Ever since World War 2, the main battle tank has played a crucial role in wars across the world. The modern equivalent of the armored knight, it has adapted and evolved to become one of the most deadly killing machines invented by man.
But a Polish company has recently changed everything we know about the tank with its PL-01, a stealth machine that may roam the battlefield of the future.
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Photo: screenshot from Youtube
The PL-01 does for the tank what the F-117 and F-22 did for the fighter jet – it makes it very hard for the enemy to “see” it. Obviously, the wedge shape helps deflect radar waves, but it’s much more complicated than that. Designed by Obrum, part of Poland Defense Holdings, the PL-01 measures 7 meters long, 3.8 meters wide and 2.8 meters high.
That makes it much smaller than the Abrams that the US Army uses at the moment. It means it can be carried on an airplane and dropped into a hot zone. An array of hexagonal Peltier plates are placed on the surface of the tank and can be heated or cooled to project a desired temperature such as the background. This would make the tank “invisible” to heat-seeking missiles, which are commonly used by both infantry and tank-hunting helicopters.
The turret is the coolest part
Since it’s not something we can buy or use on the road, there’s no point in being objective about the Polish tank. By far the coolest part is its turret. Because it’s fully automated and doesn’t require space for an ammunition loader, the unit is very flat. At the business end is a105 mm or 120 mm caliber cannon. The muzzle has a suppressor at the end and it’s been covered in the same radar-deflecting surfaces.
We bet that a Lamborghini designer is looking at the PL-01 and thinking “hmmm, that’s going to be the next V12 supercar”. There’s no rush though, because according to Poland Defense Holdings, production is expected to begin in 2018 with exports to take place in 2022.
Editor’s note: Obviously, an advanced tank is not what you need to fight the Middle Eastern terrorists, but with a new Cold War on the horizon…
