The technology in your car generally has its genesis in two sources – racing and the military.
Occasionally, though, these two sources intersect in a big way, and we
get a story like this – BAE Systems has fitted a tank with a 1990s
Formula 1-style active damping system.
The system reduces vehicle pitch by 40 percent in BAE's CV90 by analyzing both the vehicle speed and the upcoming terrain, and then tweaking the suspension accordingly, Racecar Engineering reports.
The results are, in a word, impressive. BAE's tank was 30- to 40-percent faster on rough terrain than the British Royal Army's Challenger 2 and the German Army's Leopard 2 main battle tanks. Admittedly, the CV90 is a bit smaller than an MBT like the British Challenger 2, tipping the scales at roughly half the weight. Still, the improved stability over rough terrain is a big deal. It should also make life easier on the gunner, while wear and tear is reduced, too.
"Adapting the Active Damping system for the first time from a lightweight car to a heavy tracked vehicle such as CV90 was a unique challenge for us," the tank's platform manager, Dan Lindell told RE, "but this advanced technology will deliver results to our customers in terms of vehicle performance and savings on the through life costs, as well as providing real benefits to the front line solider."
Check out the difference between a tank with and without active damping as it repeatedly hits a jump at increasing speeds. Yes, tank jumps. Watch the video above.
The system reduces vehicle pitch by 40 percent in BAE's CV90 by analyzing both the vehicle speed and the upcoming terrain, and then tweaking the suspension accordingly, Racecar Engineering reports.
The results are, in a word, impressive. BAE's tank was 30- to 40-percent faster on rough terrain than the British Royal Army's Challenger 2 and the German Army's Leopard 2 main battle tanks. Admittedly, the CV90 is a bit smaller than an MBT like the British Challenger 2, tipping the scales at roughly half the weight. Still, the improved stability over rough terrain is a big deal. It should also make life easier on the gunner, while wear and tear is reduced, too.
"Adapting the Active Damping system for the first time from a lightweight car to a heavy tracked vehicle such as CV90 was a unique challenge for us," the tank's platform manager, Dan Lindell told RE, "but this advanced technology will deliver results to our customers in terms of vehicle performance and savings on the through life costs, as well as providing real benefits to the front line solider."
Check out the difference between a tank with and without active damping as it repeatedly hits a jump at increasing speeds. Yes, tank jumps. Watch the video above.
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