General Dynamics unveils its new ‘light tank’ concept

U.S. aerospace and defense company General Dynamics revealed an extremely groovy new concept tracked armored vehicle during the 2019 Modern Day Marine expo in Quantico, Virginia.

General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, has unveiled a mockup of the new ‘light tank’ — called the Griffin II.

The Griffin II is a new combat vehicle to support infantry brigade combat teams — a lightweight vehicle that can be airlifted into battle and maneuver, dispersed if necessary, in close-quarters urban terrain, but with lethal long-range firepower to take out enemy armored vehicles.

According to the current information, the new medium-weight, a large-caliber vehicle intends to boost the firepower of airborne and other light infantry units and was designed under for the U.S. Army’s Mobile Protected Firepower program.

The U.S. Army expects that new ‘light tank’ will be a 38-ton tracked armored vehicle capable to provide Soldiers with speed, protection, lethality and the ability to wage a multidomain battle, working in concert with other ground forces to overwhelm the enemy with multiple simultaneous challenges.

The new “light tank” will have improved armor and a 120 mm main gun that looks like the Abrams’ 120 mm cannon.  Griffin’s turret is a scaled-down version of the M1 Abrams turret designed to engage in combat with tanks and other armoured vehicles.

Additionally, vehicle survivability can be greatly increased with intelligent sensors that are integrated with the hardware, software and effectors to create an overarching, layered system of passive and active self-defense measures.