EUROPE ARISES: Britain, France, and Germany Might Build a Super ‘Eurotank’ – My Comments
[Bloody awesome! Europe can do it. Europeans are more efficient than Americans. I'm sorry to say this. But it's true. Even dumb old Jewish Britain is involved in this one. I thought Britain would align itself with Nigeria or Kenya to build super weapons – the dumb Jew-loving f*cks. Glad to see a bit of sanity in the Jamaica of Europe! Regardless of the British behaviour, the French and Germans will move forward. Maybe, the British will actually just stuff up the German and French moves. The Germans are believers in speed, and their history of tank warfare proved this to be true. The French are not on the same level, but their ideas are still reasonable. The British theories, which rely on armour are the most retarded. Maybe if the British get involved they'll just cock up something that might have been better. Whatever the compromises of the Germans and French, it will be superior. Maybe the British should not be in on this one. Jan]
The U.K. is considering partnering with France and Germany to build a next-generation main battle tank.
The tank would end more than 100 years of all-British tanks.
The British Army invented the tank in order to break the stalemate of World War I.
The British Army’s next tank could be a joint effort with France and Germany. The U.K. is in discussions to replace the current Challenger II main battle tank with a joint tank designed to replace French and German tanks in the mid-2030s. All three countries would fund and field the notional tank, dubbed “Eurotank.”
The U.K. was the first country to design and build tanks. The British Army built the world’s first tank, the Mark I, as a mobile protected weapons platform meant to support ground offensives. The name "tank," in fact, comes from the secrecy involved in developing the armored vehicles, which were labeled as water tanks in order to obscure their real purpose.
The U.K. remained a major tank power through World War II and the Cold War. Today, after years of cutbacks, the British Army maintains just 227 Challenger II tanks.
British Army Could Kill Its Entire Tank Fleet
Challenger II, although a very good tank, hasn’t received the same upgrades as its contemporaries. The British Army first introduced the tank in 1998, but it lacks modern features, such as digital networking, updated thermal sights, onboard drones, and an active protection system to shoot down incoming rockets and missiles.
Unlike the tanks of most countries, Challenger II also uses a rifled main gun barrel to impart a stabilizing spin on tank shells. While useful in its own way, the use of a rifled (rather than smooth) gun barrel leaves the U.K. unable to take advantage of advances in tank shell technology.
The U.K. knows Challenger II has gotten long in the tooth, but faces the dilemma of upgrading the 20-year-old tanks or building new ones outright. Upgrading the Challenger II is clearly the cheaper choice, but stuffing all of the new gadgets into a cramped tank that isn’t designed to carry them is a tricky process.
An upgraded Challenger II must also be compared to the Russian T-14 Armata tank, a new, clean sheet design that is slowly entering Russian Ground Forces service.
Meanwhile, across the English Channel, German defense contractors Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall, as well as the French contractor Nexter, are working to develop the first European tank.
The Franco-German Main Ground Combat System (MGCS)—also informally known as Eurotank—is designed to replace the German Leopard II and French LeClerc tanks starting in 2035. The initiative follows a similar multinational effort that led to the development of the Eurofighter Typhoon, a multi-role fighter jet.
According to Defense News, the U.K. is being granted observer status to the MGCS program, which will allow British representatives to observe the design and development process, but could also lead to deeper U.K. participation, including buying the new tank outright. A major partnership in the Eurotank program would soften the financial blow to the U.K., which recently floated the idea of ditching its tanks completely.
Boarding the Eurotank train would pose its own problems. Germany and France historically have divergent design philosophies when it comes to tanks. German main battle tanks tend to sacrifice armor in favor of mobility, a Cold War consideration that saw the tanks being used for rapid counter attacks to eject the Soviet Army from German soil.
French tanks, meanwhile, tend to focus attention equally on firepower, protection, and mobility. British tanks usually give up mobility in favor of increased armor protection. If the U.K. joins the Eurotank program, it could end up with a compromise tank—a new tank, but not something exactly suited to its needs.