Uncrewed turret power: European EMBT tank flaunts 5.5‑inch ASC weapon

The Defence24 service reports on the latest version of the European EMBT tank proposal. The future tank, designed for the French and German armies and shown this year, is distinguished by its uncrewed turret with a giant caliber cannon.

This trend is evident among both German and French industry proposals. While Germany suggests increasing the main armament caliber of tanks to 5.1 inches (Rh-130 L/52 cannon from the KF51 Panther tank), France takes it further by promoting the 5.5-inch ASCALON cannon.

This extends the old FTMA (Future Tank Main Armament) project from the Cold War era. The heightened energy of the projectiles fired increases the effectiveness of anti-tank fire in this case.

With the ASCALON 5.5-inch cannon and a special telescopic projectile up to 4.3 feet long, the energy of the penetrator hitting a target 1.24 miles away is expected to reach 7-10 foot-pounds. According to the designers, this will allow for the destruction of any existing tank and those yet to be introduced into service over the next few decades.

Attempts to introduce cannons with a caliber greater than the current standard 4.7-inch are driven by the pursuit of higher efficiency. However, manufacturers of these future cannons face a considerable challenge—the war in Ukraine has tested the effectiveness of currently used weapons.

Firefights have shown that Western tanks equipped with older cannons (whose modern counterparts fire higher energy projectiles), using ammunition that is 30 years old, have no trouble penetrating the front armor of the latest Russian tanks.

Given that modern ammunition is much more effective than that provided to Ukraine, this raises doubts about the necessity of the costly, rapid introduction of larger caliber tank cannons into service. Contrary to earlier concerns, the weapons currently in use have no problems penetrating Russian armor.