As the traditional king of land warfare, the development of tanks between China and the United States is showing two completely different paths.

The U.S. "The Drive" website reported on the 15th that the first prototype of the next-generation Abrams tank is planned to be delivered to the U.S. Army by the end of this year, at which time the U.S. military will begin more testing work.

When it comes to the U.S. Army's next-generation tank, people will inevitably think of China's 100-type main battle tank and 99B tank, which were publicly displayed at the National Day parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory in the War of Resistance against Japan this year, and compare them with them.

Next-generation Abrams concept prototype

In fact, regarding what role tanks should play in land warfare in the future, China and the United States have already given different answers.

Simplistically speaking, although the U.S. Army's next-generation Abrams (M1E3) is called a "re-designed next generation," it is actually an upgrade based on the existing Abrams chassis; while China's 100-type tank has chosen an innovative approach of "starting over from scratch."

In design, the prototype of the next-generation Abrams continues to use a 120mm main gun, but the production model may switch to a larger caliber main gun, sticking to the traditional tank assault framework, with its innovation mainly reflected in protection and digital combat capabilities.

For example, facing the increasingly severe threat of drones on the modern battlefield, the U.S. Abrams adopts an integrated protection approach, equipping it with an active protection system similar to Israel's "Trophy," as well as enhanced armor and explosive reactive armor kits for the tank.

After the prototype is delivered, the U.S. military will definitely make modifications

Additionally, the next-generation Abrams will adopt a new electronic open architecture and modular design, facilitating future software and hardware upgrades and integration of new technologies, while adding an automatic loader to reduce the tank crew from four to three members.

From these designs, one can see the difference in understanding of land warfare between China and the United States.

The design of the next-generation Abrams, including the integrated protection concept, large-caliber cannon, artificial intelligence perception, and open system architecture, as well as the possible addition of a loitering munition launcher in the future, reflects that the U.S. Army, although not abandoning the traditional tank-armor confrontation route, also recognizes that information and fire integration are the future.

However, the U.S. military hopes to integrate all these advanced capabilities into a single tank, which leads to the next-generation Abrams being somewhat "bulky": even after "dieting," the new Abrams is still a heavy tank weighing around 60 tons.

China has taken a completely different technological path from the United States

By contrast, the tank formations displayed during the September 3rd parade in China indicate that we have moved beyond the traditional framework of land warfare: the 100-type tank no longer pursues thicker armor or a larger caliber cannon, but rather serves as an information node on the battlefield, with tank protection mainly relying on an integrated defense system composed of active protection systems and soft and hard kill measures.

Nevertheless, this does not mean that we have completely abandoned the idea of tank-armor confrontation. The 99B tank, which appeared at the parade and was taller and more formidable, will continue to assume this task positioning.

In other words, compared to the U.S. next-generation Abrams' "both-and" approach of tank-armor confrontation and information-fire integration, where one tank is supposed to "take on everything," China has split these two operational concepts:

Intelligence is the inevitable path for tank development

The 100-type tank, responsible for frontline situation awareness on the battlefield, even if it achieves "finding the enemy first," a 105mm tank gun is obviously insufficient to counter the enemy's heavy armor or strong fortifications. At this point, the 99B tank, drones, or even rear firepower units will make up for the 100-type tank's lack of striking power.

Certainly, this does not mean that the Abrams has made the wrong choice in technology. If we have to make a comparison, the U.S. next-generation Abrams is like a heavily armored knight who fights alone, equipped with heavier armor and sharper weapons;

while China's 100-type tank and support vehicles, along with the 99B tank, are like a well-coordinated team. In the future, the distinction between tank squads and support squads in land warfare may no longer exist, but instead, a combined unit composed of "command" tanks and "support" vehicles will emerge.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7561742718340022794/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author. Please express your opinion below using the [upvote/downvote] buttons.