Recently, influenced by multiple factors, the development of European armored forces has ushered in a rare opportunity period, while also facing many new challenges. Whether armored forces such as tanks and infantry fighting vehicles can maintain their core position in ground mobile operations has sparked discussions, and their future construction trends have also received attention. The development presents a new trend. Europe, as the birthplace and early practical application area of armored technology, has long regarded armored vehicles as the core equipment for ground combat. After the end of the Cold War, due to adjustments in strategic threat assessments, Europe gradually reduced its investment in armored forces. In recent years, due to the continuous impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, many countries have repositioned the role of armored vehicles and promoted their development to take on a new trend. The traditional military powers in Europe have steadily expanded their scale based on their existing military industrial system. Based on the Scorpion Plan, France is advancing the modernization of its armored forces. The plan is to purchase 300 Panthers, 1872 Griffons, and 2038 Serval armored vehicles by 2032, and the delivery progress is now almost half. Germany has strengthened its ground armor system by continuously increasing its procurement efforts. It has not only proposed to purchase 1000 Finnish "Patria" armored vehicles, but also announced an investment of 25 billion euros (approximately 29.1 billion US dollars) to purchase 2500 "Boxer" armored vehicles and 1000 "Leopard 2" main battle tanks, comprehensively improving the quantity and quality of armored equipment. Eastern European countries have rapidly expanded their armored forces through intensive procurement. Previously, many Eastern European countries had weak armored forces, but in recent years, they have expanded their scale through multiple cross-border procurement contracts. Poland is accelerating the expansion of its armored forces, not only purchasing hundreds of main battle tanks from the United States and South Korea, but also planning to purchase 1400 new infantry fighting vehicles and supporting vehicles from local enterprises. Romania has prioritized the procurement of armored vehicles. It has successively purchased M1A2 main battle tanks from the United States, reached a purchase agreement with Türkiye on 1059 "Cobra" light armored vehicles, and plans to further purchase 246 infantry combat vehicles this year. Some European countries are promoting structural adjustment and reconstruction of armored forces based on their own needs. Luxembourg launches its largest defense project in history, investing 2.6 billion euros to purchase armored vehicles such as the Griffon and Panther. The Netherlands has reversed the previous trend of "de armor" and announced the reconstruction of its tank battalion. It plans to invest over 1 billion euros to purchase 46 Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks and an additional 100 to 150 combat general-purpose armored vehicles. These measures mark the return of armored forces to the core equipment sequence of the Netherlands. Multidimensional exploration focuses on the development of armored vehicles in Europe, emphasizing traditional performance improvements such as mobility, firepower, and protection. For example, hybrid power systems can be used to extend range, turrets and aiming systems can be updated to improve strike accuracy, and jamming equipment can be installed to respond to drone attacks. However, there have been no disruptive technological breakthroughs in these fields, and the extent of performance improvement is limited. Many countries have turned to exploring different development methods in research and development, production, use, and maintenance. One is to form a trend of collaborative research. Multiple countries jointly develop and manufacture new armored vehicles around security needs. Taking the "General Armored Vehicle System" as an example, the project is led by Finland, with Estonia and Latvia participating first, and Sweden, Germany, and Denmark gradually joining in, aiming to create a new type of amphibious armored transport vehicle that meets the common needs of multiple European countries. At present, the orders for armored vehicles related to this project have exceeded 850 units. The second is to highlight the universal multi energy attributes. In response to the differences in equipment demand among countries and the demand for cost control in military industry, Europe has identified universal multi energy as an important direction for the development of armored vehicles. The French "Griffon" armored vehicle adopts a modular design, which can derive 11 mission platforms including command vehicles, armored personnel carriers, mortar vehicles, medical transport vehicles, etc. In April of this year, Europe launched the "Existing and Future Main Battle Tank Technology" project, gathering 26 European military enterprises and research institutions to develop modular kits adapted to main battle tanks such as the Leopard 2 and Leclerc, while providing technical support for the joint development of the fourth generation main battle tank by France and Germany. The third is to emphasize the ability of collaborative combat. This capability building is reflected in two aspects. On the one hand, it is the integration within a single country. The French Army will integrate multiple types of armored vehicles and main battle tanks into a unified command and control system, relying on tactical radio systems to achieve real-time information sharing among combat units. It also plans to further expand the scope of collaboration and strengthen the joint combat effectiveness of armored platforms with artillery, armed helicopters and other land warfare equipment; On the other hand, there is cross-border docking. Belgium and Luxembourg purchase legal armored vehicles with the core consideration of achieving tactical data exchange with the French military system to enhance synergy. Previously, the Franco German joint infantry battalion achieved a battlefield information sharing rate of 88% for armored vehicles in the Baltic Sea exercise by docking with digital communication standards, verifying the feasibility of cross-border collaboration. The fourth is to pursue the maintenance of supply efficiency. In view of the frequent drone attacks on support vehicles in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Europe optimized the maintenance and supply of armored vehicles from two aspects. On the one hand, promoting the universalization of components, such as some car models sharing 70% of core components, to reduce the pressure of spare parts reserves for different car models; On the other hand, to enhance self-healing capabilities, the French Army has equipped its experimental units with armored maintenance vehicles with 3D printing capabilities, which can quickly replicate most commonly used components and effectively shorten the field repair cycle. Opportunities and risks need to be considered. Multiple market research analysis reports indicate that in the next five years, the average annual compound growth rate of the European tank and armored vehicle market will exceed 5.5%, and the market size will exceed 12.5 billion US dollars by 2030. Some analysts believe that the European tank and other armored vehicle market has a special development foundation, mainly reflected in the following three aspects. In terms of investment, multiple countries have independently invested and supported the European Union to jointly promote development. According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, except for Malta, military spending in all European countries will increase in 2024; At the NATO summit in June this year, most European countries agreed to increase defense spending to 5% of their gross domestic product by 2035, indicating that European defense investment will continue to grow. In addition, in recent years, Europe has introduced multiple laws and strategies to promote defense autonomy. These financial guarantees and policy support have laid the foundation for the development of armored vehicles. In terms of demand, traditional countries are driving in both directions with emerging demands. European countries such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom continue to promote the construction of armored forces in order to maintain their influence. At the same time, driven by the influence of NATO's eastward expansion, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the demand for upgrading weapons and equipment, some European countries gradually replaced the original Soviet made equipment and purchased equipment that met NATO standards. Under this influence, the demand for armored vehicles in the European market will maintain a certain scale. In terms of manufacturing, industrial infrastructure support and cross-border collaborative optimization of resources. Some European countries have strong industrial manufacturing foundations, which can not only ensure the operation of local military systems, but also optimize resource allocation and reduce production costs through cross-border collaboration. Taking the "European Future High Mobility Enhanced Armor System 2" project as an example, the project has attracted 35 defense companies from 9 EU member states to participate, integrating their technological advantages in power systems, communication systems, weapon platforms, and other fields. It adopts a "centralized research and development+national assembly" model to promote equipment performance while balancing the interests of all countries. However, there are also different opinions among defense professionals regarding the rapid development of European armored forces. Some people question that the full lifecycle cost of armored vehicles is relatively high. In addition to investing high procurement funds in the early stage, they also need to bear the continuous expenses of long-term maintenance and upgrading in the later stage. If only targeting domestic defense needs, most European countries with smaller land areas have higher cost-effectiveness in purchasing individual anti tank missiles and attack drones. There are also opinions that when European countries jointly carry out weapon and equipment project research and development, differences often arise due to differences in construction standards and future needs among countries, leading to project termination or participants splitting up and advancing separately. The controversy surrounding the core performance indicators of the "Future Ground Combat System" project jointly promoted by France and Germany has persisted since its launch in 2013. Although there have been new developments in recent times, there is still uncertainty about its future development. Especially in key technological indicators such as autonomous driving of armored vehicles and anti drone capabilities, differences in demands among countries may lead to significant differences in research and development directions. Whether European armored vehicles can maintain their current development trend in the long term still needs further observation. (New Society)