Conclusion What does this discussion mean for the Army’s proposed 2020 structure? If all armoured vehicles can now be neutralised by tank guns or ATGMs, heavy armour is largely redundant. That being the case, we need to determine what is…
The need to rethink the ideal balance between mobility, protection and firepower Historically, the best tanks have always been those that provided a balanced mix of firepower, protection and mobility. The most successful tank designs of World War 2 were…
An audit of the UK’s existing vehicle fleet The UK has more than 2,000 frontline AFVs that were acquired before 1980. Some people might argue that the Army already has a credible Medium Armour capability. Perhaps “had” is a better…
Developing a coherent AFV strategy to support Army 2020 An Army Cut to the Bone Until 1989, the capabilities of Britain’s Armed Forces were almost entirely focused on the threat posed by Soviet Union and its satellite states. When the…
This year’s Eurosatory was notable for the number of new post-Afghanistan 8×8 designs that have emerged. Whereas earlier pre-2006 designs tended to weigh less than 20 tonnes, newer versions are much taller, longer and heavier with some weighing more than…
The need to rethink the UK’s Armoured Vehicle Strategy This is a post from Monty that I have been sitting on for a while, apologies to Monty [TD] Introduction According to official MoD figures released in June 2013, the British…
Two new US new small arms research programs suggest that this may be the case. Since the beginning of the new millennium, US future small arms development has been focused on two separate programs: the Improved Individual Carbine Competition (IICC)…
Another guest post from Monty Every now and then, some bright spark comes along and says that some established military paradigm has become redundant. We’ve heard it all before. Nuclear weapons are irrelevant. The tank is dead. Large calibre small…
A guest post by Monty… TD’s excellent series of articles on the future of armour under the title of ‘The Tank is Dead, Long live the Tank’ prompted a wide and interesting collection of responses. Some of the ideas presented…
A GUEST POST FROM MONTY As the conflict in Afghanistan starts to wind down, many NATO armies need to replace their aging and worn out weapon fleets. The problem is that few governments will have enough money in their coffers…
