Competition after competition
The armored fleet of the US Ground Forces, despite the considerable age of many vehicles, has good potential for modernization, which, in particular, was shown by the recent installation of the Trophy active protection complex on Abrams and plans to equip combat infantry fighting vehicles with it. However, this is not enough for the Americans with their colossal (first place in the world) military budget and the broadest capabilities of the military-industrial complex. More recently, the United States has re-launched the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program to replace the M2 infantry fighting vehicle. As it turned out, the United States was forced to reconsider the requirements in the direction of more "realistic", while the idea of replacing the old BMP as such did not abandon.
No less interesting is another program - Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF), designed to find a developer for a new combat vehicle, which is sometimes called a "light tank", which generally conveys the essence of the issue. This is not as ambitious a program as the aforementioned OMFV: no one will look for a replacement for Abrams. At least for now. According to the bmpd blog, the goal of the program is to build 504 production MPF vehicles. First of all, they must equip separate companies planned for formation (the company has a staff of 14 vehicles) in Infantry Brigade Combat teams. Such a company should be added to each of the 33 infantry brigades of the regular army and the US National Guard with the achievement of combat readiness of the first company in 2025 fiscal year.
The mass of the combat vehicle should vary in the range of 30-40 tons; for comparison: the mass of the M1A2SEP Abrams tank is more than 63 tons. With its 105mm / 120mm armament and new rounds, the light tank will be able to effectively fight much heavier vehicles, including the T-72 main battle tank.
The vehicle created as part of Mobile Protected Firepower should have good mobility, but the protection will be significantly less than that of the MBT. On the other hand, the ground forces want to equip the light tank with an active protection complex, which, although it will not become a full-fledged alternative to the armor of the main battle tank, will help MPF to survive at least several attacks from anti-tank missile systems by destroying threats with fired striking elements.
General Dynamics Project
On April 22, General Dynamics Corporation and the US Ground Forces held a public demonstration of a prototype of a new light tank developed under the MPF program. The presentation was made during a visit by US Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy to the General Dynamics Ground System plant.
Strictly speaking, we could have seen the general concept of the project before. As part of last year's 2019 Modern Day Marine exhibition and conference, held in Quantico, America, General Dynamics showed a model of a promising light tank, designated Griffin II. The tank is being developed on the basis of the previously shown Griffin I. The latter is a combat vehicle on the ASCOD 2 chassis with a modified lightweight version of the M1A2SEPv2 Abrams tank turret. The light tank was supposed to be equipped with a new 120 mm XM360 cannon.
There is one important aspect that needs to be noted right away, which can be misleading. Now General Dynamics is creating another "Griffin" - Griffin III. The infantry fighting vehicle is the one that was offered to the Ground Forces as a replacement for the M2 Bradley under the aforementioned OMFV program. It is noteworthy that during a visit to the General Dynamics Ground System facility, McCarthy showed both Griffins. It is difficult to say whether this will affect the decision to choose an BMP from General Dynamics: we recall that in the earlier stage of the OMFV competition, this machine simply did not have any competitors for a number of reasons.
As for the presented tank, there are no special "revolutions" observed here. As expected, the concept of the machine is based on previously proven technical solutions. According to Army Recognition, the tank uses the M1A2 Sep V3 fire control system and Commander's Independent Thermal Viewer (CITV). The basis of armament is a 105-mm cannon, in addition to it, the tank carries a 12, 7-mm machine gun. The engine and driver are located in front of the car, the tower is shifted back.
Bae Systems Project
The British project for the Mobile Protected Firepower competition, unlike the General Dynamics tank, has been known for a long time. Back in 2018, BAE showed off the M8 Armored Gun System (AGS) fighting vehicle that will fight for victory. The offer from Foggy Albion is nothing more than a modernized version of the M8 light tank - an experienced airborne combat vehicle of the 80s.
She has a difficult fate. Initially, the light tank was developed on an initiative basis by FMC. The vehicle had a combat weight of 19 to 25 tons, depending on the configuration, and was equipped with a 105 mm M35 cannon in a remote mount with an automatic loader. Since in the 90s the United States reduced funding for defense projects, the M8 did not become a production version. At the same time, his narrow airborne specialization stood in the way of export success. As a result, work on the car was stopped in 1996.
It is difficult to say if the British will be able to accommodate the mistakes of past developers, but some important improvements have already been made. Recall that during the AUSA Global 2019 exhibition, BAE Systems presented an updated version of the combat vehicle equipped with the Iron Fist active protection system developed by the Israeli IMI Systems. This is an advanced KAZ, first tested in 2006. Located above the combat vehicle, the system creates a protected hemisphere, tracking threats using radars. The interceptors are made of highly combustible materials, which minimizes the damage associated with the destruction of enemy ammunition flying up to the tank. “Our solution is built around the needs of IBCTs and the emerging threats they face,” says BAE.
Comparison and potential
Due to the relatively limited information about new machines, their comparison with each other, as well as other conventional analogs, is difficult. However, not long after the presentation of General Dynamics there were "strange" attempts to draw far-reaching conclusions. In the West, for some reason, they again started talking about the T-14 based on the "Armata", although none of the vehicles participating in the MPF competition is close to its analogue.
The reaction of a number of Russian observers is even more controversial. "The new light tanks of the United States could not surpass the Russian Sprut-SD", - this is how Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the official publication of the government of the Russian Federation, titled its article.
The incorrect comparison is due to the fact that the "Sprut" (and this is admitted by the authors of the material), probably, has a much lower degree of protection than the new Western models. Which does not mean that Sprut-SD is an unsuccessful or unnecessary car.
