Polish PL-01 tank of the future?

Cool looking concept tank that the polish company Obrum is developing. It looks like a fairly ambitious concept (working test prototype in 2016) with some pretty neat tech.



Foxtrot Alpha

Has Poland's OBRUM and its partners designed the tank of the future? The PL-01 does pack some incredibly valuable features into a fairly compact and modular concept, and yes, it also looks cool as hell!
The idea of the PL-01 is to all but eliminate the infrared, radar and visual signature of the traditional tank, while also relying on guile to take identity masking a step further. In addition, the PL-01 concept aims at brining to market a tank packed with relevant modern features, many of which already exist off the shelf, while others are still on the developmental horizon.

Makes me wonder when the US will update/replace the Abrams. With the pace of new tech like that seen in the PL-01, the Abrams is getting left behind. With the financial ties on the military now a days I know it is probably asking to much to see something like this be developed in the US right now.

reply to post by Sammamishman


Fast, deadly, sexy, but can it perform? I would love to see some trials for this thing!

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Sammamishman


I recently finished a book on Nazi Secret Weapons of WWII. As part of that book the author briefly discussed the declining utility of tanks. Tanks worked wonderfully in their limited use in WWI and in major advancements in WWII into thinly or not at all defended areas, but he reasons that the ability of ground attack a/c and various compact guided missiles in the hands of ground troops these days leave tanks in the position of sitting ducks in modern warfare. The same is true of fleets of bombers, seagoing fleets and even large bodies of troops. Those days have strong memories that linger on, but will not be the tactics of a genuine world war these days.

Take for example the supposed troops, and we must assume armor, that Russia has massed along the Ukraine border. By now, virtually every one of those pieces of heavy equipment has been fingerprinted by NATO and plotted for destruction by any one of half a dozen different methods. A tank has little business getting very far ahead of his backup forces which is men on foot. So by that standard, against a decent army, the tanks are very limited to how quickly/far they can with reasonable safety penetrate into enemy territory. But regardless of where they are, scrimmaged for attack behind the line of battle, on the attack beyond the line of battle or in retreat away from it, they are at the mercy of various kind of tank-killing weapons these days.

It's unlikely that Abrams will be updated any more than it already has. It is a 34 year old design. I'm sure it will be shelved in favor of newer technology, and it may be possible that tanks will be seeing less and less action with coming conflicts.

Military theorists suggest coming wars to be mainly aerial and covert cyber operations.

reply to post by Aliensun


I see it as an arms race within an arms race. Tank developers design countermeasures for antitank weapons, weapon designers develop weapons to counter the countermeasures, it never ends. I can see the days of large main battle tanks coming to an end and replaced by much smaller, faster, more urban maneuverable and adaptable tanks like the PL-01.
What surprises me is that they didn't fit this tank with a hybrid drive system. Noisy diesels/turbines kind of compromises the tanks stealth at close ranges and in urban environments.

reply to post by Sammamishman


Looks pretty good, but why don't they just make some bat-mobiles?

Those things were pretty much indestructible...

Aliensun
reply to post by Sammamishman

 

I recently finished a book on Nazi Secret Weapons of WWII. As part of that book the author briefly discussed the declining utility of tanks. Tanks worked wonderfully in their limited use in WWI and in major advancements in WWII into thinly or not at all defended areas, but he reasons that the ability of ground attack a/c and various compact guided missiles in the hands of ground troops these days leave tanks in the position of sitting ducks in modern warfare. The same is true of fleets of bombers, seagoing fleets and even large bodies of troops. Those days have strong memories that linger on, but will not be the tactics of a genuine world war these days.

Take for example the supposed troops, and we must assume armor, that Russia has massed along the Ukraine border. By now, virtually every one of those pieces of heavy equipment has been fingerprinted by NATO and plotted for destruction by any one of half a dozen different methods. A tank has little business getting very far ahead of his backup forces which is men on foot. So by that standard, against a decent army, the tanks are very limited to how quickly/far they can with reasonable safety penetrate into enemy territory. But regardless of where they are, scrimmaged for attack behind the line of battle, on the attack beyond the line of battle or in retreat away from it, they are at the mercy of various kind of tank-killing weapons these days.

But they're so dang fun. I don't think tanks are going anywhere. They are mobile weapon platforms that can deliver payloads without having to land and refuel. If a tank is immobile, it can still function. If an aircraft is immobile in the air, it falls.

Besides, think of all the Obrumacare puns the Polish troops can use with this thing!

reply to post by doompornjunkie

doompornjunkie
Fast, deadly, sexy, but can it perform? I would love to see some trials for this thing!

Exactly.
Lets see how this yoghurt cup performs in a maneuver vs Leopard 2A6/A7+, or the good old M1A2 SEP.
Fancy looks are worthless if this turns out to be just a very futuristic target dummy.

I can remember reading a report years ago thats basically saying tanks are on the way out and haven't really done much since the early 1970's and with modern satellite and now drone tech they're as vulnerable as anything once they're spotted, they have their uses but no where as many as they was 40+ years ago

I think tanks will still be made but they will evolve into something that is more suited to an urban tight quarters environment since that is the likely place for future battles. Heavy main battle tanks are vulnerable out in the open country, the place they were designed to operate, due to the developing lethality of air power and the sensors they can bring to bear against them. Tanks will still be able to counter some of those sensor linked weapons but the advantage will always be with air power against ground targets of that nature.

i used to play this game called alpha-centauri (it was a bit like civ)
as soon as my little empire developed missile technology, my tanks became obsolete
it was all missiles, air units & special agents from then on..

reply to post by Aliensun


You make a great point, it seems that we could have a modern version of the WW2 Polish cavalry scenario where outdated tech & tactics cause a disaster before military strategy moves forward.

Maxatoria
I can remember reading a report years ago thats basically saying tanks are on the way out and haven't really done much since the early 1970's and with modern satellite and now drone tech they're as vulnerable as anything once they're spotted, they have their uses but no where as many as they was 40+ years ago

The "tank" of WW3: stealth, long-loiter, unmanned guided missile sled.

It's true. With modern tech, if your enemy sees you, and they have ammo, you are dead.

Maybe video games have something to teach us. If every high-value ground-based asset of yours is vulnerable to aerial attack, what strategy do you have left? Zerg rush. Mass quantity low-value: grunts.

Not unsurprisingly, this is how Taliban work.

What's the counter-strategy to that? It's ugly: chemical warfare & land mines. See Iraq vs Iran.

BTW, go ahead Google "zerg rush".

You know, anyone who thinks that tanks are on their way out have never actually been in combat and had a couple (or one!) show up on scene. They completely change the game and can insert themselves into situations that no other asset can. Whenever we had guys that were in bad situations where getting more people in wasn't an option, everytime a tank showed up it completely changed the course of the battle. As far as them being vulnerable to attack by air/anti-tank...tanks aren't going to be deployed by any modern army until air superiority has been achieved. Most anti-tank hardware is defeatable by modern tanks but I will concede that everytime a threat is defeated another is developed to take its place. I'd expect the next big steps forward for tank technology will be aimed at not only defeating all current anti-tank weaponry but looking ahead and making them invulnerable to future weapons as well.

Psychonautics
It's unlikely that Abrams will be updated any more than it already has. It is a 34 year old design. I'm sure it will be shelved in favor of newer technology, and it may be possible that tanks will be seeing less and less action with coming conflicts.

Military theorists suggest coming wars to be mainly aerial and covert cyber operations.

Don't agree

As proven countless times air power alone isn't enough, it boots on the ground which finish wars, troops on The ground will always need armour In Support

I think tanks will be hear for a number of years yet, possibly unmanned I think everything's going in the direction of unmanned tbh

Why do I have a strange longing to own one of these? Just because it looks so cool.

a reply to: mbkennel

In multiple disturbing ways your zerg rush comparison is looming large. One certainty is the western obsession with making every vehicle and man as heavily armored as possible will either end shortly or the west will lose big in the coming decades!

As far as brilliant munitions and airpower go.... you're dead wrong. The one thing the last decade hammered home is that neither of those can supplant or even work as an adequate substitute for tank like vehicles.

The chally Abrams type tank may be slowly fading but one thing EVERY serious projection of future militaries agrees on is the tank in one guise or another will still be a huge part of projection of force.

a reply to: Sammamishman

The United States doesn't need Abram tanks anymore, we have much quieter methods of destroying a nation; Like economic hit-men, banking cartels, conglomerate corporations.

Today's modern soldier wears a suit and is armed with a silver tongue instead of camouflage and an M4.