The tank is one of the most dreaded symbols of contemporary warfare, and it has come a long way from its birth during World War I. The development of current state-of-the-art MBTs has come through technological advancement and strategic innovation in military engineering.
The dawn of the tank era can be traced back to September 15, 1916, near the French village of Flowers. In the pre-dawn darkness, a small group of machines began their slow advance. Moving at less than four miles per hour, early tanks crawled through a landscape awash with shattered tree stumps and mud. One of these machines finally broke through the ranks of soldiers and entered no man’s land, thus starting the role that the tank would play in warfare.
These armored fighting vehicle precursors were made of armor plates and heavy weaponry, along with progressively more powerful internal combustion engines. The early tanks were developed as a solution by the British Armed Forces to the stalemate of trench warfare. For the sake of secrecy, known only as “Tanks,” it came in an extended rhomboidal shape with the tracks running over the body as a means to cross deep and wide trenches. Indeed, they were armed mostly on the sides in armored boxes, which greatly reduced the field of fire but made it ideal for trench warfare.
Even with all the faults of these early tanks, such as the noisy, hot, poorly ventilated engine and no suspension, they still proved a great weapon. That fateful day in September 1916, forty-nine tanks went into action with the British infantry. Many of them broke down or found themselves immobilized, but the very sight of a tank lumbering through Flers, greeted by British soldiers’ cheers, solidified the tank’s image as a breakthrough weapon.
Fast forward to this day, and one sees the metamorphosis of the tank in models such as the Leopard 2A7+ and Abrams M1A2. Launched in 2010 by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), the Leopard 2A7+ can be described as the next generation of MBTs. Borrowing a great deal from the technology developed for its older brother, the Leopard 2, this tank may, therefore, be said to be custom-made for urban warfare and traditional military roles; and it is fielded today by the German Army and under NATO command in Afghanistan.
The Leopard 2A7+ features a 120-mm L55 smoothbore gun that fires all standard NATO ammunition and the new programmable 120-mm HE-rounds. It is also fitted with an FLW 200 remotely controlled light weapon station mounting either a 7.62-mm or 12.7-mm machine gun or a 40-mm grenade launcher. Its armor modules are of the passive type; therefore, the system offers protection from all sides against anti-tank-guided missiles, mines, improvised explosive devices, and RPG rounds. The Leopard 2A7+ achieves high mobility and versatility with its top speed of 72km/h and a cruising range of 450km.
The Abrams M1A2 is also a combat-proven MBT, developed by General Dynamics Land Systems for the US Army. Drawing on all the experience gained from the M1A1, new technologies are put into the M1A2 to achieve superior firepower and mobility. The main gun is a 120 mm XM256 smoothbore cannon, which is manually loaded and capable of firing all forms of NATO ammunition used against armored vehicles, infantry, and low-flying aircraft. Its exterior composite armor is heavy, with steel-encased depleted uranium armor to maximize the protection of the crew inside the tank. It has a cruising range of 426 km and hits 67.5 km/h speed, making the Abrams M1A2 still one of the best battle tanks in the world today.
From the early days of World War I to state-of-the-art MBTs today, the tank has continuously reinvented itself for its call to duty in modern warfare. As technology moves ever on, so will the potential of these iron monsters in their capability to take a rightful place on the battlefield in many years to come.