Army Advances Future Tank Weapons & War Concepts in New “War in 2040” Effort

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

Lighter, faster, expeditionary and lethal, networked, drone-controlling, potentially unmanned …yet survivable and capable of heavy mechanized combat .. are a few seemingly contradictory attributes sought after by the Army as it explores and develops tanks for the future.

Finding the optimal balance between survivability, speed and deployability is not an easy task, yet the Army has been making progress for years working on this complex equation. Generally speaking, the approach seems triple pronged in a way, as it seems to include a continuation of heavy armor with massive upgrades and lighter weight materials, much lighter weight, deployable new platforms such as Mobile Protected Firepower and networked unmanned systems. 

Much of the Army’s work in recent years has involved the exploration of fast-deployable armored platforms likely to be  lighter, faster and engineered for new kinds of networking, maneuver formations and manned-unmanned teaming. This third trajectory, it could be posited, involves the extensive use and development of unmanned platforms or “optionally” unmanned platforms uniquely able to perform high-speed, high-risk missions in a faster, lighter, more survivable yet extremely lethal way. 

“We need lighter formations that are more lethal and survivable and heavy formations that are lighter …. all with a reduced logistical footprint,” William Nelson, Deputy Commander, Army Futures Command, told Warrior in an interview.

One clear way to think about it is the Army appears to be exploring the possibility of a mix of manned and unmanned platforms designed to achieve deployability, lethality and survivability across a networked, highly maneuverable force. Essentially, there will likely be future tactical combat circumstances which indeed require all three of the attributes described by Nelson to achieve optimal lethality, using manned-unmanned integration, speed and deployability and also heavy armor in certain scenarios. The most cutting edge applications of manned-unmanned teaming are already being built into upgraded and new platforms increasingly able to launch and operate a range of aerial and ground unmanned systems. 

Tanks & Drones Attack Together