cover a toughened plastic
body
that should be undetectable on most radars. The electric motors run
almost
silently.Even if the tank is detected, it should prove hard to destroy.
Any
missile would first have to overcome an electromagnetic force field. Its

powerful pulses would disable enemy electronics and detonate missiles
well
before impact.
If a missile did penetrate, it would have to overcome the tank's armour
-
made of layers of toughened plastics capable of resisting high
explosives
and the modern ultra-high-velocity shells.
A defence industry source said such technology was still in an
experimental
stage but looked promising.
The tank's armament would also be formidable, including missiles and a
large
gun. This would fire conventional explosive shells, but accelerate them
to
even higher velocities with an electromagnetic pulse - enhancing
accuracy
and increasing the range.
Tanks have a long history, going back to the armoured battering rams
built
by the Romans to demolish the fortified gates of enemy cities. In
Britain
the first recorded use of armoured vehicles was by Boadicea, who used
chariots to try to drive out the Romans.
The first deployment of the modern mechanised tank came in the first
world
war during the battle of the Somme in 1916. The tanks broke through the
German lines with such ease that the British were too surprised to take
advantage, allowing the Germans to recover the lost ground.
It was, however, the Germans who first realised their full potential
when
they used tanks as an integral part of their second world war invasions
of
Poland, Belgium and France with fast-moving columns of armoured
vehicles.
The Germans also made the largest tank in history. Called the Maus -
German
for mouse - it weighed 189 tons, more than three times the weight of a
modern Challenger. The Modifier will, by contrast, weigh a mere 20 tons.

Much of that reduction will be achieved by replacing the huge
conventional
engine with electric motors and using the light plastic armour.
Its batteries will be recharged by a combination of fuel cells and a
small
diesel generator that can be started whenever danger is not imminent.
One of
the most innovative ideas is to store energy in a giant flywheel,
enabling
the tank to move without using even its electric motors.
Ironically, such innovations mean that the Modifier, despite being
designed
to wreak destruction on a large scale, is likely to be one of the
greenest
production vehicles in Britain.
A spokesman for Friends of the Earth, said he was delighted. "All they
have
to do now is remove the gun and ammunition to make this a genuinely
environmentally friendly machine."