The example showcased in October of 2018 was of conventional design arrangement with basic hull shape and turret set over the middle of the hull roof. The driver has a position at front-left with the powerpack to his right. The turret fields its 50mm XM913 autocannon from the center of its frontal face, straddled by various protected sensors and systems. Smoke grenade dischargers are visible for an inherent self-screening capability. The drive gear includes six double-tired roadwheels to a hull side with the drive sprocket at front and the track idler at rear. No skirt side armor was present on this showcase vehicle (described as a technology demonstrator). The track-link sections are wide for good ground pressure.
Externally, the vehicle is coated in a special "skin" to further reduce its radar signature to prying ATGM weaponry. Day/night vision capability will be standard for operating in all types of light level environments. Due to its compact form and lightweight status, the Griffin III would be capable of air-transportation. With its 40-ton listed weight, there would be 10-tons of payload play centered on the modularity aspects of the tank.
Like the German Lynx KF, the Griffin III will have full support of UAV launching to accomplish various battlefield tasks including communications jamming, reconnaissance, and suicidal attacks of hidden enemy elements.
The basic hull design of the Griffin III is based in the British Army's "AJAX" (fmr. "Scout SV") system detailed elsewhere on this site. The Griffin III faces stiff competition from the CV90 and the Lynx KF but has the advantage of being based on a relatively newer and proven framework in the Ajax product. The Griffin III is also the only offering of the lot being developed with a 50mm main armament as standard - a weapon the U.S. Army is focusing on for its next ICV/IFV - this will give it greater effectiveness over the new generation of Russian IFVs and heavy APCs being brought online. Heavy IFVs are becoming the way of the future, further blurring the line between Main Battle Tank (MBT) and IFV.
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