This article reviews the engines of the Russian T-90M and the Republic of Korea’s K2 BLACK PANTHER to describe the current state of the technology and briefly assess the emerging Franco-German Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) concept. In his book “Tank Warfare”, the great tank expert Richard Simpkin stated that the most important factor in tank agility is the tank’s power-weight ratio, the horsepower (hp) available per ton of tank weight. Thus, the engine and the transmission are the critical components of agility. You also need a reliable transmission that can reduce and vary the higher engine speed to the slower speed of the tank track. To move heavier MBTs, powerful engines that generate tremendous horsepower are required. The agility of a tank is its ability to speed up, turn, jink, and stop. Nearly every MBT in the world today was developed during the Cold War and as they are upgraded with additional armour, larger calibre cannons and active & passive protection systems, they are getting heavier and agility is suffering. Tanks still play a critical role in war, but they must become more agile to survive and win in this new, more lethal battlespace. ![]() With the dramatic success of precision unmanned aerial weapons against armoured vehicles in this war, many question the role of the Main Battle Tank (MBT). It also exposed the weakness of traditional thinking concerning how to fight modern wars. ![]() The recent Azerbaijan-Armenian war, where Armenian tank forces were decimated by Azerbaijani drones, sensors, long-range artillery and precision missile strikes, demonstrated this point. Smarter, more precise weapons, which are linked to ubiquitous sensors, have created a very deadly battlespace. The tempo and lethality of war is accelerating.
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