On April 27, 2020, the United States reported that the US Army has begun a new round of tank development plans. The US Army began planning to include the development of light tanks in the new round of procurement plans. The US Department of Defense provided BAE with US$375.9 million and GDE Systems with US$335 million for the development of a new generation of light tanks. Finally, the US Department of Defense decides which light tank to buy. The United States said that the US Army’s development of light tanks is aimed at countering the Type 15 and VT-5 light tanks, Turkish and Indonesian "Kaplan" light tanks, and Swedish CV-90-120T light tanks. At present, the US military's light armored vehicles are unable to fight against these light tanks.
The United States believes that globally, the next phase will usher in an explosive development of light tanks. In the future, there will be at least 5,000 light tanks around the world. The U.S. Army plans to purchase at least 504 of these light tanks by 2025. These light tanks use 120/105 mm main guns. The United States believes that the light tanks will have higher maneuverability and performance than the Abrams tanks. More flexible tactical mobility.
Last week, Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy visited General Dynamics Ground Systems and BAE Systems in Detroit. During this period, the United States publicly displayed light tanks for the first time. The "Mobile Protection Fire" program launched by the U.S. Army in 2015 stipulated that crawler combat vehicles of no more than 32 tons must be created first. According to the latest data, the quality limit has been increased to 38 tons, equipped with 105 or 120 mm caliber cannon as the main weapon, and installed an active defense system. Through modern digital design, light tank vehicles will have higher operational and tactical mobility than M-1 main battle tanks.
In December 2018, the U.S. Army issued a contract between BAE Systems and General Dynamics to develop "competitive tracked combat vehicles" under the MPF program, valued at US$3.759 and 3.35 respectively 100 million U.S. dollars were used to build light tanks for testing their own versions. According to the comparative test results of the prototypes, the U.S. Army should finally choose which light tank for mass production at the end of fiscal 2021 and the end of 2022.
The US Army’s current plan includes the purchase of 504 light tanks. First, these US light tanks will be equipped to the infantry brigade. A large number of light tanks will be introduced into the 33 infantry brigades of the United States Conventional Army and National Guard. The famous M8 armored system developed by BAE Systems was originally planned to replace the M551 "Sheridan" airborne light tank. In 1995, the M8 tank was favored by the US Army, but due to reduced military spending, the M8 plan was cancelled before mass production began in 1997. Only six M8 prototypes were produced. The light tank M8 has a total combat weight of 19 to 25 tons, depending on the version of the interchangeable protection kit, and is equipped with a 105mm M35 tank gun with an autoloader.
and General Dynamics of the United States also displayed its own tank model, installed a 120mm tank gun on the chassis of General Dynamics, this tank reached 38 tons, and the combat quality just reached the specified upper limit-38 tons , And this tank has a large number of armored modular reserved positions. In this regard, the United States said that the US Army has considered the threat of light tanks around the world, and the US military is ready to deal with light tanks!
