Click here to read the full article. You could call it a contradiction in terms, or even a paradoxical blending of opposites--the U.S. Army is now designing a lightweight, highly lethal future armored tank that is easy to maneuver while being able to withstand dangerous enemy attacks and offering protection equal to or better than a 70-ton Abrams tank. This goal lies at the center of the Army's Next-Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV), a family of new combat platforms now being developed by the service for future warfare. Its key goals are expeditionary, lightweight, fast, using artificial intelligence, potentially unmanned, extremely lethal and perpetually upgradeable. The effort involves building new infantry carriers, tanks and robotic vehicles networked together as part of an integrated tactical maneuver strategy.

M1A2 Abrams Tanks from A Company, 2-116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team (CBCT), Idaho Army National Guard run through field exercises on Orchard Combat Training Center - file photo. Should U.S. forces be facing a massive armored enemy ground vehicle assault, they would need their own heavily armored vehicles -- such as infantry carriers, ground forces, unmanned attack vehicles and, perhaps of greatest significance, Abrams tanks. Large numbers of heavily armed, integrated and ready Abrams tanks would be needed for any kind of major ground offensive and "ready for war." Achieving this is not always as easy as it may sound; Abrams tanks are complex war machines that rely upon a wide range of properly functioning systems and technologies, including ammunition, mounted weapons, armor, sensors and electronics. Abrams parts often need to be repaired, upgraded and effectively maintained.

Fox News Flash top headlines for Oct. 14 are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com Attacking enemy lines as a heavily up-gunned armored robot, firing lasers, knocking enemy drones out of the air with "elevating" weapons, controlling air and ground drones as networked "nodes" in war and using AI to organize long-range targeting data -- are all desired attributes for the Army's new infantry vehicle - the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle. The new vehicle, slated to ultimately replace the decades-old Bradley, will achieve operational combat status as soon as 2026 -- and, according to Army documents, pave the way forward into a new era of major, high-powered, mechanized warfare. As it enters a new prototyping and test phase for the vehicle, the Army is further refining its ambitious and high-standard requirements.

File photo - FORT HOOD, Tx--A Sabot round is fired from an M1A2 Abrams tank during 3rd Armored Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division gunnery qualification. Such a scenario, however likely, incorporates some of the complexities now informing current Army thinking. How much can current platforms, such as the 1980s-era Abrams tank, be upgraded and maintained such that they can provide the requisite force, protection and firepower to meet such a contingency? To what extent would the Army's emerging fleet of Next-Generation Combat Vehicles be better equipped to respond? The Army's most pressing priority, senior leaders explain, is to be ready for war "now" -- "today" -- and in the immediate future.

Turbine engine diagnostics (TED) is a diagnostic expert system to aid the M1 Abrams tank mechanic find-and-fix problems in the AGT-1500 turbine engine. TED was designed to provide the apprentice mechanic with the ability to diagnose and repair the turbine engine like an expert mechanic. The expert system was designed and built by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Ordnance Center and School. This article discusses the relevant background, development issues, reasoning method, system overview, test results, return on investment, and fielding history of the project. Limited fielding began in 1994 to select U.S. Army National Guard units and complete fielding to all M1 Abrams tank maintenance units started in 1997 and will finish by the end of 1998. The Army estimates that TED will save roughly $10 million a year through improved diagnostic accuracy and reduced waste. The development and fielding of the TED program represents the Army's first successful fielded maintenance system in the area of AI. Several reasons can be given for the success of the TED program: an appropriate domain with proper scope, a close relationship with the expert, extensive user involvement, and others that are discussed in this article.