Editing Armoured fighting vehicle (section)

== Evolution ==
[[File:Schlacht bei Zama Gemälde H P Motte.jpg|thumb|right|[[Battle of Zama]] by [[Henri-Paul Motte]], 1890]]

The concept of a highly mobile and protected fighting unit has been around for centuries; from [[Hannibal]]'s [[war elephant]]s to [[Leonardo da Vinci|Leonardo]]'s [[Leonardo's fighting vehicle|contraptions]], military strategists endeavoured to maximize the mobility and survivability of their soldiers.

Armoured fighting vehicles were not possible until [[internal combustion engine]]s of sufficient power became available at the start of the 20th century.

=== History ===
{{main|Armoured warfare}}

====Pre-modern====
[[File:Helepolis.png|right|thumb|A [[Helepolis]]-like Siege Engine showing ballistae, stairs and movement capstan]]
Modern armoured fighting vehicles represent the realization of an ancient concept – that of providing troops with mobile protection and firepower. Armies have deployed war machines and cavalries with rudimentary armour in battle for millennia. Use of these animals and engineering designs sought to achieve a balance between the conflicting [[paradox]]ical needs of mobility, firepower and protection.

===== Siege machine =====
[[File:DaVinciTankAtAmboise.jpeg|thumb|Model of a [[Leonardo's fighting vehicle|vehicle]] sketched by [[Leonardo da Vinci]]]]
[[Siege engine]]s, such as [[battering ram]]s and [[siege tower]]s, would often be armoured in order to protect their crews from enemy action. [[Polyidus of Thessaly]] developed a very large movable siege tower, the ''[[helepolis]]'', as early as 340 BC, and Greek forces used such structures in the [[Siege of Rhodes (305 BC)|Siege of Rhodes]] (305 BC).

The idea of a protected fighting vehicle has been known since antiquity. Frequently cited is [[Leonardo da Vinci]]'s 15th-century sketch of a [[Leonardo da Vinci's fighting vehicle|mobile, protected gun-platform]]; the drawings show a conical, wooden shelter with apertures for cannons around the circumference. The machine was to be mounted on four wheels which would be turned by the crew through a system of [[Hand crank#Hand-powered cranks|hand cranks]] and [[Gear#Cage gear|cage (or "lantern") gears]]. Leonardo claimed: "I will build armoured wagons which will be safe and invulnerable to enemy attacks. There will be no obstacle which it cannot overcome."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://yousense.info/6c69676874/light-armor-armaholic.html|title=Summary -> Light Armor Armaholic|website=yousense.info|language=en|access-date=2018-11-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126051036/http://yousense.info/6c69676874/light-armor-armaholic.html|archive-date=26 November 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Modern replicas have demonstrated that the human crew would have been able to move it over only short distances.

===== War wagon =====
[[Hussite]] forces in [[Bohemia]] developed [[war wagon]]s – [[Middle Ages|medieval]] horse-drawn [[wagon]]s that doubled as [[wagon fort]]s – around 1420 during the [[Hussite Wars]]. These heavy wagons were given protective sides with firing slits; their heavy firepower came from either a cannon or from a force of [[Hand cannon|hand-gunners]] and [[crossbowmen]], supported by [[light cavalry]] and [[infantry]] using [[pike (weapon)|pike]]s and [[flail (weapon)|flail]]s. Heavy [[arquebus]]es mounted on wagons were called ''arquebus à croc''. These carried a ball of about {{convert|3.5|oz|-1}}.<ref>{{Cyclopaedia 1728|title= ARQUEBUSS|url= http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01.p0187&id=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01&isize=M |page= 342|inline=1}}</ref> [[File:Husitsky bojovy vuz replika.jpg|thumb|Modern reconstruction of [[Hussite]] [[war wagon]]]]

====Modern====
By the end of [[World War II]], most modern armies had vehicles to carry infantry, artillery and [[anti-aircraft weapon]]ry. Most modern AFVs are superficially similar in design to their World War II counterparts, but with significantly better armour, weapons, engines, electronics, and suspension. The increase in the capacity of [[Military transport aircraft|transport aircraft]] makes possible and practicable the transport of AFVs by air. Many armies are replacing some or all of their traditional heavy vehicles with lighter airmobile versions, often with wheels instead of tracks.

===== Armed and armoured car =====
[[File:Simms Motor Scout from Autocar.jpg|thumb|[[Frederick Richard Simms|F. R. Simms]]'s [[Motor Scout]], built in 1898 as an armed car]]

The first modern AFVs were armed cars, dating back virtually to the invention of the [[Car|motor car]]. The British inventor [[Frederick Richard Simms|F. R. Simms]] designed and built the [[Motor Scout]] in 1898. It was the first armed, petrol-engine powered vehicle ever built. It consisted of a [[De Dion-Bouton]] [[quadracycle]] with a [[Maxim gun|Maxim machine gun]] mounted on the front bar. An iron shield offered some protection for the driver from the front, but it lacked all-around protective armour.{{sfn|Macksey|1980}}

The [[armored car (military)|armoured car]] was the first modern fully armoured fighting vehicle. The first of these was the [[Motor War Car|Simms's Motor War Car]], also designed by Simms and built by [[Vickers#Vickers, Sons & Maxim|Vickers, Sons & Maxim]] in 1899.<ref name="DCMB"/> The vehicle had Vickers armour 6&nbsp;mm thick and was powered by a four-cylinder 3.3-litre<ref name="DCMB">{{cite book| author= Edward John Barrington Douglas-Scott-Montagu Baron Montagu of Beaulieu|author2= Lord Montagu|author3= David Burgess Wise| title= Daimler Century: The Full History of Britain's Oldest Car Maker| year= 1995| publisher= Haynes Publications| isbn= 978-1-85260-494-3}}</ref> 16 [[Horsepower|hp]] Cannstatt Daimler engine giving it a maximum speed of around {{convert|9|mph|km/h|abbr= off}}. The armament, consisting of two Maxim guns, was carried in two turrets with 360° traverse.{{sfn|Macksey|1980|p=256}}<ref>{{cite book|last= Tucker|first= Spencer|title= The European Powers in the First World War|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gv3GEyB19wIC&pg=PA65|year= 1999|publisher= Routledge|isbn= 0-8153-3351-X|pages= 816}}</ref>

[[File:Simms Motor War Car 1902.jpg|thumb|[[Frederick Richard Simms|F. R. Simms]]'s 1902 [[Motor War Car]], the first armoured car to be built]]
Another early armoured car of the period was the French [[Charron, Girardot et Voigt 1902]], presented at the ''Salon de l'Automobile et du cycle'' in [[Brussels]], on 8 March 1902.{{sfn|Gougaud|1987|page= 11}} The vehicle was equipped with a [[Hotchkiss machine gun]], and with 7&nbsp;mm armour for the gunner.<ref>{{cite book|last= Bartholomew|first= E.|title= Early Armoured Cars|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PknxxLTNhU8C&pg=PA5|year= 1988|publisher= Bloomsbury USA|isbn= 978-0-85263-908-5|pages= 4–5}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Gougaud|1987|pp= 11–12}}</ref> Armoured cars were first used in large numbers on both sides during [[World War I]] as scouting vehicles.

===== Tank =====
{{History of the tank | state= collapsed }}
{{main|History of the tank}}

In 1903, [[H. G. Wells]] published the short story "[[The Land Ironclads]]," positing indomitable war machines that would bring a new age of land warfare, the way steam-powered [[ironclad warship]]s had ended the [[age of sail]].

Wells's literary vision was realized in 1916, when, amidst the pyrrhic standstill of the [[Great War]], the British [[Landship Committee]] deployed revolutionary armoured vehicles to break the stalemate.  The tank was envisioned as an armoured machine that could cross ground under fire from [[machine gun]]s and reply with its own mounted machine guns and [[naval artillery]].  These first [[Tanks of World War I|British tanks of World War I]] moved on [[caterpillar track]]s that had substantially lower ground pressure than wheeled vehicles, enabling them to pass the muddy, pocked terrain and slit trenches of the [[Battle of the Somme]].

===== Troop transport =====
[[File:The Tank Museum (2012).jpg|thumb|[[Mark IX tank]], the first Armoured Personnel Carrier at the Tank Museum, Bovington]]
The tank eventually proved highly successful and, as technology improved, it became a weapon that could cross large distances at much higher speeds than supporting [[infantry]] and [[artillery]]. The need to provide the units that would fight alongside the tank led to the development of a wide range of specialised AFVs, especially during the [[Second World War]] (1939–1945).

The armoured personnel carrier, designed to transport infantry troops to the frontline, emerged towards the end of World War I. During the first actions with [[tank]]s, it had become clear that close contact with infantry was essential in order to secure ground won by the tanks. Troops on foot were vulnerable to enemy fire, but they could not be transported in the tank because of the intense heat and noxious atmosphere.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}} In 1917, Lieutenant G. J. Rackham was ordered to design an armoured vehicle that could fight and carry troops or supplies. The [[Mark IX tank]] was built by [[Armstrong Whitworth|Armstrong, Whitworth & Co.]], although just three vehicles had been finished at the time of the [[Armistice]] in November 1918, and only 34 were built in total.

===== Tankette =====
[[File:IJA TK Tankette Display at Armor School History Museum 20130302b.JPG|thumb|IJA [[Type 94 tankette]] at the Armor School History Museum]]
Different tank classifications emerged in the interwar period. The [[tankette]] was conceived as a mobile, two-man model, mainly intended for reconnaissance. In 1925, [[Sir John Carden, 6th Baronet|Sir John Carden]] and [[Vivian Loyd]] produced the first such design to be adopted – the [[Carden Loyd tankette]]. Tankettes saw use in the [[Royal Italian Army]] during the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|Italian invasion of Ethiopia]] (1935–1936), the [[Spanish Civil War]] (1936–1939), and during [[World War II]]. The [[Imperial Japanese Army]] used tankettes in [[Second Sino-Japanese War|China]] for infantry support, reconnaissance and later for [[jungle warfare]].<ref name="T27">{{cite web |url=http://www.battlefield.ru/content/view/72/50/lang,en/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227100158/http://www.battlefield.ru/content/view/72/50/lang,en/ |date=1998 |archive-date=27 February 2009 |title=T-27 Tankette |website=The Russian Battlefield |access-date=21 February 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/jp_tankette/index.html |title=U.S. Forces Encounter Old Jap Tankette |magazine=[[Intelligence Bulletin]] |publisher=[[Military Intelligence Service (United States)|United States Military Intelligence Service]] |date=September 1945 |access-date=6 January 2008}}</ref>{{sfn|Zaloga|2007|pp=7, 8}}

===== Self-propelled artillery =====
[[File:British Gun Carrier Mark I - 60 pdr.jpg|right|thumb|British [[Gun Carrier Mark I]] (60 pdr)]]
The British [[Gun Carrier Mark I]], the first [[Self-propelled artillery]], was fielded in 1917. It was based on the first tank, the British [[Mark I (tank)|Mark I]], and carried a heavy field-gun. The next major advance was the [[Birch gun]] (1925), developed for the British motorised warfare experimental brigade (the [[Experimental Mechanized Force]]). This mounted a field gun, capable of the usual artillery trajectories and even anti-aircraft use, on a tank chassis.

During World War II, most major military powers developed self-propelled artillery vehicles. These had guns mounted on a tracked chassis (often that of an obsolete or superseded tank) and provided an armoured superstructure to protect the gun and its crew. The first British design, [[Bishop (artillery)|"Bishop"]], carried the [[Ordnance QF 25 pounder|25 pdr gun-howitzer]] in an extemporised mounting on a tank chassis that severely limited the gun's performance. It was replaced by the more effective [[Sexton (artillery)|Sexton]]. The Germans built many lightly armoured [[self-propelled anti-tank gun]]s using captured French equipment (for example [[Marder I]]), their own obsolete light tank chassis ([[Marder II]]), or ex-Czech chassis ([[Marder III]]). These led to better-protected tank destroyers, built on a medium-tank chassis such as the [[Jagdpanzer IV]] or the [[Jagdpanther]].

===== Anti-aircraft vehicle =====
The [[Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon]] debuted in WWI. The [[Flak 88|German 88]]&nbsp;mm<ref>{{Cite web |title=Air Artillery |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/FWWairartillery.htm |access-date=2022-06-17 |website=Spartacus Educational}}</ref> anti-aircraft gun was truck-mounted and used to great effect against British tanks, and the British [[QF 3-inch 20 cwt]] was mounted on trucks for use on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]. Although the [[Birch gun]] was a general purpose artillery piece on an armoured tracked chassis, it was capable of elevation for anti-aircraft use. [[Vickers Armstrong]] developed one of the first SPAAGs based on the chassis of the Mk.E 6-ton light tank/[[Vickers Medium Dragon|Dragon Medium Mark IV tractor]], mounting a Vickers QF-1 "Pom-Pom" gun of 40&nbsp;mm. The Germans fielded the Sd.Kfz. 10/4 and 6/2, cargo halftracks mounting single 20&nbsp;mm or 37&nbsp;mm AA guns (respectively) by the start of the war.

===== Self-propelled multiple rocket-launcher =====
Rocket launchers such as the Soviet [[Katyusha rocket launcher|Katyusha]] originated in the late 1930s. The [[Wehrmacht]] fielded self-propelled rocket artillery in World War II – the [[Panzerwerfer]] and [[Wurfrahmen 40]] equipped half-track armoured fighting vehicles. Many modern [[multiple rocket launchers]] are self propelled by either truck or tank chassis.

=== Design ===
{{Expand section|date=January 2011}}

==== Survivability ====
{{Main|Aramid|Ballistic glass|Twaron|Vehicle armour}}

The level of armour protection between AFVs varies greatly – a [[main battle tank]] will normally be designed to take hits from other [[tank gun]]s and [[anti-tank missiles]], whilst light [[reconnaissance]] vehicles are often only armoured "just in case". Whilst heavier armour provides better protection, it makes vehicles less mobile (for a given engine power), limits its air-transportability, increases cost, uses more fuel and may limit the places it can go – for example, many bridges may be unable to support the weight of a main battle tank. A trend toward [[composite armour]] is taking the place of steel – composites are stronger for a given weight, allowing the tank to be lighter for the same protection as steel armour, or better protected for the same weight. Armour is being supplemented with [[active protection system]]s on a number of vehicles, allowing the AFV to protect itself from incoming projectiles.

[[File:PantheraScheme.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Armour-thickness chart for a [[Panther tank]]]]
The level of protection also usually varies considerably throughout the individual vehicle too, depending on the role of the vehicle and the likely direction of attack. For example, a main battle tank will usually have the heaviest armour on the hull front and the turret, lighter armour on the sides of the hull and the thinnest armour on the top and bottom of the tank. Other vehicles – such as the [[MRAP]] family – may be primarily armoured against the threat from [[Improvised explosive device|IEDs]] and so will have heavy, [[sloped armour]] on the bottom of the hull.

==== Firepower ====
Weaponry varies by a very wide degree between AFVs – lighter vehicles for infantry carrying, reconnaissance or specialist roles may have only a [[autocannon]] or [[machine gun]] (or no armament at all), whereas heavy self-propelled artillery will carry [[howitzer]]s, [[Mortar (weapon)|mortars]] or [[rocket (weapon)|rocket]] launchers. These weapons may be mounted on a [[weapon mount#Pintle|pintle]], affixed directly to the vehicle or placed in a [[gun turret|turret]] or cupola.

The greater the recoil of the weapon on an AFV, the larger the turret ring needs to be. A larger turret ring necessitates a larger vehicle. To avoid listing to the side, turrets on amphibious vehicles are usually located at the centre of the vehicle.{{sfn|Margiotta|1996}}

[[Grenade launcher]]s provide a versatile launch platform for a plethora of munitions including, [[Smoke grenade|smoke]], phosphorus, [[tear gas]], illumination, anti-personnel, infrared and radar-jamming rounds.{{sfn|Margiotta|1996}}

Turret stabilization is an important capability because it enables firing on the move and prevents crew fatigue.

==== Maneuverability ====
[[File:Auslieferung von Bergepanzer 2 an die Bundeswehr durch die Kieler Atlas-MaK Maschinenbau GmbH (Kiel 40.250).jpg|thumb|Engine replacement for a [[Bergepanzer 2]]]]
Modern AFVs have primarily used either petrol (gasoline) or diesel piston engines. More recently, gas turbines have been used. Most early AFVs used [[petrol engine]]s, as they offer a good [[power-to-weight ratio]]. However, they fell out of favour during World War II due to the flammability of the fuel.

Most current AFVs are powered by a [[diesel engine]]; modern technology, including the use of [[turbocharger|turbo-charging]], helps to overcome the lower power-to-weight ratio of diesel engines compared to petrol.

[[Gas turbine]] (turboshaft) engines offer a very high power-to-weight ratio and were starting to find favour in the late 20th century – however, they offer very poor fuel consumption and as such some armies are switching from gas turbines back to diesel engines (i.e. the Russian [[T-80]] used a gas turbine engine, whereas the later [[T-90]] does not). The US [[M1 Abrams]] is a notable example of a gas turbine powered tank.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tanknology.co.uk/post/future_afv | title=The AFV of the future, today | date=20 February 2022 }}</ref>