The Army’s new light tank can venture where its beefier cousins can’t
Kelsey D. Atherton - Yesterday 7:00 AM
Plus, the MPF is designed to be ready to fight after rolling out of an aircraft.
When it comes to crossing rivers on bridges, all the technology of modern warfare is still bound by the hard limits imposed by the laws of physics—the structure needs to be able to support the vehicle that’s on it. To try to cope with this problem, the Army is investing in a lighter tank than its current battlefield behemoth, the M1 Abrams main battle tank. This new vehicle, which is still known by its descriptive moniker Mobile Protected Firepower, was promoted at the Association of the United States Army conference held in Washington, DC, from October 10-12.
The Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) vehicle weighs in at 38 tons, which is heavy by all standards, except it is light compared to the 70 tons of heft of an Abrams tank. That means it can go places the Abrams can’t, expanding how and where the Army can effectively fight war from vehicles. The MPF will also feature fire control and situational awareness sensors, which can allow enemy location data to be shared across vehicles in formation.
“Bridge classifications being what they are, you know right away whether that bridge can support the weight of a mobile protected firefighter vehicle, or it can't,” says Tim Reese, the director of US business development for General Dynamics, the company that makes both the Abrams and MPF. “Same thing with the Abrams tank, which requires a much more robust bridge to cross than does the MPF.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-army-s-new-light-tank-can-venture-where-its-beefier-cousins-can-t/ar-AA12ZuJu?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8bfa19ff4511492db26a77710a14af6d
