Chinas futuristic smart tank can turn drones against drones, leaked images suggest

Publish date: 2024-08-03
Recent images circulating on Chinese social media suggest the country has made significant progress in developing a futuristic battle tank with comprehensive defence capabilities against missile and drone attacks.

The new tank appears to be advanced, with a two-person crew and potentially featuring a completed active protection system. That would give the new model more protection than its predecessors, and more offensive power.

Its integrated defence system could preemptively detect and neutralise incoming missiles, significantly reducing the risk of destruction by conventional anti-tank missiles and high-explosive anti-tank rounds.

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Moreover, its attack system – which integrates drones and weapon stations – suggests a shift away from traditional tank-on-tank combat to a more comprehensive warfare approach.

Traditional tanks have struggled to survive in the Ukraine war. On the modern battlefield, a cheap drone can destroy a heavily armed tank worth millions of dollars.

China’s new-generation tank project suggests that technologies such as drones can also be used for tank protection, allowing the “king of land warfare” to continue playing an important role in future armed conflict.

Currently, the tanks mainly in use globally are third-generation models but many nations are exploring fourth-generation tanks given the evolving nature of warfare and increased threat from drones and missiles.

Notably, the Russian T-14 Armata, unveiled in 2015 and recognised as one of the world’s first fourth-generation tanks, was equipped with an advanced active protection system.

“Active defence technology is considered an essential feature of next-generation main battle tanks,” military expert Bai Mengchen said in an interview on state broadcaster CCTV’s military channel in January.

An assessment by military blogger lyman2003 suggests that China’s new tank has an unstaffed turret, a 105mm smoothbore gun and a stealth gun barrel, with potential future upgrades to electrothermal-chemical technology.

Additionally, the tank is expected to be outfitted with anti-aircraft weaponry to bolster its defences against low-speed missiles and drones, according to the blogger who said it could feature an active electronic warfare system and X-band radars.

The former is responsible for fire control and target tracking and the X-band radars disturb the flight of drones.

“The new tank also possesses multi-platform autonomous cooperative capabilities, significantly enhancing its offensive potential. The tank could enable coordinated strikes with unmanned drones and vehicles over beyond-visual-range air-to-ground engagements,” lyman2003 said in a Weibo post.

For mobility, the tank maintains a six-pair track system and may feature autonomous driving equipped with laser radar. Its exterior appears unpainted, with a grey upper body and yellow lower half.

The concept of a two-person tank was showcased in 2019 during a promotional video for the 60th anniversary of China North Vehicle Research Institute where the “two-person, large-screen” tank simulator cockpit indicated the maturity of this technology in China.

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In 2022, experts revealed at a Beijing forum that China’s next-generation tank would mark a significant leap in defensive capabilities.

“Through active disruption and interception technologies, the overall protective performance of the tank is enhanced, improving battlefield survivability by 2.7 times,” the International Top-Level Forum on Engineering Science and Technology Development Strategy-Space Aviation Marine was told.

China’s fourth-generation main battle tank seems to be moving away from traditional armour-piercing confrontations. Instead, it will embrace system-oriented warfare supported by information technology, featuring active interference, active interception and multidimensional protective measures.

“In the future, tank wars may evolve into systematic wars supported by high technology,” financial blogger Gao Tian said in an article analysing the newly revealed tank.

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