Special Report: Chinese study proposes future combat vehicle architecture
Chinese defence researchers have outlined a long-term development concept for electrically powered armoured combat vehicles, including a post-2045 concept featuring a modular nuclear reactor and a 50 MJ electromagnetic railgun.
The concept was detailed in a research paper published in the June 2026 supplement of the Chinese defence journal Acta Armamentarii. The authors are researchers from Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group, the State Key Laboratory of Special Vehicle Design and Manufacturing Integration Technology, and Beijing Institute of Technology. Acta Armamentarii is a Chinese defence-science journal sponsored by the China Ordnance Society and supervised by the state-backed China Association for Science and Technology.
The study assesses future requirements for power generation, energy storage, and energy management in next-generation armoured vehicles. The paper does not indicate the existence of a programme to develop a nuclear-powered tank. Instead, it presents a framework for matching the projected energy requirements of proposed weapon systems with vehicle constraints including weight, volume, protection, and mobility.
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