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Belgian “FrankenTank” Heading to Ukraine: An Old Leopard With a New Trick
Are tanks obsolete? No. But they need to evolve very quickly.
My acquaintance and former editor, David Axe at Forbes, just broke an interesting story about a Belgian tank delivery to Ukraine… Just one tank.
How is one tank going to help the war effort?
So, I did a deep dive into what I’m now calling the “FrankenTank” — (let’s see if we can get it to stick.)
Belgium’s delivery is a deliberate test, and it might just be a sneak preview of the future of tank warfare in the drone age.
At the heart of this “FrankenTank” is an old German Leopard 1A5 chassis mated with Belgium’s Cockerill 3105 turret: A slick, automated killing machine that brings 21st-century fire control, indirect fire capability, and most importantly, anti-drone survivability to a tank that previously had the armor profile of a Diet Coke can.
Okay, “Diet Coke can” is an exaggeration, but its armor is relatively thin compared to modern MBTs.
The Cockerill turret is already in use in India and Indonesia, but this is its first battlefield debut against Russian FPV drones. And if it performs as advertised, this could be Ukraine’s first purpose-built counter-drone MBT…
