{"id":65226,"date":"2021-06-22T14:30:37","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T04:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=65226"},"modified":"2021-06-22T13:28:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T03:28:09","slug":"australias-new-tanks-are-overkill-and-overweight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-new-tanks-are-overkill-and-overweight\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s new tanks are overkill and overweight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Australia, according to an unremarkable line item in the May federal budget, is making its first purchase of new tanks in almost 15 years with the upgrade of the army\u2019s M1 Abrams tank fleet. While the new purchase has ignited some debate about the utility of tanks for Australia\u2019s defence, it is also indicative of the wider strategic quagmire modern armoured vehicles are stuck in.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s modest $2.5 billion upgrade<\/a> to the fleet will see its 75 M1A1 Abrams tanks replaced with the most up-to-date model, the M1A2 SEPv3, as well new engineering and recovery vehicles based on the M1 Abrams chassis. The SEPv3 model boasts a suite of new hardware, including a \u2018smart\u2019 gun that can fire programmable munitions, better sensor and communications equipment, and a remote-controlled turret.<\/p>\n

The tanks sold to Australia will also include an as-yet-unknown \u2018unique\u2019 armour package ditching the standard depleted uranium armour for something more politically and environmentally friendly. The SEPv3s also use both explosive reactive armour and the Israeli-made Trophy active protection system. Explosive armour is widely used on most modern tanks and deflects hits by exploding outward when impacted, while the Trophy system protects armoured vehicles from missiles and rockets by detecting and intercepting incoming threats with a blast of small projectiles.<\/p>\n

The Australian<\/em>\u2019s Greg Sheridan has led the criticism<\/a> of the purchase based on the argument that the army simply doesn\u2019t use tanks. Australia\u2019s last deployment of tanks was in the Vietnam War and tanks won\u2019t be useful in a major conflict in the Asia\u2013Pacific, which will likely be fought mainly by air and naval assets.<\/p>\n

Compounding the issue is that at 70 tonnes the Abrams tanks are notoriously heavy\u2014and the SEPv3 models are even heavier. They\u2019re too heavy for our amphibious landing boats and for many of the underdeveloped or degraded roads and bridges in our near region, as well as in large parts of northern Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But, as Liberal senator and former general Jim Molan points out<\/a>, infantry also can\u2019t go without tanks. Armoured vehicles provide valuable direct fire support capabilities that other platforms, even infantry fighting vehicles, can\u2019t replicate. Molan rightly criticises Australia\u2019s decision not to deploy them to Afghanistan, even as Canadian and Danish tanks proved highly valuable against insurgents\u2014although, to be fair to the army, even the US didn\u2019t deploy tanks in Afghanistan until 2010, and then only a small contingent.<\/p>\n

As much as I agree with Sheridan\u2019s criticism of the dogged inflexibility and strategic delusion of Australia\u2019s defence planners, the \u2018steady as she goes\u2019 decision to upgrade but otherwise not change Australia\u2019s tanks and their use doctrine is part of a wider holding pattern that tanks as a platform are stuck in.<\/p>\n

The M1A2 SEPv3 is just the latest in a line of life-extension upgrades for the M1 Abrams platform, which is expected to be in service in the US until at least 2030<\/a>, with further upgrades planned. Other countries are taking half-steps or beginning slow development processes. The French and Germans are in the early stages of development of a \u2018main ground combat system<\/a>\u2019 to replace their respective Leclerc and Leopard 2 platforms by 2040. It so far appears to be a consolidation of current capabilities but may have an unmanned component. The British have just announced that they\u2019re upgrading their Challenger 2 tanks to \u2018Challenger 3\u2019<\/a> status, with improved targeting and data systems, and a NATO-standard smooth-bore cannon, but this will just be a conversion of existing tanks, rather than the development of a new platform. Australia\u2019s purchase of upgraded models fits this trend as militaries await development of new technologies and assess the new tactical environment tanks will operate in.<\/p>\n

A key attribute of future tanks will be the ability to operate as unmanned platforms. An unmanned version of Russia\u2019s T-14 Armata tank<\/a> is apparently in development, and the new European tank may have both an unmanned and a drone-launching capability. The UK\u2019s Challenger 3 will have significant updates to its electronic and data bandwidths to allow for potential future upgrades to include an unmanned component. Crucially for Australia\u2019s tank purchase, the M1A2 SEPv3 doesn\u2019t have an unmanned capability.<\/p>\n

Future tank platforms may be split between different units, with a manned control unit accompanied by unmanned \u2018loyal tankmen\u2019 providing most, if not all, of the firepower. Such platforms have barely entered the concept phase and do little to solve the current challenge of how to deploy today\u2019s heavy tanks.<\/p>\n

Sheridan\u2019s critique of the opportunity cost of purchasing the SEPv3 models is valid, notwithstanding Australia\u2019s continued need for the direct-fire support capabilities that tanks provide. Australia\u2019s M1A1s were initially intended to operate until 2035, and it seems likely this upgrade will push the platform\u2019s operating life in Australia out to at least the 2040s. While the army should continue to operate a tank platform, the Abrams is simply too heavy for Australia\u2019s needs, and Defence has missed an opportunity to consider lighter alternatives, such as the US Army\u2019s light tank \u2018mobile protected firepower<\/a>\u2019<\/u> program, which is set to deploy its first units by 2025.<\/p>\n

The M1A2 SEPv3 is a continuation of the army\u2019s tank capabilities: fast, powerful, reliable and overkill and overweight for Australia\u2019s needs, with little room to manoeuvre for future developments. Australia isn\u2019t alone maintaining the status quo with its tanks until new technologies and doctrines emerge, but in the complex and challenging new international security environment Australia faces we must be doing more than just treading water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia, according to an unremarkable line item in the May federal budget, is making its first purchase of new tanks in almost 15 years with the upgrade of the army\u2019s M1 Abrams tank fleet. 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