How long will we wait?....

[kruser79]

Okay, here's one that will rely almost entirely on speculation.

How long do you think it will be before we see vehicles fielded with the things we know to be "in the works?"

Composite armor? (not just little patches glued on, but the majority of the vehicle made of composites)

Rail guns? (or other alternative projectile propulsion)

Some other armament? (Lasers, focused electrons, know of any others?)

Hybrid drives?

(Gasp) Unmanned armor?

[Ascout]

Originally Posted by kruser79

Okay, here's one that will rely almost entirely on speculation.

How long do you think it will be before we see vehicles fielded with the things we know to be "in the works?"

Composite armor? (not just little patches glued on, but the majority of the vehicle made of composites)

Rail guns? (or other alternative projectile propulsion)

Some other armament? (Lasers, focused electrons, know of any others?)

Hybrid drives?

(Gasp) Unmanned armor?

My guess would be QUITE a while. Mainly for lack of immediate need or threat. The one possible exception on your list might be the composite armor aspect, but for a "majority of the vehicle", you are talking about a virtually all new design, which you won't see anytime soon in an MBT, anyway. We have a wonderful multi-million dollar tank now with no real challenger (no pun intended) on the horizon. Look for incremental improvements to the existing design.
My $.02...and just an educated guess.

[kruser79]

Ahaaa, but did you realize that United Defense has already built a testbed for a complete composite vehicle? It was a forerunner to the FCS-Tracked that they have right now. Seeing the similarities, I'm guessing that they used the basic design of the composite vehicle for FCS-T. Maybe composites aren't on the immediate horizon, but I don't really think they (or a combination with other materials) are all that far off.
Rail guns have also made huge advancements in ohhhhh, I'd say the past ten years. The problems I see right now are the difficulties in downsizing the equipment needed to store and control the electrical energy needed. But the ones they tested? Good lord, I'd never want to be on the receiving end. A three-inch square cube propelled through a couple feet of RHS and buried five feet in a mountain of phone books, scary...

[The_Federalist]

The FCS is intended to have unmanned vehicles as part of the family.