ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. – Though the current main battle tank, the M1 Abrams, is expected to hum along in the center of the armored formation for decades to come, some kind replacement is on its way. Army Times reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
3 Aug. 2021 -- Rather than swapping a tank for a tank, most experts in the field are looking to a family of vehicles and vetronics architectures that will take tank-like capabilities and spread them across manned and unmanned platforms for better survivability.
The Army is doing more than simply upgrading existing vehicles and fueling the next steps in ground fighting over the coming decade. Scientists at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., such as Zabinski and Dr. Scott Schoenfeld, senior scientist for terminal ballistics, are envisioning how to do the work of armor without armor.
The key to that is distributing the functions of a tank, such as sensors, vetronics, firepower, protection. Some of that still involves heavy metal moving around the battlefield -- sometimes with a crew; sometimes without. But protection can also mean not being seen, or even being seen as something else. That’s where electronic warfare, masking and hiding in plain sight of sensors can play a role.
Related: Army surveys industry for products and services for new vetronics navigation technologies
John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
