MBX-T future main battle tank

On December 15 the japenese goverment approved a new mid-term procurement plan for its self defense forces totaling 25.160 billion yen over the next few years. Research projects planned for the next five years include development of a new MBT with advanced command and control capabilities.

I searched for more info on google but didn;'t find anything does anybody have any more info?

globalsecurity.org

[edit on 8-11-2004 by blue cell]

[edit on 8-11-2004 by blue cell]

[edit on 16-11-2004 by blue cell]

Where did that quote come from? Because 25,160 x 1 billion is 25 quadrillion, 160 trillion yen.

Typo, maybe?

[edit]No, sorry. 25 trillion, 160 billion yen. Maybe this is more realistic. Is the Yen still that weak?

[edit on 8-11-2004 by DeltaChaos]

Japan already has one of the most advanced MBTs in the world, the Type 90. It was one of the very first MBTs to have an advanced "on the move" targeting system (the other one was the Israeli Merkava 3). The tank has been kept "up to date" but has never been deployed abroad during peacekeeping missions, probably because it's a very expensive and sophisticated piece of weaponry, requiring lots of maintenance. With Japanese troops becoming more involved in missions all over the world, the requirement for a new tank has probably been felt by the military. I expect to see a "ground-breaking" MBT, using completely new technologies ensuring an high protection and superior firepower, with a main gun designed from scratch to fire either KE or HE rounds (the M256 used on most Western MBTs has been designed to fire KE rounds and then adapted to fire HE shells also), with a secondary gun using 25 or 30mm rounds (a little like the old French AMX-30 Napoleon), with the usual complete set of sensors.

Originally posted by DeltaChaos
Where did that quote come from? Because 25,160 x 1 billion is 25 quadrillion, 160 trillion yen.

Typo, maybe?

[edit]No, sorry. 25 trillion, 160 billion yen. Maybe this is more realistic. Is the Yen still that weak?

[edit on 8-11-2004 by DeltaChaos]

It would be 23,832,528,180 USD or 18,431,958,132 EUR so 24 billion USD or 18,5 billion EUROS still lot of money. Big money really bring Euros power vs USD out this days.