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On Land Warfare and Motor Vehicles: From Biblical Times, Through Tomorrow

Mordechai Ben-Menachem

For the past three millennia or so, land warfare has been based upon three types of fighting forces, infantry, rapid deploy forces (such as horse-based cavalry) and armoured vehicular forces. This article discusses aspects of the latter. We examine a bit of the history and attempt some extrapolation to conceive where this force may be headed. In that sense, the article is also speculative.

Basically, where are armoured fighting vehicles going (pardon the pun)? At present, it appears that they may have reached a technological impasse, as motor technology has not advanced significantly for the past century-fuel use today is remarkably similar to that of the original Ford Model T.

We begin the discussion with historical aspects emphasising the difficulty of powering mechanisms, continue with electronic vulnerabilities that are not well-known and then finish with powering issue for the future. Tanks historical success has been firstly based upon their power-source, with vulnerabilities coming into play primarily when the issue is tank-to-tank; this may change. Today’s vulnerabilities may be more profound than is generally perceived.