Re: Tanks

On Tue, 1 Feb 2000, Thomas.Barclay wrote:

> Which apparently some nations have done as some do use autoloader
> technology. Plus I think you underrate the capacity of modern sensors
(and
> those in the future). They'll spot better and faster than a human, and
> pre-planned evasion or engagement software engines will allow a rapid
> engagement of threats in a flexible manner with minimal human decision
loop

GeeWizzes will help, but it will be a good idea to have a human 
monitoring the system, which means there will still only be three bodies

per tank for general standing watches during halts and stuff while 
everyone else sleeps. A difference of 16 men to 12 men when the plt sgt 
and the plt ldr are both off planning strategy for the next days
advance. 

> intervention. As for retensioning etc, I'd have to agree there is a
> maintenance issue, but it seems to me MBTs as a whole should be
getting
> easier to maintain (by plug and play and COTS components). They are
complex,
> but a broken gun guidance board isn't repaired in the field, its
> replaced-in-place and sent to the tech shop.

True, however, there are still lots of big things on a tank that requre 
multople people. Tracks and power packs are two of the most back
breaking 
areas. Changing tracks and changeing power packs are hard work. There
has 
been some speculation that one could build tanks up to the point where 
they have a dedicated ground crew to take care of it, I fear further 
increases in the size of the logistical tail with the use of auto 
loaders. 

> As for sitting around chatting
> on the phone, I don't see why a decent AI couldn't equally make that

We are still far away from getting ai's to make complex descisions. Ala 
the Bolo concept, a human is always necessary to make the really tough 
decisions not covered by the program. 

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