Eurosatory 2024: Premiere of the Panther KF51 main battle tank with an unmanned turret
Gerhard Heiming
The first day of Eurosatory is a day of spectacular new presentations. Rheinmetall has presented the latest development stage of the Panther main battle tank, which will be shown for the first time in 2022, to a specialist audience of soldiers, planners and tank experts. In wonderful sunny weather, the demonstrator shone with new performance values.
The most significant feature of the new launch is the unmanned turret (Concept unmanned turret, CUT) with a 130 mm/L51 cannon with automatic loader, called “Future Gun System” according to Rheinmetall. According to Rheinmetall, the cannon, which has already been extensively tested, should deliver around 50 percent more power than the 120 mm cannon in conventional tanks. The entire ammunition supply of 25 rounds is stored in two magazines in the rear of the turret and is loaded into the cannon from there. In addition to a coaxial heavy machine gun (cal .50), the commander has a remotely controlled weapon station that tracks the main optics (Main Sensor Slaved Armament, MSSA). It is equipped with a Rheinmetall RMG762 machine gun with a caliber of 7.62 mm and three barrels. A hot-fired barrel on the weapon can be replaced remotely. In this configuration, the station can also be used against unmanned flying objects. A smoke bomb system is also integrated into the weapon station.
Im elektrisch gerichteten Turm sind die Feuerleitanlage, Anteile der Vernetzung- und Fernmeldeausstattung und weitere Teile der Sensorik untergebracht, darunter ein Wettersensor. Das Situational Awareness System sorgt für ein überlegenes Lagebewusstsein.
The commander and gunner, as well as the military driver, are protected in the hull. The commander and gunner conduct the firefight using their own day and night vision optics with laser rangefinders. The gunner uses modern SEOSS 400 optics. This is also installed in the commander's MSSA weapons station. This allows both hunter-killer and killer-killer abilities to be realized. Integrated reconnaissance drones contribute to the situation picture.
Rheinmetall has supplemented the well-known passive protection with an active soft kill and a hard kill system. Iron Fist from IMI is used as the active hard kill system. The MUSS system (Multifunctional Self-Protection System) from Hensoldt and the rapid fog system ROSY are implemented as soft kill systems.
With the technological advantages that Rheinmetall has integrated into the concept demonstrator, the lessons learned from recent and ongoing conflicts are implemented in an unmanned turret, giving the user an unmatched tactical advantage on the battlefield.
Interoperability was a guiding principle in development, which has resulted in the turret being able to be seamlessly integrated into various main battle tank platforms that have already been introduced. This ensures the improvement of the armed forces' overall capabilities without the need for extensive updates to existing chassis fleets or maintenance, repair and overhaul infrastructure, explained Björn Bernhard, CEO of Rheinmetall Landsysteme. In short, the unmanned tower combines the option of immediate replacement with the major technological leap for the existing fleet, Bernhard continued.
The development of the Panther KF 51 CUT is based on the Panther KF 51, which Rheinmetall presented at Eurosatory two years ago (ESuTreported), but with a manned turret. The idea was to have a tank that could bridge the emerging skill gap in dueling ability and provide a path to the MGCS. This tank is now being developed for series production - albeit with a 120 mm cannon - for the potential first customer Hungary (ESuTreported).
With the Panther KF 51 CUT, the competition between the two tank builders from Germany, KNDS Deutschland and Rheinmetall, continues. In the morning, KNDS presented the Leopard 2 A-RC 3.0 with an unmanned turret and a cannon with a caliber of 120 mm and optionally up to 140 mm (ESuTreported). Rheinmetall countered this with the Panther with an unmanned turret and 130 mm cannon. The aim of both companies is, on the one hand, to bridge the capability gap and, on the one hand, to offer a basic technology for the Main Ground Combat System, for which the contract for the construction of partial demonstrators is pending after the technologies have been selected.
Gerhard Heiming
