DARPA have been working hard to design new tanks that use significantly less armour in a bid to make them incredibly agile, while still making them safe for their occupants. No easy task given that tanks typically have a lot of heavy armour for a damn good reason.
The new vehicle design has more in common with a dune buggy crossed with Batmans Tumbler than a typically slow and heavy tank, but it uses an array of sensors to allow it to detect incoming ballistics and move its armour shielding to the correct position to deflect the blast. This means it can operate with less armour more effectively.
Not only that, but the low weight means it has a greater chance of physically dodging incoming attacks as it can literally duck down by folding into the ground, make rapid changes to its speed, or swerve out of the way.
DARPA say they’re working on the design of these vehicles for the next 24 months, but you can see how far the design has come in the concept video below.
[youtube width=”800″ height=”450″]http://youtu.be/L2NXSgD_INY[/youtube]Thank you Engadget for providing us with this information.
Image courtesy of Engadget.
