Using composites will also reduce a vehicle’s overall through-life costs, while increasing its service life, mainly because composites will not rust or suffer from fatigue like metal parts. Reducing weight through using composites means a vehicle can carry more fuel, ammunition and troops if required. Vehicles, like Supacat’s SPV400, have a fully composite armour ‘pod’ which can also be supplemented with ceramic plates if necessary. Engineers claim they can now mould a vehicle shell that weighs just less than one tonne, rather than the two tonnes for steel, with similar protection properties. Similar to the aerospace sector, composite materials are being used to reduce weight, while still maintaining key ballistic and blast protection.

While disagreement lingers on vehicle hull design, there is at least consensus on introducing lighter materials in armour manufacturing. flat hull debate will continue to rage for some time. The British Army is upgrading its flat-bottomed Warrior fighting vehicles to extend their life to 2040, while the US Army is likely to replace its Bradley vehicle with a similar flat-hulled system. Because of these drawbacks and a move away from counter-insurgency operations (where IED threat levels are high), many armies across the world are staying with the tracked, standard-hull vehicle.

Futuristic military tank