FMBTech: Technologies for existing and Future MBTs (EDF-2023)
The goal of FMBTech is to enable existing and future European MBTs to achieve the highest operational effectiveness and mission success.
- EDF Project Call: Main Battle Tank Technologies (Development Actions on Ground Combat)
- Duration: 36 Months (November 2024 - November 2027)
- Total Budget: €19.9M
- VRCEU is the FMBTech Technical Coordinator.
FMBTech will define and specify the best innovative technologies within a modular Main Battle Tank (MBT) system architecture.
It aims to enable existing and future European MBTs to achieve the highest operational effectiveness and mission success, in the frame of the future land combat scenarios, by delivering cutting edge through life capabilities.
The MBT will act as the center of a digitised capabilities envelope, giving enhanced ability to interface with unmanned systems and increased crew efficiency, thanks to artificial intelligence.
Project Objective
The use of the Main Battle Tank (MBT) in military operations represents one of the most important innovations in modern warfare. Undoubtedly, the MBT has been key to battle superiority in particular when using technological advantages in novel and disruptive ways.
However, for the last decades the MBT has mainly seen small step enhancements while lethality and multitude of threats from low to high tech have increased dramatically and the potential battlespace environment has widened to include expeditionary and closer to home operations.
In order for the MBT to effectively reach in the future the desired military objectives, the role, characteristics and tactical utilisation of the MBT within operations have to be modernised, and keep pace with battlespace evolution and digitisation, using technologies efficiently and effectively to provide a coherent Land Systems Battle force.
To achieve this objective, FMBTech aims to develop a modular design for agile, adaptive, intelligent and cooperative current/new/future MBT systems, able to deliver cutting edge Through Life Capabilities (TLC).
These Capabilities will be based on a variety of state-of-the-art Technology Bricks that will provide seamless functional services across agile integrated modular open scalable architectures for the MBT as the centre of a Digitised Capabilities Envelope, giving enhanced ability to interface with unmanned systems and increased crew efficiency thanks to AI.
This approach lends itself to commonality and interchangeability of equipment across the battle force offering coherent capabilities, and is supported by a solid Model Based Systems Engineering process Preliminary Design.
Case Studies for current/new/future MBTs with simulations advocated by Business Cases will ensure feasibility of a coherent roadmap of sustainable development for EU defence TLC MBTs, as well as early de-risking the Next Generation of MBTs and potential early exploitation of disruptive technologies in current MBTs.