European Defence Industries: News

The UK can't be the only ones making this type of drone.

With a 15kg payload and considering the size and likely cost of it I would guess most other countries working on such things are waiting for batteries to get better and electric motors to get more efficient and more powerful and for composites to become a bit lighter and cheaper.

Those new batteries the Russians are working on that can be used normally at minus 50 degrees C would be ideal for this sort of thing because I suspect a lot of payload capacity is sacrificed to carry batteries and to keep them warm at 70K ft operational heights so they hold their charge.

Equally those new solar technologies that are spray on would be useful on clear composite materials for the upper wing surfaces to collect power but also reduce weight and probably drag.

Purely an engineering exercise with no intention of becoming a product, a teaser of sorts,

Could say that about all joint German/French projects couldn't you?

AW149 latest generation Medium Multi-Role Military Helicopter. Special emphasis seems to be on survivability features. Drawing lessons from Ukraine, i suspect.

Franco German EMBT

120mm smoothbore

Coaxial .50 cal

30mm auto cannon

7.62 MG

APS

The turret high is very low. The 2 hatches for the crew on the turret are really low, it is like the hatches are only a mean of scape but the crew is below the turret.
I looks to me like they placed to crew very low so they have minimal exposition on the external part of the turret that way they can minimise the size of the turret.
I think this is clever thinking, it looks like a hybrid between unmaned turrets and the traditional turret with autoloader.

There will have to be A LOT of improvements made to the frontal hull armor for it to be a viable MBT in modern combat when APFSDS is hitting the realm of +900mm of penetration. The weight savings from using an unmanned turret will help in allowing more weight to be allocated to armor protection, but that turret still seems pretty beefy and full of heavy equipment, such as what seems to be a 25, 30, or 35mm autocannon RCWS mount.

An open platform will allow the vehicle to be upgraded as new technology develops. Automatics target tracking and detection

A nice attempt but the MGCS program its supposed to headline for is dead. German and French requirements are just too incompatible and both sides intractable to compromise so its just going to end the way it has always been for projects between the German and French MICs: with the joint project cancelled and each side going their own way.

Germany's press briefing at IAV24 about how German thinking is influencing the next generation main battle tank for the MGCS project. Potential features:

Weight reduction to 50 tonnes - more compact design
Mobility, mobility, mobility - high power to weight ratio
System of systems approach - common platform with different types including gun tank, missile launcher, and uncrewed air defence wingman
Likely to have a larger gun - 130 mm / 140 mm and capacity to fire NLOS ATGMs
Uncrewed turret
Three-person crew located in the hull
Integral APS / SHORAD capability
Hybrid electric drive with 1,800 hp
Passive and Reactive protection
Front-mounted engine

It seems, the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) just like the Abrams X will follow T-14 configuration.

Sujoy wrote:Germany's press briefing at IAV24 about how German thinking is influencing the next generation main battle tank for the MGCS project. Potential features:

Weight reduction to 50 tonnes  - more compact design
Mobility, mobility, mobility - high power to weight ratio
System of systems approach - common platform with different types including gun tank, missile launcher, and uncrewed air defence wingman
Likely to have a larger gun - 130 mm / 140 mm and capacity to fire NLOS ATGMs
Uncrewed turret
Three-person crew located in the hull
Integral APS / SHORAD capability
Hybrid electric drive with 1,800 hp
Passive and Reactive protection
Front-mounted engine

It seems, the Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) just like the Abrams X will follow T-14 configuration.

1: That has never gone well outside of Russia.

3: The idea of an unmanned AD vehicles is absurd, extremely unreliable at best and more likely a bigger threat to your own airpower than the enemy's.

4: Unless those are gun launched that likely means less ammunition and armour, not a good idea.

7: Integral SHORAD, this is not Battletech, you cannot fit that on a tank under 50 tons.

8: Will it catch fire like their previous attempts?

9: I am guessing they will skip the heavy ERA in favour of an overpriced APS system that will attract anti radiation missiles.

10: Not impossible to do while retaining decent frontal armour, I doubt they will manage to.

All in all more sci-fi nonsens and buzzwords, if put into metal it would likely result in an underarmoured mess with a big gun and no more than a few rounds to feed it.

Doesn't German thinking on tank design seem rather parallel to Russian tank design with the T-14?

Should be flattering I suppose even if they wont admit it.

They are essentially learning how to design a new tank from the Russians... but then the last war the Germans did learn how to make decent tanks from the Soviets then too.

They can't even manufacture simple heavy caliber shells in the required amounts for modern warfare. And yet these clowns are talking about designing and manufacturing advanced MBTs...

Nice try, but these cheap PR stunts can only impress favelaos. Pull another one.

This would be the first new tank the Germans have designed in 50 years. Expectations that the process will go smoothly... eh good luck with that.

Not just a new tank but a new everything is what they need... they will start in teams and then break up into smaller groups and then individual countries and end up making 5 or 6 different things with different parts and different support requirements that are not compatible... ask the Ukrainians.

They will likely also want a 6th gen fighter if they get F-16s into combat and they don't last long...

Doesn't German thinking on tank design seem rather parallel to Russian tank design with the T-14?

There will be at least one similarity: both will be runnig with microchips from German washing machines.

There will be at least one similarity: both will be runnig with microchips from German washing machines.

German washing machines made in the US of A because Germany wont be making anything soon...

Imagine a new German leader that stands up for Germany, who is realistic to realise what Russia has done in the last almost 35 years... they went from a western occupied colony in the 1990s to an independent and free democracy... and they did it so quickly... and despite all western efforts to make them subservient and dependent.

Imagine a European power with the balls to kick the Americans out of Europe... because they do more harm than good and only think of themselves.

Better do it before some French guy does it and becomes the new Napoleon and does it first...

Written any good books recently Hole?

You can say it is absurd but I am sure everyone would think the same when a certain book was written too.

Interesting new British drone based on Turkish original.