Modern main battle tanks are powerful, versatile weapons that have more than enough firepower and impressive armor. Lately, besides the capabilities of these weapons, their turrets have also been increased in scale. Tank turrets are the moving part of the tank that accommodates the main gun. Of course, a lot of tank turrets feature other guns too. Let's see why there are so big.
The most important reason is that modern tanks, at least the most advanced of them, have a lot of different things inside them. First of all, as we already stated, the main gun is part of the turret. The power of fire and the range of the shell depends on the size of the barrel of the gun, so the bigger, the better (in most cases). But, the bigger the gun, the bigger the turret! Plus, a lot of tanks have an automatic reloading system that needs extra space.
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Let's not forget the ammunition of the gun too. The shells are usually being stored in the back of the turret, in a space called 'bustle'. These shells are not as small as they may seem. Besides that, a lot of modern tanks feature other guns like machine guns or cannons, or even grenade launchers. These guns need special ammunition and guess where these are stored…
It's obvious that most of these things were a thing in older battle tanks too, so what changed? The biggest change, or better, the biggest upgrade is the high-tech systems and gadgets (thermal and laser cameras, radio, displays, and more). All of these systems and devices need space. Let us inform you that we are still talking about the turret. All of these modern gadgets are a part of the turret now. Of course, the rest of the tank includes even more different systems and devices.
Last but not least, the most obvious thing that takes a lot of space in the turret is the crew. It's easy to notice that unmanned turrets are very smaller than manned ones. Also, the battle tanks that don't have an automatic reloading system new an extra crew member for that role. The 'reloaded' is most of the time the third crew member after the commander and the gunner.
