Type 214 “Athena” Infantry Fighting Tank {IFT}
Upon first appearance, the Athena would seem to be just another tank, with its size, long barreled, high velocity cannon and heavy armor, but is in fact upon closer inspection an infantry fighting vehicle or what other foreign nations have hereto referred to as HIFVs or Heavy Infantry Fighting Vehicles. While the Athena does indeed meet all of the qualifications of an HIFV, within the defense community of the Commonwealth it acquired the preferred acronym of IFT or Infantry Fighting Tank.
DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY
Given the state of the modern battlefield and of any large armored vehicle to attraction an inordinate amount of fire on said battlefield, as more time passed the more apparent it become to those within the Commonwealth defense establishment that for any armored vehicle to survive on the modern battlefield would require one with protection systems once thought impossible or unpractical. This applied even more so to the infantry fighting vehicles if it was to function in its primary purpose of not just delivering soldiers into battle, but supporting them and given the Commonwealth’s military ethos of stressing protection and survivability ahead of all other considerations, the time seem at hand to combined the advantages of the modern tank with that of an infantry fighting vehicle.
As such, in 2008 the Royal Commonwealth Army issued a request for proposals for a design that could replace the Eclipse infantry fighting vehicle with levels of armor protection similar to main battle tanks, the ability to transport an entire Commonwealth infantry squad of 12 soldiers and destroy/disable any enemy counterpart infantry carrier the vehicle was likely to encounter up to and including main battle tanks from the sides. Whereas other nations had designed their heavy infantry fighting vehicles based around current tank platforms, the Commonwealth came at it from a fresh perspective with a new design started from the ground up tailed to meet the unique requirements set forth within the proposed guide lines. By late 2009, having reviewed around half a dozen different submitted designs from various defense companies the contract was awarded to Lancaster Defence. It was during initial testing while in the midst of the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase of the program that a debate erupted on whether the secondary primary armament should be a 27mm cannon or the tried and true tested 30-mm cannon found on the previous Eclipse infantry fighting vehicle. Ultimately, a compromised was reached wherein some production units would be equipped with the 27mm cannon while the majority would be fitted with the 30-mm cannon. Also, reexamed were the hull protection levels with initial versions of the Athena only stated to provide protection against 30-mm rounds, but after intelligence revealed that many countries had adapted 40 and even 45-mm cannons as the primary armament of their infantry fighting vehicles, the Commonwealth adjusted the project requirements that the Athena now be fully protected at least against 45-mm projectiles.
Further additional changes made during the EMD phase was the lengthening of the prototype vehicles from 7.7 meters to 8 meters, the increase of overall height of the vehicle from 2.68224 meters to 2.76 meters. As well as the addition of an ATGM launcher and the fitting of storage containers for spare weapons and ammo for the infantry squad.
Following the completion of the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase and various testing phases running the gambit from Operational and Tactical (O&T) mobility trials to life cycle trials in extreme hot/cold climates the vehicle was approved for Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) in late 2013 while during the same time it was officially given the designation of Type 214 or simply the Athena, named after the ancient Britstralian mythological deity of war and wisdom, with operational service of the Type 214 “Athena” starting in early 2014.
TECHINCAL SPECIFICATIONS
The role of the Type 214 “Athena” infantry fighting tank is to transport infantry on the battlefield, to provide fire cover to dismounted troops and to suppress enemy tanks and other fighting vehicles. The Athena carries three crew; a commander, gunner and driver, plus a passenger compartment in the rear which can seat up to fourteen fully equipped infantrymen in mine blast resistant seats, with access provided by a large rear door and two roof hatches. While the design of the Athena has a maximum occupant capacity of fourteen infantrymen, Athena vehicles within the service of the Royal Commonwealth Army have their passenger compartment limited to twelve seats, the size of a Royal Commonwealth Army squad, with five seats on each side of the compartment and two located in the center-front part of the compartment. In contrast to other foreign IFVs, the Athena is not equipped with firing ports in the passenger compartment; this reflects both the Royal Commonwealth Army’s insistence that infantry fight dismounted with the Athena used mostly for fire support from covered positions, rather than for mounted combat and from a design perspective that the side hull armor of the Athena not be unduly compromised by potential weak points that would offer little to no tactical advantage. However, should future customers request crew firing ports, a modified export design featuring them is not beyond implementation.
Armament
The Athena’s main primary armament is an Imperial Ordnance 90mm high velocity gun capable of firing APFSDS-DU (armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot–depleted uranium penetrator), fin-stabilised HE (High Explosive) & fin-stabilised HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) projectiles with a secondary armament in the form of a coaxial 30-mm dual feed, gas-operated Avalon Techsystems MK30-2 automatic cannon and a coaxial 8.6-mm machine gun. The 30mm gun has a rate of fire of 800 rounds a minute with an effective engagement range of 3 kilometers and can fire a range of ammunition including APFSDS-DU|T (armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot–depleted uranium penetrator| or tracer) rounds with a muzzle velocity of 1,385m/sec, FAPIDS-T (frangible armour-piercing incendiary discarding sabot–tracer) round that is effective against hard and soft targets & a air burst munition (ABM). The ABM round which is (173mm long, 30mm in diameter) contains an electronic timer, an ejection charge and 135 cylinder-shaped tungsten alloy bars or projectiles. The electronic timer is programmed by inductive coupling through a device installed in the muzzle of the cannon. The timer initiates the ejection charge which releases and disperses the tungsten projectiles before impact with the target. On the turret roof is fitted a CROWS 2 12.7mm machine gun RWS with the right side turret fitted with a ATGM launcher for two Spiral ATGMs. The vehicle carries 40 rounds of 90-mm, 250 rounds of 30-mm and 900 rounds of 8.6-mm ammunition ready to fire, and a store of up to 220 rounds of 30-mm, up to 2,500 rounds of 8.6-mm ammunition and two spare Spiral ATGMs.
Turret control is electro-mechanical and the turret is fitted with a turret drive stabilization system. The weapon system is stabilized in two axes, which allows the vehicle to engage targets stationary or on the move with elevation being capable of operating anywhere from -10° to +50° with a 360° traverse rate of eight seconds.
Protection
To balance protection against a myriad of threats the Athena was envisioned to encounter and engage such as anti-tank guided missiles, rocket propelled grenades and kinetic energy penetrators the all welded steel and titanium alloy hull of the Athena is protected by advanced modular Nano-Ceramic composite sloped armor backed up with a double to triple layer of NERA modules with a special emphasis placed on the turret and hull roof to withstand top-attack munitions. The protection level of the Athena is rated against 90-mm rounds on the turret and front upper hull with the lower and side hull immune against 45-mm projectiles. Like main battle tanks to further enhance protection the Athena is fitted with a spall liner which reduces the number of fragments and narrows the fragment cone. The spall liner also provides noise and thermal insulation to increase the vehicles stealth profile. In addition the Athena is fitted with armored side skirts and hubs as well as a double V-shaped hull floor protected by a layer of composite armor to withstand blasts from landmines and improvised explosive devices anywhere under the hull or under the tracks. Crew and passengers are seated on mine blast resistant seats.
For emergency concealment two sets of three smoke grenade launchers are installed on each side of the turret. The Athena is also fitted with a laser warning system and NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) detection system. Lastly, the Athena is fitted with the “Vanguard” Active Protection System which includes a millimeter-wave fire-control radar (FCR) with four flat-panel antennas mounted on the vehicle giving a 360 degree protection in azimuth, as well as extensive elevation coverage, while maintaining a pre-defined safety zone for friendly troops on the ground. The neutralization process is initiated only if the threat is about to hit the vehicle.
When an imminent threat is detected, the internal computer calculates an approach vector almost instantly before its arrival. Once the incoming threat is determined, the computer calculates the optimal time and angle to fire the interceptor towards the incoming threat. Once the explosive projectile interceptor or EPI is launched, the interceptor explodes very near the threat, destroying-deflecting-destabilizing the incoming threat without detonating its warhead. For this, only the blast effect of the explosive is used. The interceptor casing is made of combustible materials so no fragmentation is formed in the explosion, helping minimize collateral damage to nearby friendly personnel. The “Vanguard” has been successfully tested against a wide variety of threats including rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank guided missiles, platform-fired High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) rounds and kinetic energy penetrators.
To further enhance protection levels the Athena is fitted with a survivability package through the use of a stealthy turret design, radar absorbing skins and track skirts in addition to the turret and chassis being fitted with a cooling system to reduced the vehicles IR signature.
Fire Control and Observation
Athena vehicles are fitted with a CETS {C-tronics Technologies and Systems} fire control system, which provides shoot-on-the-move capability and 0.1 mil gun aiming. The Athena FCS has a full solution digital ballistic computer, day channel, thermal channel and laser rangefinder. The third generation thermal imager is based on a 240×4 detector array and operates in the 7.5 to 14 micron spectral band. It has dual wide field of view of 12.3°×7.7° and narrow FOV of 4.1°×2.6° (azimuth × elevation). An automatic target tracker inputs targeting data to the line-of-sight servo system and into the turret drive. The commander has a periscope day sight, a television monitor displaying the image from the gunner’s thermal sight and six unity vision periscopes.
Other features include a digital battlefield management system which includes a navigation system for rapid coordination and increased situational awareness by compromising color map displays for the three crew members which shows the positions of the host tank, allied and hostile forces and designated targets and can be used for route and mission planning. The system also permits the exchange of data including the tactical situation and the graphic orders displayed on a background map, between the vehicle and higher level commands.
The digitized fire control computer automatically calculates the fire control solution based on lead angle measurement, bend of the gun measured by the muzzle reference system, velocity measurement from a wind sensor on the roof of the turret and data from a pendulum static cant sensor located at the centre of the turret roof. The driver’s compartment is equipped with two periscopes on either side of them with a central image intensifying periscope for night vision. The periscopes provide 120° field of view. The driver’s vision enhancer is based on a 328×245 element uncooled infra-red detector array, operating in the 7.5 to 14 micron waveband. In addition a camera with a 65 degree horizontal and vertical field of view positioned at the rear of the vehicle and a television monitor provide a reversing aid for the driver. Finally, like other members of the modern Commonwealth armoured family the Athena incorporates an exterior telephone that allows supporting infantry to communicate with the commander directly.
Propulsion
The Athena is fitted with a front-mounted Turmeca D1500 diesel engine rated at [1,100 kW {1,500 hp} at 2700rpm], a new lighter engine developed from the proven technology of the Turmeca D1800 diesel engine. With a dry weight of only 1650 kilograms, the Turmeca D1500 combines a powerful output with low weight and compactness. Coupled to the engine is a Continuously Variable hydro-mechanical transmission combined with a hydropneumatic suspension system gives suburb performance over any and all terrain. The Athena carries 1,000 liters of fuel in the main internal fuel tanks and like its cousin, the Turmeca D1500 is a multi-fuel flex engine that usually runs on a Biodiesel of B40 [Blends of 40 percent biodiesel with 60 percent petroleum diesel]. To permit operations during defensive missions to reduce fuel consumption and the Athena’s emission signatures, the Athena is fitted with a rechargeable Auxiliary Power Unit {APU}, which powers all systems, when the main engine is turned off.