ABSTRACT
The conventionally configured battle-tank might be considered to be approaching obsolescence. Even before the Second World War, doubts about the future of the tank were being frequently articulated in response to readily achievable improvements in the area of anti-tank weapons. The tank steadily emerged as the most effective answer to other tanks, while the towed anti-tank gun foundered under its own burgeoning weight. Tank design policy was brought into line with the new operational conditions, with attention focusing on battlefield performance at the expense of mobility. To the extent that the Gulf War catalysed the development of yet more ambitious operational concepts, predicated on the exploitation of sophisticated information technologies, it also pointed to the declining effectiveness of the conventionally configured tank. In theory at least, technology and doctrine could be brought back into balance relatively quickly through the development of a tank-like platform combining the necessary levels of battlefield performance, operational mobility and sustainability.
