It’s a diesel-electric hybrid which is supposed to be 40% more efficient than the turbine. The engine doesn’t have to be that large (in terms of displacement) because it’s there to be a generator rather than the main source of motive power.
Edro
1 Like
Top, I can’t answer #1 but as for question #2 it looks like there is a camera in there
Edro
1 Like
Just haven’t gotten around to adding all of the doodads.
1 Like
From experience driving a tank, that could be a mud/dirt trap, making seeing with it difficult.
1 Like
At 60 tons, I’d add General Dynamics’ PERCH to the turret sides for four Switchblade 300 anti-material/infantry and two Switchblade 600 anti-tank loitering munitions. What’s adding a few hundred pounds more for PERCH? Mount individual smoke grenade launchers on the PERCHes’ sides to the right of the word “PERCH.” The key trick will be making the loitering munitions fire at an angle instead of straight horizontal in the M1A2 SEP’s side tool bin boxes.
The US Army still believes in the concept of “Closing with and destroying the enemy". But as Ukraine has shown, who wants to do that anymore with aimed guns? Why not use long-distance (precision) fires? PERCH will give the M1E3 tank platoon of four tanks 16 Switchblade 300s and 8 Switchblade 600s in addition to 4 Mark 19 40mm grenade launchers and 4 Javelin ATGMs. That will give the M1E3s precision guided missiles (Javelin ATGMs) and ISR roaming loitering munitions…save the 120mm and machine guns for close-in encounters.
The US Army should think and see the M1E3 as the “Trump-class battleships”…fire long-range missiles first and then fire the guns last if anything else gets closer. But really, if you get within range of using guns, the enemy can use its guns on you too, just like WW2.
Photo: Army Technology
Trump-class battleship…Photo: LaserWars.net.
1 Like
So true Peter, with PERCH and ATGM’s the M1E3 could use stand-off distance to pick off enemy vehicles with impunity.
A truck mounted 20 PERCH launcher with reloads on board could be a viable future weapons system.
2 Likes
It’s worth watching Nicholas Moran’s interview with the program manager to understand the rationale of the M1E3. It boils down to “let tanks do things that only tanks can do”. Within that context, the GDLS PERCH concept doesn’t have a home within the US Army.
1 Like
Look how they massacred my boy 
1 Like
It kinda reminds me of Beetlejuice with a shrunken head.
2 Likes
Aren’t two of those guys sitting where two fuel
Tanks should be?
1 Like
why is the layout of our new tank not in English?
1 Like
Yep. Reducing the fuel is another justification for a more efficient power plant.
1 Like
The diagram is from a Japanese enthusiast. Tank autists come in a variety of nationalities.
1 Like
The Japanese have access to US military information also and published their “Japanese language-only books” because the modeling hobby is a lot stronger in Japan than practically anywhere else in the world just by the sheer number of toy, trinkets, and hobby shops in Tokyo and other major Japanese cities.
The Japanese never left their Anime, Manga, Gundam, and “cutesy culture,” and I’m not saying that as a discriminatory remark…it’s their ingrained culture…some European cultures have an animal as a mascot. You can see a lot of this “Japanese hobby/Anime culture” on walkthroughs of Tokyo, Japan, on YouTube.
Here are examples of Japanese “Mooks” (books) from eBay that are available for sale. The text is all in Japanese although the photos are mostly from Japanese journalists who traveled to take the photos firsthand, meaning that the book’s photos are usually exclusive to the Japanese book. It might be possible to take a photo or use the smartphone’s camera to scan the Japanese text and get it translated in Google Translate.
4 Likes
I would be interested in what Japanese hobby “Mook” (book) that image came from.
I have not been to the Japanese bookstore in ages so I don’t know what books are still being printed…perhaps the image came from JGround. The Japanese modeling and reference books release monthly and they’re quite thick for the price.
Perhaps with Google Translate and a smartphone camera, someone can interpret the Japanese text into English.
1 Like