British Army, Israeli Elbit Working on Battle Tank with 360 Degree View

The British army is working with Israeli firm Elbit Systems and UK-based BAE Systems to build a new main battle tank (MBT) offering 360 degree situational awareness, for urban operations.

The British Army released a video showing off its new concept for the Challenger 2 MBT. Named Streetfighter II, the tank has a blocky camouflage scheme of brown-white and bluish gray.

The tank will have Elbit-made IronVision electro-optical system which allows crews to see through metal. The company, along with the British army, have reportedly been working on the system to be integrated on to the Streetfighter II since January 2019. It will give the tank the ability to see in all directions even when inside the body with the hatches entirely closed. IronVision consists of a camera on top of the vehicle which eliminates all blind spots and offers a total 360 situational awareness for the turret crew inside the tank through a specialised helmet-mounted display.

The original concept for Streetfighter did include a 360-degree camera on top of a mast protruding from the turret, but this only permitted fixed fields of view rather than the natural freedom to observe all surroundings.

"One of the primary goals of Streetfighter is to identify capability gaps between ourselves and potential enemies and then to recommend technical solutions for those areas of possible tactic overmatch," a member of the Royal Tank Regiment, who identified himself as Captain Quant, said in the official video presentation.

"These are in areas like lethality, survivability, [and] situational awareness," he added.

A mock-up of a Brimstone anti-tank missile launched on top of the turret is also included in the tank. Brimstone is already being used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and will be included in Armament options on soon to be released AH-64E Apache attack helicopters for the British Army. The weapon is quickly increasingly in popularity globally as an option for surface-launchers, including for ground vehicles and boats.