Armored Vehicles | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Armored Vehicles

In 1896, E. J. Pennington, an American, designed (but never built) a steam-powered armored car equipped with metal skirts and two machine guns, one facing forward and the other facing to the rear. Three years later, English engineer F. R. Simms took a small steam-powered, four-wheeled vehicle and added a bulletproof shield as well as a machine gun. In 1902, Simms introduced the first armored car powered by an internal combustion engine. His "War Car," which carried three guns, weighed over five tons, rode on four steel-tired wheels, had a boat-shaped hull of thin armor, and was capable of a top speed of nine miles per hour.

The British army began experimenting with armored car designs during World War I. They took existing cars and chassis and added open-topped bodies equipped with a machine gun that could shoot over the side armor. Trucks were fitted with armor, thus turning them into the first armored personnel carriers. By 1914, the British had manufactured three fully-armored vehicles (built on the chassis of Rolls Royce touring cars), complete with machine guns in turrets that could sweep around in a full circle. The future of armored vehicles appeared to be bleak, however, since wheeled armored cars could not cross trenches effectively. In October 1914, E. D. Swinton, a lieutenant-colonel in the British army, suggested tracked vehicles, an adaptation of an American tractor using the British patent of a caterpillar track. To keep the new weapon a secret from any hostile sources, the British referred to the new weapon as a tank and the name stuck. A revised tank, based on the designs of Lieutenant Wilson and William Tritton, pulled its twenty-eight ton mass along at little more than marching speed, but it carried several machine guns and two six-pound guns.

The English tank was first used in battle in September 1916. The British generals, who did not understand how to use the new weapon, sent it out onto a battlefield that had already endured a three-day bombardment from 1,000 guns. It is not surprising that the tanks bogged down in the churned-up ground. At the battle of Cambrai in 1917 they were used much more effectively: 400 massed tanks penetrated the German line to a depth of four miles.

The tank's performance in battle led to further experimentation with its design. The British came out with a larger and heavier model, capable of crossing a ten-foot trench while carrying twenty soldiers. The French created a tank with a fully rotatable gun turret. The Germans, who had lagged in tank production, came up with a vehicle that weighed 148 tons and required twenty-two men to run all the equipment and weapons inside.

By World War II, armored vehicles were capable of speeds of over thirty miles per hour. The Germans created a miniature underwater tank that carried two torpedoes. Newer tanks have developed accurate laser-control fire systems. In addition, there are now very high velocity guns with barrel sizes ranging from 4-5 in (105-125 mm).

As more and more effective anti-tank weapons were developed in the late 20th century, including "smart" weapons with sophisticated computer devices that allowed them to probe a tank's surface for weakness, tank armor became more elaborate. Rather than becoming thicker and heavier, some tanks relied on "smart" armor using an array of high-technology defenses. American tanks developed in the late 1990s used so-called integrated defense systems, or IDS. The IDS used electronic scanners to survey the electromagnetic spectrum above and around the tank. Sensors could thus detect when weapons had been launched against the tank. Software guided by artificial intelligence then activated a variety of responses, from radar jamming to launching smoke screens and anti-missile weapons.

Lighter weight tanks were also developed in the late 1990s, using advanced materials. Tanks so light they could be air-lifted and dropped by parachute were developed for the U.S. Army, beginning in the 1980s, culminating in a 1990s tank made of aluminum, titanium and ceramics. The light tank was designed so that troops could attach additional modular armor to it once it landed.

Portable armor similar to body armor was also developed in the late 1990s for use in transport airplanes. Peacekeeping crews landing transport planes during the war in the former Yugoslavia found themselves vulnerable to rifle fire when flying at low altitudes. In response, military engineers developed armored tiles made of ceramic-metal composites bonded to Kevlar and then attached to Velcro-backed fabric. The armored tiles could be rapidly attached to the floor and walls of the plane. The advanced material was stronger than steel and considerably lighter, an issue crucial to air transport.