TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Bolt on lacks a certain elegance besides it also adds weight to the final product. Farther other tank systems like RWS can end up in the unfortunate position of being damaged by a bolt on system. This also encourages a crew to want to be buttoned up.
Additionally a mix of APS can be added to a vehicle from the start better than one later as a bolt on. Soft and hard kill.
Full EV Combat vehicles aren’t ready yet. Hybrid is. It turns the vehicle engine in to a generator and allows more power for systems. Improved fuel economy is a bonus if done right as well as reducing maintenance on old school mechanical transmissions.
Most of the problems with turrets has been ammo stowage in Carousel tanks being under your crew in a position where in the effects of a penetration into the fighting compartment easily feed into the magazine and then the whole thing goes boom. The question for the Chinese is can they shift the crew to the hull? Do they have the space? The T14 was scratch built for it. AbramsX, K51 and EMBT are using western hulls which with some reconfiguration created enough room. Though I could easily see a T72 or Type 99 hull with a two man compartment it might be a tight squeeze.
Small hand held could fit in the fighting compartment but that’s a fairly limited amount of thinking. With a smaller unmanned turret one could imagine a tethered or even launched drone. Long ago in the land of China before the North Koreans bolted ATGMs and MANPADS to their tanks the Chinese had a prototype tank with just such a feature. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the launcher came back but the missile was a drone. AbramsX and KF51 are both already pushing those.
I would add the following,
C-UAS.
Under armor vision system including panoramic displays.
dive by wire.
C-UAS.
Might remember a couple years back when drones turned one army into a meme. It’s still happened. Though SHORAD systems take a lot of the edge off. Gaps in coverage and the fact that smaller drones have a higher probability of popping up. This is why the EMBT and AbramsX are both being displayed with a big 30x113mm gun. 25 years ago Tank crews might have only used the commanders weapon for infantry. Viewing it as a doctrinal anachronism. A relic from WW2 and Korea when it might have warned away a living pilot.
With the rise of drones from pocket sized to flying Dinner table armed with HE those guns have a mission again but the bigger the gun the better.
Under armor vision including panoramic displays.
Fact is shifting your crew from the turret to the hull limits situational awareness. This isn’t new it’s been known since the first tank lumbered across Flanders. This is why tank commanders in the west have typically operated open canopy looking out. Soviet tankers tended to fight buttoned up this has resulted in some humorous events like Soviet tanks in WW2 getting shot and apparently being none the wiser despite being blasted again and again. Without a system of cameras and displays panoramic and head mounted the crew will basically be sitting dumbfounded as to the world around them. Which in combat is how you end up getting killed.
Drive by wire.
Just like how Attack choppers of the modern era could sit in either station and do their jobs. So to can a tank in a very modern tank. This has certain advantages in regards to situational awareness and communications. Thanks to modern computers you can put your tank crew just about anywhere in the tank and have them do just about anything.
