Cool Xbox controller :D. It looks very big and wide, I wonder how they managed to fit in the tank
The turret ring was never a problem to begin with, that was purely fabricated by gaijin.
the turret is placeholder 9/10, new turret is a big requirement as there is going to be an autoloader, + the turret was hold and a new turret was needed to accomodate modern tech without making the first 100 ton mbt.
anybody find it goofy how they want an hypersonic gun launched missile? how would that even look like? guided apfsds, can the new gun even accomodate those pressures?
thats what i thought wouldve been done as a stopgap, the m230 crows is already well established is it not?
The left one also seems to have same hull as the M1E3 shown in Detroit auto show
im no engineer, i couldnt begin to imagine how the turret would look like when encorporating all the new tech, deep down i hope it keeps the iconic abrams look. does it have xm360 like abrams x or is it a new gun? i heard it used the same gun but i dont remember where
IIRC that one of the left was actually leaked so I really won’t be surprised if turret is similar to it
sick that somewhat reminds me of ascalon
I don’t know about that
Does this prototype still uses gas turbine?
I don’t think so. AFAIK they are planning to use different engine
According to The Chieftain
“A bespoke turret is being made with everything incorporated from the beginning instead of added on like the current tank, but that gets integrated after they know for sure what they need from testing. This vehicle has the turbine engine, other test vehicles are running the automotive trials on the Cat. Eventually everything will be put together, but that time is not now.”
https://x.com/chieftain_armor/status/2011503763262153039?s=46
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Exactly, and with this external change to the hull even if Gaijin doesn’t do anything about existing reports impacting the internal modules or amour it should be much harder to penetrate frontally, since it effectively extends the 83 degree UFP to cover the majority of the “shot trap” only issue might be a slight reduction to the maximum declanation of the gun.
We already know quite a bit about the M1111 Mid-Range Munition program, there are two variants, a KE penetrator and a HEAT warhead.
The current M256 gun barrels have only about a 2000 round service life, and M829A3 “war shot” counts for something like a 4~5 round equivalent, off the life of the gun-tube. So there is a difference between can it do it, and can it do it for long?
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do you think they will get a new gun for the production M1E3?
No way to really tell, if they are trying to go lightweight there is the XM360, of they wanted better performance the M256E1 to go to a L/55 form factor. They are already confirmed to be moving to a 3 crew tank, but the loader station will remain as a manual backup.
It really depends on what the production turret looks like since I could see both options being viable.
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Alr now im on my computer so i can add to this point
next issue
frontal driver armor also missing volumetric. ^
Turret basket issue
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This requires a brand new tank hull and turret as reducing the turret ring is what’s required for reducing mass.
See: Type 90. A tank whose turret ring was designed for 3 turret crew, and the mass stays the same due to that.
That is why autoloaders for Abrams are denied. No weight savings for a mechanical part that isn’t proven.
So are they going to use autoloader or not?