European missile producer MBDA has unveiled a brand new guided munition developed for the primary weapons of NATO-standard essential battle tanks, the Akeron MBT 120, which introduces the potential to have interaction targets past line of sight. This functionality was reportedly developed primarily based on classes from the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict, the place tank crews have been pressured to improvise oblique fireplace with explosive shells. The tank spherical could be fired by all trendy NATO essential battle tanks, which use customary 120mm essential weapons, such because the German Leopard 2, American M1 Abrams, and the South Korean K2 fielded Poland and Turkey. The brand new spherical is very compact, weighting solely round 20 kilograms, and is absolutely suitable with current racks and loading techniques permitting it to be saved and dealt with in the identical method as different 120mm ammunition.
Though the Soviet Union pioneered using tank-launched missiles throughout the Chilly Conflict, with such missiles extensively utilized by Russian tanks, the Akeron MBT 120’s non-line-of-sight mode permits it to obtain coordinates from drones and different ahead deployed property, somewhat than counting on laser steering from the launching automobile. The munition climbs to excessive altitude after launch, earlier than putting targets from above. It low-acceleration rocket motor to cut back mechanical stress, limiting barrel put on and decreasing the necessity for top stress resistance in its inside parts. The munition’s improvement seems to answer the poor survivability demonstrated by NATO’s two major tanks, the Leopard 2 and M1 Abrams, when deployed by the Ukrainian Army in opposition to Russian forces. By January 2024 the vast majority of Ukrainian Leopard 2s had been rendered inoperable in fight with Russian forces, with over one quarter completely destroyed and the rest broken past the Army’s means to restore them, whereas the Abrams proved equally weak, with the Ukrainian Army assessed in June 2025 to have misplaced 87 p.c of the American sourced autos.
