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fromThe Atlantic
1 week agoWho Needs Tanks In the Age of Drones?
Rheinmetall's CEO dismisses Ukraine's drone innovations, viewing them as simplistic compared to traditional military technology.
Number one is speed takes priority over perfection. We can iterate to get to operational capability. And the second is that early soldier feedback is critical in order to make sure we're getting the right technology for the future fight, and then we want to be able to prove the demand signal before we spend big dollars on programs.
Gone is Honeywell's 1,500-horsepower turbine engine, and in its place is a Caterpillar C13D diesel engine that can easily be serviced everywhere in the world. If something went wrong with the old Abrams' engine, it had to be shipped to a big army base to be serviced, but the Caterpillar engine in the M1E3, which makes 690 horsepower in stock form, is widely used in industrial and heavy machinery around the world, so spare parts are much easier to find.
Shelley PhelpsWales Westminster correspondent PA Media MPs have called for certainty and swift decision-making on the paused Ajax armoured vehicles project to protect jobs in south Wales. Testing of the vehicles was paused and several investigations are being conducted after around 30 soldiers became ill from noise and vibration during a training exercise last year. The multi-million pound Ajax vehicles are made in Merthyr Tydfil by General Dynamics, which employs around 700 people.
On paper, many of the world's most famous weapons looked like reliable successes. In practice, desert sand, jungle humidity, and arctic cold often had other ideas. Systems that performed well in testing or early combat sometimes broke down once environmental stress became unavoidable. Here, 24/7 Wall St. is taking a closer look at how the environment, not enemy fire, can quietly expose limits that designers never fully anticipated.
"To me, it feels like 80% of the job of an infantryman is exactly the same and probably exactly the same as it was in a Napoleonic era," he said. "You need to be fit. You need to be strong and robust. You need to be able to survive in the field. You need to be able to dig a hole."
Lead without authority. You may not have direct reports, yet you shape architecture, quality and the roadmap. Your leverage comes from artifacts, reviews and clear standards, not from title.I started by publishing a lightweight architecture template and a rollout checklist that the team could copy. That reduced ambiguity during design and cut review cycles by nearly 30 percent
In military service, reliability is priceless, at least until the bill comes due. Some vehicles earned legendary status because they rarely failed in combat and delivered results under pressure. The problem was what it took to keep them that way. Heavy fuel use, maintenance-intensive systems, specialized parts, and recovery demands typically followed these platforms wherever they deployed. Here, 24/7 Wall St. is taking a closer look at reliable military vehicles that were logistically expensive.
Infantry once relied on numbers to solve uncertainty. When soldiers could not see or hit targets precisely, the answer was more troops and more fire. Sniper technologies quietly overturned that logic. By extending range, improving accuracy, and increasing awareness, they allowed small teams to dominate space once controlled only by massed formations. Precision replaced presence, and patience became a battlefield advantage. Here, 24/7 Wall St. is taking a look at the sniper technologies that totally changed the game.
Military weapons are designed to give commanders an advantage, but that advantage is rarely permanent. Systems that once multiplied combat power can become burdens as threats evolve, environments shift, and missions change.Some weapons begin to demand more protection, maintenance, or political consideration than the value they provide. Here, 24/7 Wall St. is taking a closer look at the weapons that became liability issues instead of force multipliers.
Snipers often discover a weapon's true potential only after it leaves the range and enters combat. Dust, cold, heat, and chaos expose weaknesses, but sometimes they reveal strengths no one planned for. Across multiple wars, certain sniper systems proved tougher, more accurate, and more versatile than expected, allowing operators to push ranges and missions far beyond the original design brief. Here, 24/7 Wall St. is taking a closer look at sniper systems that exceeded expectations in combat.