Rheinmetall unveils ‘game-changer’ main battle tank
Rheinmetall unveiled its “game-changer” KF51 Panther main battle tank at the Eurosatory 2022 weapons exhibition in Paris this week.
The 59-ton vehicle is a conceptual leap in “lethality, protection, reconnaissance, networking and mobility,” the German arms manufacturer says.
The tank’s NATO-standard digital architecture ensures connectedness of all weapons to the commander’s and gunner’s optics and the fire control computer, enabling “instantaneous target engagement.”
The platform’s 130mm smoothbore Rheinmetall Future Gun System offers “50 percent greater effectiveness at significantly longer range of engagement” than that of the 120mm gun in current main battle tanks, the company claims.
The gun includes an autoloader that holds 20 prepared rounds and can fire “kinetic energy rounds as well as programmable airburst ammunition and corresponding practice rounds.”
Along with a 12.7 mm coaxial machine gun, the tank can also be outfitted with a remote control weapon station for drone defense and a HERO 120 loitering munition launcher for beyond-line-of-sight strikes.
