249: Chapter 249 Saber-toothed Tiger HX-30 Main Battle Tank

The second item: the sabertooth hx-30 main battle tank.

If the Lynx had surprised the audience, then what appeared next would leave everyone in shock.

The circular platform in the center of the stage slowly descended, and the three Lynxes were taken away. Then, a larger platform rose.

The platform was covered with a dark gray curtain, beneath which lay a massive, angular silhouette.

Gu Xinghe walked to the curtain, but instead of revealing it immediately, he first asked a question: "What is the biggest threat facing Hyundai main battle tanks?"

Someone in the audience whispered an answer: "Top-attack missiles."

"Drones."

"Heavy anti-tank missiles."

"All correct." Gu Xinghe nodded. "So our design philosophy is: attack is the best defense, but intelligent defense makes attack more effective."

He pulled back the curtain.

Under the spotlight, the sabertooth hx-30 revealed its true form.

At first glance, it didn't look boxy and heavy like traditional tanks; instead, it featured a sharp polyhedral design with extremely steep armor angles, and its surface was covered in a wave-absorbing coating similar to that of stealth fighters.

The turret was low and flat, with a main gun caliber significantly larger than the common 120mm. A complex sensor array was integrated into the top of the turret: small phased-array radars, electro-optical balls, laser warning receivers, multi-spectral detectors...

But the most eye-catching feature was the eight square launch boxes distributed around the turret—those were the interceptor launchers for the active protection system.

"The sabertooth hx-30 has a combat weight of 55 tons, 5 tons lighter than the M1A2, but with stronger protection." Gu Xinghe began the introduction, "Because our armor is 'alive'."

The large screen displayed a cross-section of the armor: the outermost layer was reactive armor, the middle was a composite layer of electrostrictive ceramics and non-Newtonian fluids, and the innermost layer was carbon nanotube-reinforced composite material. Next to the cross-section was a dynamic demonstration: when hit, the non-Newtonian fluid instantly hardened, the ceramic layer changed its crystal orientation to deflect the projectile, and the inner composite layer self-repaired via microcapsules.

"But active defense is the core." Gu Xinghe pressed the remote.

The large screen switched to a live broadcast from the Northwest Gobi Shooting Range. The time was 2:15 PM; the sun was blazing, and heat waves shimmered over the Gobi Desert.

A sabertooth hx-30 sat quietly in the center of the range, its desert camouflage making it almost blend into the background.

"First test: anti-saturation attack." Gu Xinghe's commentary was as calm as ever. "Simultaneously dealing with a drone swarm from three directions and two anti-tank missiles."

On the screen, at a launch site five kilometers away:

Left side: Three small drones took to the air, simulating attack drones carrying anti-tank munitions.

Right side: Two simulated anti-tank missiles were launched, trailing smoke as they lunged toward the Sabertooth.

Front: A medium-sized drone dived from a high altitude.

Five targets, three directions, attacking almost simultaneously.

On top of the Sabertooth's turret, the 'Iron Curtain-4' active protection system activated.

The small Gallium Nitride active phased-array radar began to rotate, scanning at an extremely high speed. The large screen showed a split-screen radar interface: five red dots were locked onto simultaneously, threat levels assessed, and interception plans calculated—all completed within 0.8 seconds.

Puff, puff, puff, puff, puff—

Five slight but clear launch sounds. From the eight launch boxes around the Sabertooth's turret, five interceptors were fired simultaneously.

The interceptors were small, each about the size of a beer bottle, but extremely fast. They didn't fly straight at the targets; instead, they first launched vertically, then turned in mid-air, each lunging toward one of the five incoming targets.

A slow-motion shot showed the interception process:

The first interceptor collided head-on with the first drone on the left 300 meters from the Sabertooth, exploding and sending drone fragments flying.

The second interceptor met the second drone at 400 meters.

The third...

The most exciting part was the interception of the anti-tank missiles: the two interceptors did not hit the missile warheads directly (which might have triggered the shaped charge), but instead precisely hit the middle and rear of the missile bodies, destroying their flight stability. The two anti-tank missiles lost control and crashed, exploding at a safe distance.

Five shots, five hits.

All intercepted.

There was a dead silence in the venue, followed by an irrepressible burst of exclamations.

Robert Chandler, a consultant for the American company Raytheon, took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes vigorously. As an anti-tank missile expert, he knew exactly what this meant—if the Sabertooth's active protection system really had such a high interception rate, then the tens of thousands of TOW and Javelin anti-tank missiles in the US stockpile, a weapons cache worth tens of billions of dollars, might become obsolete overnight.

"But this is just defense." Gu Xinghe's voice brought everyone back to reality. "Now, look at the attack."

The shooting range footage switched.

In the distance, a special target was set up: it wasn't a tank, but a reinforced concrete fortification. The thickness of the fortification was shown as 1.5 meters. Behind the fortification sat a specially reinforced M1A2 tank target vehicle—a retired chassis purchased by Xingchen Defense from Jordan through special channels and modified for testing.

"Target: 2,000 meters away, destroy the fortification and the tank behind it." Gu Xinghe said, "Ammunition used: 140mm depleted uranium armor-piercing shell."

The Sabertooth's main gun slowly rose. The barrel of that gun was significantly thicker than a conventional 120mm gun, and the muzzle brake had a multi-chamber design.

"140mm electromagnetic-chemical hybrid kinetic energy gun." Gu Xinghe explained, "Using electrothermal-chemical technology, an electric arc precisely ignites the propellant, increasing the shell's muzzle velocity to—"

He paused deliberately.

In the footage, the Sabertooth fired.

Boom—!!!

The flames spewing from the muzzle were five meters long, and the air blast kicked up dust. The muzzle velocity data was displayed in real-time on the large screen:

2,015 m/s

Six times the speed of sound.

Slow motion tracked the shell's flight: the projectile's trajectory was almost a straight line in the air; covering the 2,000-meter distance in just one second.

The first hit: the shell pierced through the 1.5-meter-thick reinforced concrete fortification. Slow motion showed the concrete being torn apart like tofu, the rebar twisting and snapping, and a one-meter-diameter hole exploding out of the back of the fortification.

The shell's velocity only decreased slightly as it continued forward.

The second hit: it struck the front of the turret of the M1A2 target vehicle behind.

American depleted uranium armor performed no better than concrete in the face of a 2,015 m/s projectile. The projectile pierced through the armor like a hot knife through butter, went through the entire turret, and exited through the rear of the hull.

High-speed cameras installed inside the target vehicle showed the metal jet generated by the penetration rampaging wildly inside the tank, detonating the simulated fuel tanks and ammunition racks.

Boom—

A secondary explosion occurred; the M1A2 target vehicle's turret was blown off, and the hull burst into flames.

The entire venue was silent.

Only the crackling of the burning flames could be heard from the live broadcast.

Gu Xinghe let the image linger for ten seconds, allowing everyone to fully digest it.

Then he said calmly: "Test data: 140mm depleted uranium armor-piercing shell, at a distance of 2,000 meters, vertical penetration is approximately 1,100mm of RHA. For reference, the front turret protection of the M1A2 SEPv3 is equivalent to about 800mm."

He paused and delivered the final blow:

"The sabertooth hx-30 is priced at 10 million USD. The delivery period for the first batch of orders: 6 months."

This price caused the representatives of at least five countries in the audience to gasp simultaneously.

It wasn't that it was expensive; it was ridiculously cheap.

Germany's Leopard 2A7 is priced at about 18 million USD, and the American M1A2 SEPv3 is about 20 million USD, while the Sabertooth's performance data surpasses them across the board, yet its price is only a little over half.

Prince Fahd said directly to his assistant, "Take this down, at least 200 units."

Russia's Igor Petrov was calculating: if they purchased 200 Sabertooths, it would only cost 2 billion USD to upgrade the combat capability of the Russian tank forces by a generation. But the problem was... could Russia come up with 2 billion USD in cash right now?

He looked at the stage with a complex expression.