From the beginning of the tank’s birth, the caliber of its artillery basically determines its combat effectiveness, especially after World War II, the main battle tank artillery of various countries has undergone many generations of changes, from the initial 90 Millimeters, up to the unified 120mm smoothbore gun of the three generations of Western tanks. The caliber of the Chinese and Russian main battle tanks is 125mm smoothbore guns. This caliber of artillery has basically exceeded the limit of tank protection.
The armor protection capability of the tank is restricted by materials and technology on the one hand, and on the other hand by the conditions of its use occasions, it is impossible to continue to develop indefinitely. Today’s third-generation main battle tanks, especially Western main battle tanks, generally weigh more than 60 tons. The American M1A2 and German Leopard 2A7 are even closer to 70 tons. This weight has basically exceeded many bridges and highways. The maximum carrying capacity, not to mention the muddy water net rice fields.
In recent years, Western countries have seen that their own tank development speed has not kept up with China and Russia, especially China’s three-generation main battle tanks, whose 125mm high-pressure smoothbore gun is more powerful Many people in the West are terrified, and because of this it has been reported that they will develop a fourth-generation main battle tank equipped with a 140 mm high-pressure smoothbore gun.
There is no unified consensus on the concept of the fourth-generation main battle tank, but the unmanned turret should basically be its mainstream development direction. As for whether the 140mm tank gun can be realized, At present, it is not very clear.
The advantages of developing a 140mm tank gun are naturally obvious. With the increase in the caliber of the gun and the muzzle velocity remains the same, the kinetic energy of the gun can be greatly increased and launched. Both the range and destructive power of the ammunition will be greatly enhanced, which is naturally a good thing. With current technical conditions, the penetration power of a 140mm high-pressure smoothbore gun firing a tungsten alloy sub-caliber tail stabilized armor-piercing projectile can reach 1100mm RHA at a distance of 2 kilometers. This armor-piercing ability far exceeds that of other countries. The bullet resistance of the turret and front of the three-generation main battle tank.
But everything has a good side and a bad side, and tanks are no exception. The 140 mm gun is indeed very powerful, but the recoil generated when it is launched will also increase a lot. This part of the recoil will eventually lead to an increase in the artillery’s retreat stroke. This result will directly be the length of the turret. It used to be longer.
The other 140mm artillery shells have greatly increased in size and weight, exceeding the limit weight of manual loading, and the automatic loading machine has also become an indispensable choice. The increase in the size and weight of the artillery has further reduced the ammunition base of the tank itself, affecting the duration of the tank's continuous combat.
More importantly, as the caliber of the artillery increases, the size of the turret will become very large, and the car body will definitely increase accordingly, and the road wheels will have to add one or two more pairs. Add more water to the surface, and add more water to the surface. This vicious circle will eventually lead to the weight of the entire tank exceeding 100 tons. I believe that few roads and bridges can pass through such a huge volume. Such tanks have been built. What is it for? This is also the main reason why countries have not launched a new generation of tank development plans.
