MODERN WARFARE has made the weight of tanks an issue, and new technologies are being developed to slim them down. Nowadays we need forces that can be deployed thousands of miles away at short notice. Consequently, both the US and British armies are looking for a new generation of tanks small enough to be transported by air and weighing less than 20 tons.

Currently, main battle tanks weigh in at 50 tons or more. The armor on US tanks is made up of sheets of hardened depleted uranium alloy; while the armor on British tanks (called "Chobham armor") is believed to consist of layers of nylon micromesh, titanium, and ceramic material bonded together.

Both forms of armor are a powerful protection against known threats. But due to the changing demands of modern warfare, heavy armor could become obsolete.

Smart Armor
One form of protection that doesn't rely on heavy armor is "smart armor", which is currently being developed by Mike Zoltowski of the US Army Research Laboratory. Smart armor uses capacitors and magnetic coils to generate an extremely powerful magnetic field when an anti tank HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) round strikes. Because HEAT rounds are lined with copper, which is a good conductor, the force of the attack is effectively blunted when the round passes through the magnetic field.

This ingenious approach could make even light armor highly resistant to anti tank attack.

IETMs
Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals (IETMs) are another development lightening the load of tanks. IETMs replace printed technical manuals, which are extremely bulky due to the sheer complexity of modern military hardware.

"Once a fault has been isolated, the IETM walks the mechanic through the repair process with diagrams and detailed instructions..."

Weight saving, however, is not the main advantage of IETMs. Like their predecessors Electronic Technical Manuals (ETMs), IETMs are easy to carry around and have all the navigational advantages of hypertext. But because they are interactive and hook into sensors onboard a tank or other military vehicle, they are a far more powerful way to troubleshoot and diagnose problems. And once a fault has been isolated, the IETM walks the mechanic through the repair process with diagrams and detailed instructions - video and animated graphics are also used.

Wearables
IETMs come on CD-ROMs and can be viewed on various types of portable computer systems - the most obvious being notebook computers. So called "wearable" computers are also used. These are usually attached to a belt and have big hard drives and lots of memory.

Wearables come with voice-recognition software, microphones, and earphones. Users can choose several display options. There are head-mounted, Cyborg-like devices, which have a miniature display screen (1x1 inch) placed in front of the user's dominant eye and creating the illusion of a full (10x12 inch) display. Or there are more traditional flat-panel displays. Some wearables allow pen input, while others have miniature keyboards mounted on the user's wrist.

Next Generation
With smart armor, IETMs, and wearables, the next generation of tanks will easily be light enough to be flown out to trouble spots around the world, when the need arises. They will also be fast - a major advantage against slow conventionally armored tanks.

DCLnews Editorial

Comments and Correspondence to DCLnews@dclab.com

A good source of information about IETMs is:
http://lia.army.mil/etm/index.htm