Armoured Fighting Vehicle: Technological Evolution and Tactical Impact in Modern Warfare

Chapter 1: Armoured fighting vehicle

An armed combat vehicle protected by armor is known as an armored fighting vehicle (AFV) in both British and American English. AFVs typically combine operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can move on wheels or on tracks. Tanks, armored automobiles, assault rifles, self-propelled weapons, infantry fighting vehicles (IFV), and armored personnel carriers are a few examples of AFVs (APC).

According to its qualities and intended use on the battlefield, armored fighting vehicles are categorized. The categories are not universal; the criteria are subject to change over time and various countries may classify the same vehicle in different ways. For instance, infantry fighting vehicles with substantially greater armament mainly replaced relatively lightly armed armored personnel carriers in a comparable duty.

Designs that are successful are frequently modified for a wide range of uses. For instance, the MOWAG Piranha, which was initially intended to be an APC, has been modified to serve as a mortar carriage, infantry combat vehicle, and assault gun, among other functions.

The armoured car, tank, self-propelled cannon, and troop carrier were among the first armored fighting vehicles to be used in World War I. Armed forces had a significant number of AFVs by World War II, along with other types of vehicles for transporting soldiers, allowing for extremely mobile maneuver warfare.

From Hannibal's war elephants to Leonardo's inventions, military strategists have always sought to increase the mobility and survivability of their soldiers. The idea of a highly mobile and shielded fighting unit is not new.

Prior to the development of sufficiently powerful internal combustion engines around the turn of the 20th century, armored war vehicles were not feasible.

Providing troops with mobile defense and weaponry is an old idea that has been realized in modern armored fighting vehicles. For millennia, armies have engaged in combat with war machines and cavalries equipped with crude armor. Engineering concepts and the use of these creatures attempted to strike a balance between the paradoxically contradictory needs for mobility, firepower, and protection.

In order to shield their crews from enemy attack, siege engines like battering rams and siege towers were frequently armored. Greek armies utilized such constructions in the Siege of Rhodes. Polyidus of Thessaly created the helepolis, a very huge mobile siege tower, in 340 BC (305 BC).

Since ancient times, the concept of a protected fighting vehicle has existed. Leonardo da Vinci's 15th-century sketch of a mobile, protected gun-platform is frequently mentioned; the sketches depict a conical, wooden structure with cannon apertures around the outside. A system of hand cranks and cage (or lantern) gears would be used by the crew to turn the machine's four wheels. Leonardo asserted, I'll construct armored carts that can withstand attacks from the enemy. There won't be anything it can't get through. The human crew would have been able to transport it just a short distance, according to modern copies.

Around 1420, during the Hussite Wars, Hussite forces in Bohemia created war wagons, medieval horse-drawn wagons that also served as wagon forts.

Firearms slits were added to the protecting sides of these massive carriages; They either had a cannon or a group of handgunners and crossbowmen who provided considerable firepower, supported by pike- and flail-wielding infantry and light cavalry.

Heavy arquebuses mounted on wagons were called arquebus à croc.

About 3.5 ounces of ball was carried by these (100 g).

Most modern militaries possessed vehicles that could transport soldiers, artillery, and anti-aircraft weapons before the conclusion of World War II. The majority of modern AFVs resemble their World War II forebears in appearance, but they have substantially improved armour, weaponry, engines, electronics, and suspension. Transporting AFVs by air is made conceivable and practical by the growth in transport aircraft capacity. Some or all of the classic heavy vehicles used by many armies are being replaced by lighter airmobile variants, frequently having wheels in place of tracks.

The first contemporary AFVs were armed cars, which predate the motor vehicle in many ways. The Motor Scout was created by British inventor F. R. Simms in 1898. It was the first vehicle ever made with an armed petrol engine. It was made up of a quadricycle made by De Dion-Bouton with a Maxim machine gun mounted on the front bar. The driver had limited frontal protection from an iron shield, but there was no overall protective armor.

The French Charron, Girardot et Voigt 1902, which was unveiled at the Salon de l'Automobile et du Cycle in Brussels on March 8, 1902, was another early armored vehicle of the time. During World War I, armored automobiles were first utilized as scouting vehicles in great numbers on both sides.

In his short fiction The Land Ironclads, published in 1903, H. G. Wells predicted that unstoppable war machines would usher in a new era of land warfare, much as steam-powered ironclad warships had put an end to the age of sail.

Wells's literary vision came true in 1916 when the British Landship Committee used ground-breaking armored vehicles to end the Great War's pyrrhic halt. The tank was intended to be an armored vehicle that could traverse terrain while being attacked by machine guns and respond with mounted machine guns and naval artillery. These first British tanks of World War I traversed the muddy, pocked terrain and slit trenches of the Battle of the Somme thanks to caterpillar treads that had significantly lower ground pressure than wheeled vehicles.

The tank eventually became a weapon that could cover great distances at much faster speeds than assisting infantry and artillery as technology advanced. A broad variety of specialized AFVs were developed, particularly during the Second World War (1939–1945), in order to provide the forces that would fight alongside the tank.

Towards the close of World War I, the armored personnel carrier—used to deliver infantry soldiers to the front lines—was developed. It had become evident during the initial tank actions that close touch with infantry was necessary to hold terrain won by the tanks. While troops on foot were exposed to enemy fire, they also couldn't be transported in a tank due to the harsh conditions (extreme heat, foul air). Lieutenant G. J. Rackham was given the task of creating an armored vehicle capable of fighting and transporting troops or supplies in 1917. Only three Mark IX tanks had been completed at the time of the Armistice in November 1918, and only 34 in all were made by Armstrong, Whitworth & Co.

During the interwar years, various tank classes were developed. The tankette was designed as a portable, two-man variant with reconnaissance as its primary use. The Carden Loyd tankette, created in 1925 by Sir John Carden and Vivian Loyd, was the first of its kind to be widely used. The Royal Italian Army employed tankettes in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935–1936), and nearly everywhere else Italian soldiers engaged in World War II. Tankettes were used by the Imperial Japanese Army in jungle combat.

The first self-propelled artillery, the British Gun Carrier Mark I, entered service in 1917. It had a strong field-gun and was based on the first tank, the British Mark I. The Birch gun (1925), created for the British motorized combat experimental brigade, was the following significant development (the Experimental Mechanized Force). This installed a field cannon on a tank chassis that could fire the standard artillery trajectory as well as anti-aircraft rounds.

The majority of the main military nations created self-propelled artillery during World War II. These included weapons installed on tracked chassis, frequently that of a tank that was no longer in service or had been replaced, and an armored superstructure to safeguard the gun and its crew. The 25 pdr gun-howitzer was mounted improvisedly on a tank chassis in the first British version, Bishop, which significantly reduced the gun's performance. The more practical Sexton took its place. German engineers produced a large number of light armored self-propelled anti-tank weapons using French equipment they had acquired, their own outdated light tank chassis (Marder II), or ex-Czech chassis (Marder III). These led to the development of better-defended tank destroyers built on the chassis of medium tanks like the Jagdpanzer IV or the Jagdpanther.

In World War I, the self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon made its premiere. Both the British QF 3-inch 20 cwt and the German 88 mm anti-aircraft gun were mounted on trucks and deployed against British tanks with remarkable success on the Western Front. The Birch cannon could be elevated for use as anti-aircraft artillery despite being a general-purpose artillery piece mounted on an armored tracked chassis. Based on the Mk.E 6-ton light tank/Dragon Medium Mark IV tractor chassis, Vickers Armstrong created one of the first SPAAGs, with a 40 mm Vickers QF-1 Pom-Pom cannon. By the beginning of the war, the Germans had cargo halftracks with a single 20 mm or 37 mm AA cannon mounted on the Sd.Kfz. 10/4 and 6/2, respectively.

The Soviet Katyusha and other rocket launchers date back to the late 1930s. In World War II, the Panzerwerfer and Wurfrahmen 40 armed half-track armored fighting vehicles served as the Wehrmacht's self-propelled rocket artillery. Modern multiple rocket launchers often have truck or tank chassis that they can drive themselves.

A main combat tank will typically be built to withstand hits from other tank guns and anti-tank missiles, whereas light reconnaissance vehicles are frequently just armored just in case. The degree of armor protection amongst AFVs varies substantially. While heavier armor offers better protection, it also reduces a vehicle's mobility (for a given engine power), limits its ability to be transported by air, increases cost, consumes more fuel, and may restrict where it can go. For instance, many bridges may not be able to support the weight of a main battle tank. Steel armor is being replaced with composite armor, which is stronger for a given weight and allows tanks to be lighter while yet providing equal or better protection than steel armor. Several vehicles have active protection systems in addition to armor, enabling the AFV to defend itself from incoming projectiles.

Depending on the vehicle's function and the likelihood of an assault, the level of protection also typically varies greatly from one vehicle to the next. For instance, a main battle tank will typically have thicker armor on the top and bottom of the tank and less armor on the sides of the hull. The heaviest armor will typically be found on the hull front and turret. Other vehicles, like the MRAP family, may include substantial, sloped armor on the bottom of the hull as a primary defense against the threat posed by IEDs.

For infantry carrying, reconnaissance, or specialised duties, lesser AFVs may just be armed with an autocannon or machine gun (or nothing at all), whereas large self-propelled artillery will carry howitzers, mortars, or rocket launchers. These weapons can be fastened to the vehicle directly, mounted on a pintle, or housed in a turret or cupola.

An AFV's turret ring needs to be larger the more recoil the weapon experiences. A bigger vehicle is required for a bigger turret ring. Turrets on amphibious vehicles are often placed in the middle of the vehicle to prevent it from listing to one side.

Turret stability is a crucial skill because it allows for mobile shooting and reduces crew fatigue.

The most common types of piston engines for modern AFVs are either gasoline or diesel ones. Gas turbines have been employed more recently. Since gasoline engines give a strong power-to-weight ratio, they were typically used in early AFVs. However, because the gasoline was so flammable, they were no longer popular during World War II.

The majority of modern AFVs are powered by diesel engines, which have a poorer power-to-weight ratio than their gasoline counterparts. However, modern technology, such as the usage of turbocharging, helps to overcome this.

In the late 20th century, gas turbine (turboshaft) engines gained popularity due to their high power-to-weight ratio. However, because of their low fuel efficiency, some armies are now going back to diesel engines (i.e. the Russian T-80 used a gas turbine engine, whereas the later T-90 does not). A famous example of a gas turbine-powered tank is the US M1 Abrams.

Famous armored warfare vehicles from the post-World War I era to the present day.

The tank is an all-terrain AFV with artillery that can perform nearly all battlefield tasks and engage enemy forces with direct fire in a frontal assault mode. A standard, mature design configuration has since become a widely recognized pattern, despite the fact that many configurations have been tried, notably in the early experimental golden days of tank construction. This has multiple secondary armament systems spread throughout and a main tank gun or artillery gun positioned in a fully rotating turret atop a tracked vehicle hull.

In terms of philosophy, a tank is by definition an offensive weapon. It is essentially a pillbox or tiny fortress that can move toward the enemy because it is a protective enclosure with at least one gun position (though they are static fortifications of a purely defensive nature). This is why it has offensive utility. The tank psychologically serves as a force multiplier and boosts the morale of the soldiers it supports.

Tanks were divided into two categories: size and function.

Unmanned light tank Ripsaw M5

German Panzer II light tank from World War II

Soviet-made Polish T-34 medium tank Model 1942 in Poznań, Poland.

The hexagonal turret of the model 1942 sets it apart from prior models.

United States T29 heavy tank

Classification by relative size was common since it also affected how the tanks were used.

Light tanks are more tactically mobile and simpler to transfer strategically since they are smaller, have thinner armor, and lower-powered guns. These are meant to support airborne or naval landings as well as armoured reconnaissance, skirmishing, artillery observation, and expeditionary warfare. Light tanks perform badly against bigger tanks but are often less expensive to manufacture and maintain. They might be kept in reserve to take advantage of any breaches in the enemy's defenses in order to obstruct communications and supply routes.

It is possible to balance combat prowess, mobility, cost-effectiveness, and transportability with medium tanks because they are mid-sized, have enough armour and guns, and have fair mobility. When utilized in groupings, medium tanks can effectively combat enemy tanks.

Larger, heavier, and equipped with stronger weapons and thicker armor, heavy tanks are also less mobile and more challenging to move. They were made to quickly penetrate standard opponent medium tanks' armor while being significantly less vulnerable to their attacks, making them more than a match for them. The use of heavy tanks to support soldiers attacking entrenched defenses with their massive armor proved to be the most successful use of their higher construction and maintenance costs.

These classifications are based on the weight of all tanks as a whole, which has increased over time as a result of greater armour and armaments being used in tank design. An earlier tank design may undergo reclassification over time, such as a medium tank that was initially deployed but was later demoted to light tank roles.

Tanks could also be categorized according to their intended use, such as cavalry, cruiser, rapid, infantry, attack, or breakthrough tanks. In the beginning, military theorists tended to classify tanks as serving in the classic infantry, cavalry, and artillery duties, but eventually developed more specialized roles that were only applicable to tanks.

The universal main battle tank, a more powerfully equipped and armored descendant of the medium tank, has replaced the heavy tank in modern warfare. However, light tanks