It is not about having a better tank than adverary, it is about the value of tank itself. It will not matter whose tank is better if they all get destroyed by drones easily.
The new tank should be designed to reflect new nature of warfare, where drones are ever present. I am not a fan of the new tank. It is a major technological advance, but it feels outdated, as if someone in 2010 dream up a new tank. Entire design is built around sensors, APS against ATGM proliferation. And indeed, ATGM was what every one was worried about in 2010. But Ukraine taught us drone is by far the biggest threat not ATGM, and I am not seeing new design to protect it.
I am being very realistic here. How good is your tank if some random ISIS can neutralize it? This is the kind of question we must ask.
What use is a new expensive tank if it is as survivable as a ZTZ-96A? Perhaps you would say the tank will be protected by EW and various anti-drone system. I am not convinced. EW is expensive along with various shortcoming, and does not protect against fibre optic drones. The current anti-drone is unproven in realistic battlefield, and is itself vulnerable to artillery and direct gun fire. We cannot expect tanks to perform its job if it is as vulnerable to the thin skinned vehicles around it. Realistically there is no satisfactory solution to kill drones while remaining protected against various other threats. Meanwhile drones can easily improve, while anti-drone measures are order of magnitude more expensive and hard to keep up. Things are not really looking good for traditional tank designs.
In general the more complex the solution is, the more holes it can poke. Having a complex series of special vehicle is extremely expensive, unreliable for such a cheap, simple threat. So I think ultimately the solution to drones must be very affordable, and simple enough to not have anti synergy with task of tank: a rugged assault platform operating in high threat environment. An expensive fleet of anti drone system will not survive. I think ultimately we will return to simple solutions like 'cope cage'.
We see Russia was able to convert T-72 into very survivable platforms with heavy amount of cage armor. But this kind of design has its own problems. The new tank design I am hoping for is to incorporate comprehensive anti-drone armor while remain unimpeded by it, and still able to perform its traditional roles. I am not sure if these armor is compatible with APS system new tank is built around. It may just be useless once it carry anti drone armor.
Drone protection is central to design of every military vehicle, and every feature must work around it. Until new tank design reflect it, I expect it remain a placeholder at best, sidegrade at worst. The improvements like better propulsion system is theoritical at best.
