RE: Hover tanks

If you didn't care about floating on water (as most MBT's don't) then
you can have larger ground pressures and a more compact footprint.  But
as you shrink the footprint and increase the ground pressure, you need
more power to stay aloft until you reach something like a Harrier which
can be held aloft on pure thrust. You reach a ciritical point as more
powerful power plants require more space and weight in general, so
unless there is a breakthrough in power/weight ratio for power plants
there is a limit to how much thrust (airflow) you can generate.



Zubr vs. M1 Abrams



For example - M1 Abrams MBT - ground pressure = 13.50 PSI (pounds per
square inch), size is 26 feet long, 12 feet wide.  

The tracks are substantially narrower than the full width of the tank.



Average person	= ~3 PSI



The Zubr has dimensions of 57.3m of length and 25.6 meters of beam for
1466.88 m2 of area.  It is listed with a displacement of 555 metric
tons, which gives a surface pressure of 1223565 lbs /2272304 in sq. =
0.538 PSI.  If you were willing to let it reach the ground pressure of
an MBT, the dimensions would shrink to a 30 foot x 21 foot (roughly 9.5
meters x 6.5 meters) footprint.  Think of packing 555 tons onto the
footprint of two large trailers.



Slammer's tanks are described as 170 tons and have roughly a 9m x 4m
footprint and so would be roughly 1/3 the weight on 2/3 the area of a
compacted Zubr and fall about 6-7 PSI. The overall dimensions are
roughly the same as an M1 Abrams but is 3 times heavier but has a ground
pressure of only half that of the M1.



So the answer is future hover tanks can look like tanks.  The reason
they look like ships today is the requirement that they float above
water, which requires a very low ground/water pressure to achieve.  If
you don't worry about trying to float on water, you can have a very
dense/compact vehicle similar to a modern MBT.



--Binhan



________________________________

From: owner-gzg-l@lists.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
[mailto:owner-gzg-l@lists.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU] On Behalf Of Adrian
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 1:21 PM
To: gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
Subject: Hover tanks



I don't want to be seen to be interefering in a argument but at what
point does a hovertank stop been a tank and start been a ship.



It's called the Zubr and its better armed than some warships (not
suprisingly since thats what it is)



 foxxaero.homestead.com/indrad_068.html 



It is quite feasible to build a hovertank.  It's just that it would NOT
look like a land bound MBT but more like a HOVERCRAFT/WARSHIP.