Why armored vehicles will continue to play a key role in future battles
The debate has intensified: Drones are reshaping the battlefield, traditional systems appear vulnerable and the role of the main battle tank is increasingly being called into question. In European countries, especially, the Leopard 2 is at the center of this discussion. However, the conclusion that “tanks are obsolete” falls short.
The reality is more complex: Modern battlefields are evolving into highly networked, sensor-driven environments where visibility, reaction speed, and information superiority are crucial. The central question is not whether tanks like the Leopard have a future, but rather: How must it evolve to survive in an ever-changing environment?
Why are tanks under pressure right now?
In the first year and a half of the Russian invasion alone, Ukraine has lost at least 930 main battle tanks. These heavy losses are putting immense pressure on armored platforms like the Leopard to adapt.
The widespread use of drones has fundamentally changed the transparency and dynamics of the battlefield. Movements are detected nearly in real time, targets are identified more quickly, and they are effectively engaged. Affordable and scalable systems are constantly creating new and serious threats, because even the best armor has vulnerabilities.
The increased use of sensors within the vehicle – such as optical systems, infrared sensors, or radar – supports the crew in their mission but at the same time makes a tank easier to detect, thereby further increasing its vulnerability, for example by surprise attacks from the air or from long range.
Especially in the “hybrid death zone” – particularly dangerous frontline sectors or strategic zones where modern, often automated weapon systems are combined with asymmetric tactics – the risk to conventional tank systems is enormous, as evidenced by the numerous destroyed vehicles in eastern Ukraine.
What are the biggest challenges?
Perhaps the greatest challenge is the loss of relative invisibility. What used to be offset by terrain, camouflage, or movement is now increasingly negated by enemy sensors and networked systems.
This gives rise to several specific challenges:
- the urgent need to detect threats such as drones, as well as guided missiles and covert reconnaissance, much earlier.
- drastically shorter reaction times, which force decisions to be made under intense time pressure.
- the growing complexity of the battlefield, which can lead to cognitive overload among the crew.
At the same time, dependence on individual subsystems, to which traditional platforms are particularly vulnerable, is increasing. If, for example, the driver’s or gunner’s sighting system fails, this can immediately impair the effectiveness of the entire system. A risk that is virtually intolerable in a highly dynamic combat situation.
The crucial role of the tank
Despite these challenges, the role of the main battle tank remains clearly defined. Platforms such as the Leopard 2 or the Puma continue to be an effective means of achieving protected mobility, firepower, and control of the terrain.
Drones can conduct reconnaissance, delay the enemy, and carry out targeted strikes. However, they cannot hold ground.
This is precisely where the tank’s enduring strength lies. Its role, however, is shifting: away from that of an individual combat vehicle toward becoming an integral part of a networked system comprising manned and unmanned components.
Tanks have never operated entirely on their own, but always in coordination with other units and platforms. The modern Leopard and its future variants take this networking and interaction with their own drones, sensor platforms, and digital command structures to a new level.
Its effectiveness stems increasingly from this networked architecture.
Digitization
In order to network a tank’s various systems, they must be brought into the digital age. HENSOLDT, a supplier to the Leopard program, has, for example, converted its traditional vision systems for armored vehicles into digital versions.
In line with its vision of Software-Defined Defense, the German defense contractor had already unveiled three new optronic systems for the Leopard 2A8 main battle tank and the PUMA infantry fighting vehicle by the end of 2024.
These new digital image processing systems offer greater precision and thus improved sensor performance compared to current analog optics. State-of-the-art, AI-supported video processing and scanning technology significantly enhance reconnaissance capabilities and reduce decision-making time.
In particular, the new digital ATTICA LWIR (long-wave infrared) and MWIR (mid-wave infrared) thermal imaging devices offer improved reconnaissance capabilities even under the most challenging weather and visibility conditions.
This significantly enhances the protection of combat vehicles against attacks and the ability to engage enemy units.
The PERI RTWL Digital is a stabilized, high-precision observation and target acquisition system developed specifically for the Leopard 2A8, PUMA, and Boxer RCT30 tanks. It provides the commander with enhanced sensor performance in the mid- and long-wave infrared spectrum and enables precise target acquisition under all visibility conditions.
The proven glass-optical channels are supplemented by Full HD daytime cameras, which significantly enhance the system’s performance. At the same time, the system features advanced video processing capabilities and provides a panoramic view with a stabilized field of view suitable for both close-range and long-range observation.
WAO Digital is a stabilized, long-range electro-optical target acquisition system. Thanks to the high performance of its sensors and the resulting precision, it ensures the combat readiness of platforms even under adverse conditions.
WAO Digital features high-resolution infrared and daylight sensors that can zoom continuously and are fully stabilized. Here, too, compliance with NATO standards ensures the highest level of operational readiness.
Armor protection
On the modern battlefield, self-protection is no longer solely a matter of armor. What matters most is the ability to detect threats early and actively counter them. HENSOLDT, supplying to the Leopard program for many years, is addressing these challenges through several approaches:
The SETAS (See Through Armour System) all-around vision system is a high-performance day-and-night observation system for all types of armored vehicles. The high-resolution electro-optical vision system, consisting of high-resolution color daylight cameras and uncooled thermal imaging cameras, enables every crew member to obtain a complete 360-degree visual situational awareness of the vehicle’s surroundings from inside the vehicle.
Threats within the vehicle’s operational radius can thus be detected and classified early and reliably. When using a helmet-mounted display as an HMI, a crew member inside the vehicle can effectively see through the armor, achieving the same level of situational awareness as if observing “from above.” Intelligent software algorithms automatically alert the crew when a potential threat is detected near the vehicle.
The MUSS multifunctional self-protection system was developed primarily to counter threats from ATGMs and laser-guided munitions. With 350 first-generation systems installed on the PUMA infantry fighting vehicle, it is currently the only active soft-kill protection system for ground vehicles in serial production and operational use worldwide. HENSOLDT has further developed the capabilities of MUSS to detect and counter both existing and emerging threats, such as those posed by UAVs.
With MUSS 2.0, the German defense company offers a NextGen Active Protection System (APS), i.e., a next-generation active protection system, featuring a layered protection solution for medium-weight armored vehicles, self-propelled artillery systems, infantry fighting vehicles, and even Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) such as the Leopard.
In addition, the brand-new ODAEON enables the early detection of optical threats, such as those posed by enemy targeting systems or laser reconnaissance. To this end, HENSOLDT has received a contract from the Federal Office for Equipment, Information Technology, and Utilization of the German Armed Forces (BAAINBw) to develop a capability demonstrator.
Following successful customer acceptance (Concept Review) in December 2024, a demonstrator is currently being prepared at Technology Readiness Level six (TRL6), which is scheduled to be tested by the BAAINBw starting this year. In a further step, a merger of the ODAEON and MUSS technologies is also planned to ensure a comprehensive protection strategy.
Other technologies used to protect modern tanks include “jamming” and “dazzling.” “Jamming” disrupts electro-optical systems using targeted interference signals, while “dazzling” overwhelms optical systems such as cameras and target acquisition devices with intense flashes of light.
Both methods enhance vehicle protection by effectively impairing the enemy’s reconnaissance and target acquisition capabilities.
The growing importance of software also contributes to the protection of armored platforms:
For example, optronic systems, in conjunction with smart software algorithms, open up new possibilities for the automated detection of mines or ground anomalies, which further enhances mobility and safety.
This prevents situations such as the one that recently occurred in Ukraine, where entire tank units were brought to a standstill by undetected minefields.
Increased effectiveness
In addition to protection, the focus is also on enhancing effectiveness, ensuring the Leopard’s continued relevance in the future. This begins with the ability to fully monitor the battlefield.
Systems such as SETAS not only protect the vehicle but also contribute to improved combat operations by providing a 360° situational awareness picture.
The integration of the vehicle’s own drones can also contribute to this by providing the crew with enhanced reconnaissance far beyond the direct line of sight.
With regard to armament, larger calibers are under consideration to remain effective against increasingly sophisticated armor.
At the same time, increasing the caliber could eventually extend the range of the Leopard and similar systems by several kilometers.
While this is not relevant for all armed forces, in regions with the appropriate geography, it would increase the demands on target acquisition and fire control systems. Demands that, however, would also be elevated to a new level through digitalization.
Highly stable, precise sighting systems will become a prerequisite for this enhanced effectiveness, which could allow future main battle tanks to additionally assume a kind of “artillery function.”
Sensor data fusion and mission assistance
Both protection systems and advancements in combat effectiveness can only realize their full potential if the individual technologies are deployed in an integrated and coordinated manner.
There is no shortage of sensors on today’s digital battlefield. However, when used in isolation, the incoming sensor data quickly leads to cognitive overload among soldiers. In the future, therefore, the ability to fuse data across individual systems and platforms in a way that yields decision-making and operational superiority will be crucial.
With Ceretron, HENSOLDT is demonstrating an innovative way to manage the enormous volumes of data from various sensor systems in land vehicles and to facilitate decision-making.
The software suite links and fuses data streams and evaluates them within seconds to provide the crew with an AI-supported situational picture. This enables decisions to be made more quickly and with greater confidence.
Ceretron can be flexibly configured for various applications, including observation and target acquisition, situational awareness, reconnaissance and surveillance, as well as platform and self-protection.
Conclusion
The pressure on the main battle tank is real, but it does not spell its end. Rather, it marks the beginning of a new phase of development.
The Leopard 2 will remain a central element of modern armed forces if it adapts to changing conditions: through networking, sensor technology, and intelligent protection mechanisms.
For HENSOLDT, the key lies in this transformation. Technologies for reconnaissance, networking, and self-defense ensure that the Leopard is not a relic of past battlefields, but rather a next-generation system.
The answer to new threats is not a different Leopard—but a better-networked, better-protected, and information-superior Leopard.