German beast: ‘World’s most powerful’ tank packs triple threat firepower

A German-French collaboration has just given birth to a new form of main battle tank (MBT), the triple-gunned EMBT ADT140.

Developed by KNDS (a partnership between German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and France’s Nexter), the new tank caused a storm at Paris’s 2024 Eurosatory defense expo.

For reference, the former developed Germany’s veteran and highly capable Leopard 2 MBT, and the latter developed France’s equally deadly LeClerc MBT.

The EMBT ADT140 sports an enormous 140mm main gun but has impressive secondary armaments. According to KNDS , this can be swapped out for a “smaller” 120 mm gun where needed.

The first of its additional guns is a coaxial 20 mm cannon mounted alongside the main gun on the turret. The other, arguably most interesting, is the EMBT ADT 140’s additional remotely-controlled 30 mm automatic cannon on the turret. She also has a much smaller 7.62 machine gun mounted on a mini-turret atop the main turret.

The new gun-touting EMBT ADT 140

The tank’s chassis , derived from the Leopard 2, features the same seven-road-wheel configuration as the older tank. The ASCALON Demonstrator Turret 140mm or ADT 140 is equipped with Nexter’s 140mm main gun.

The EMBT ADT140’s turret is completely unmanned, with an automatic loader feeding the main gun. The tank has an active protection system that can shoot down enemy anti-tank missiles, rockets, and standard armor.

According to a company press release , the tank features sensor fusion, artificial intelligence (AI), cyber, and hybrid energy applications. However, it should be noted that what exactly these refer to has not been publicly released.

The tank was designed for the Main Combat Ground System (MCGS), a collaboration between France and Germany to develop a common tank for their respective armies. The MCGS initiative was announced in 2017 but has been progressing slowly.

The 140mm gun has undergone testing outside the turret and is scheduled for testing next month while the tank is moving.

Why so many guns?

According to Popular Mechanics , the designers have anticipated more powerful and better-protected tanks by including a 140mm gun, significantly larger than the global standard of 120/125mm. This results in a bigger and more powerful tank round.

However, due to limited space inside the tank, a tank with a 140mm gun may only carry around 30 rounds of ammunition. This means that regardless of the size of the enemy targets, the tank has a ceiling for the number of belligerent targets it can knock out.

EMBT’s 20mm gun is most likely designed to engage enemy infantry, trucks, and other soft-skinned targets. On the other hand, the 30mm gun is probably intended for ground targets.

This could include engaging enemy infantry in trenches one moment and setting Russian BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles on fire the next. 30mm guns can also be armed with shells featuring proximity fuses that detonate as soon as the target is within lethal range.

This will make them effective anti-drone weapons. The EMBT ADT140 range of guns should enable the tank to engage and destroy various targets. This will prove pivotal in an evolving warspace where conventional and novel threats (also known as drones) can come from anywhere.