![]() Temperature differences as small as 0.02K can be detected, which is what allows the creation of such high-resolution images. It is the same technology used by film-makers for David Attenborough’s ‘Planet Earth II’ to get unprecedented footage of a leopard hunting at night, and in cricket, where the Hot Spot system can detect if contact has been made between the ball and bat or batsman just from the heat caused by friction on impact. The secret behind its nocturnal capabilities is in its night vision, which comes in the form of thermal imaging from UK company Leonardo. This tank features all sorts of next-generation technology, but it is its ability to be deployed more effectively at night that gave it its name. For the UK that could mean the proposed Challenger Two upgrade – the Black Night. ![]() If it is good then it needs an immediate home. New technologies are not going to wait 15 years for a new tank platform, of course. Is this the end of the powdered gun ?” Laser damage weapons or electromagnetic guns could be the new weapons of choice. Jackson says: “Everybody’s now looking at the technologies that will be needed for what comes after these main battle tanks. Robotics, different types of weapons, the information piece, sensors – that’s what everybody’s looking at. There’s actually not a great range of main battle tanks on the market and the leading contenders in the Western world, including the American M1, the German Leopard 2, the French Leclerc and the UK’s Challenger Two, are all designed to be in service until roughly 2035-2040. In other words, land forces, including such equipment as Challenger tanks, are always going to play an important part in any future conflict. “I think the first point is that holding ground, taking ground, will still be a fundamental of all warfare, whatever scale in the future.” That is the opinion of Simon Jackson, campaign leader for Challenger Two Life Extension Programme (LEP) at BAE Systems. The question is, what will the tank of the future look like? While not all may require boats and planes, all will require a land army, and one of the principal fighting weapons of an army is a tank. Regional and internal skirmishes, the sometimes invisible but widespread threat of terrorism, or the more traditional view of national and international wars.
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