New Ukrainian tank. "New" Ukrainian tank

The Chinese tank is so secret that the official designation of this vehicle is still not known. The world only knows that this tank was nicknamed "mountain". Experts believe he will fight in the “mountainous” parts of the People's Republic of China.

Source: Janes

Judging by the photo, the combat vehicle will have 6 rollers on each side. According to experts, the mass of the beast will fluctuate around 35 tons. Gun - caliber 105 mm. Crew - 4 people. They say that the novelty is built on the basis of the Chinese T-99A2. True, the miner inherited optics and dynamic protection systems from the latter.

Source: wikimedia.org

The main goal of the development and appearance of a new secret tank in China: to replace the Type 62 - a light version of the old Soviet medium tank T-54.

Source: wikimedia.org

We decided to recall the firepower, weight and other parameters of combat vehicles that are assembled in our country. Read, compare with the Chinese novelty, and be proud of our tanks.

T-64BM Bulat

This Ukrainian main battle tank is a deep modernization of the Soviet T-64A/B/BV. Developed by the Kharkov Design Bureau for Mechanical Engineering named after A. A. Morozov. Produced from 2005 to the present day. Weight - 45 tons, firepower - 125-mm KBA-3 smoothbore gun. According to experts, the modernization of one T-64B to the level of "Bulat" costs the state no less than 14 million hryvnia. Today there are already 85 such pumped animals.

T-72AG

Another deep 46-ton upgrade from Ukrainian engineers. This time they pumped the Soviet T-72:

• the 1000-horsepower 6TD-1 engine was replaced with a 1200-horsepower 6TD-2;
• reinforced armor and protection systems;
• updated observation and aiming devices;
• a remote-controlled 12.7-mm anti-aircraft machine gun of a closed type was installed on the commander's hatch;
• it is possible to attach to the tank satellite system navigation.

The gun remained the same - 125-mm Soviet smoothbore 2A46 (aka D-81TM).

Since Soviet times, Ukraine has had a powerful production and design base in the field of tank building. In this area, since the early 1930s, a significant center for everything Soviet Union became the Kharkov Locomotive Plant, where both production and independent development of the most modern armored vehicles for those years unfolded. Suffice it to recall that it was at KhPZ that the V-2 diesel engine was developed, on the basis of which its designers Mikhail Koshkin and Alexander Morozov created the legendary T-34 tank at the same enterprise.

Subsequently, this enterprise, which became the parent company in a large production association"Plant named after Malyshev", was inherited by newly independent Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR. Together with the plant, the Kharkov Design Bureau for Mechanical Engineering named after Morozov continued its activities. Both of these structures have retained the status of state property up to the present day. Since 2011, they have been part of the Ukroboronprom state concern, which has a special focus on the “armored cluster”, which unites about 20 industry enterprises, including large tank repair plants in Kharkov and Lvov, developers and manufacturers of individual systems for equipping armored vehicles.

In an extremely weak state support Kharkov tank builders were able to develop and produce the Bulat and Oplot combat vehicles as prototypes. According to their performance characteristics, these tanks proved to be worthy of the highest world level, deserving high praise from specialists. Another question is that the current political and economic situation has long prevented Ukraine from producing this modern equipment in any mass quantities, despite the widely promoted “Ukrainian military capability”. AND new president country Vladimir Zelensky, publicly outraged by 1 (one!) new tank produced for the Armed Forces of Ukraine over the past decade, is unlikely to be able to change this situation in the near future.

What tanks are in service with Ukraine

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) inherited from the USSR a colossal amount of armored vehicles that were in service with the Kyiv, Carpathian and Odessa military districts. In terms of the size of the tank fleet in 1992 (about 7 thousand units), Ukraine in Europe was second only to Russia and quite a bit to Germany. The basis of the Ukrainian tank forces was made up of very modern T-64, T-72 and T-80 tanks in fairly modern modifications at that time.

The surplus of the tank fleet was widely sold by Ukraine around the world, and the burden of maintaining its own tank units was steadily decreasing due to their periodic reductions. By 2014, the country had about 700 tanks in the armed forces(moreover, many of them were incapacitated) and approximately 1450 vehicles at storage bases.

For the purpose of unification, the T-64 was recognized as the main tank of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and not only because of its quantitative predominance. "Sixty-fours" in various modifications and their "direct heirs" T-80, as well as engines for them, were produced in Kharkov, tank guns - in Sumy. Tanks of the T-72 family were not assembled at the Kharkov plant, there were initially a relatively small number of them.

After the events of 2014 and active hostilities in the Donbas region, the Ukrainian side irretrievably lost at least 230 tanks. Many of the other cars were heavily damaged or were badly worn out. To compensate for the losses, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine had to carry out large-scale seizures from the storage bases of armored vehicles, a significant part of which was actually scrap metal.

As a result, to date, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have 680 tanks, according to the standard equipment of their units, although a significant part of them are still in a non-operational state. The breakdown by machine type is as follows:

• 475 tanks T-64B, T-64BV, T-64BM;
• 143 tanks T-72AV, T-72B1;
• 62 tanks T-80BV, T-80UD.

The combat capabilities of all Ukrainian tanks are considered quite high. Restoration, repair and replenishment of the existing tank fleet of Ukraine in relation to the T-64 is carried out according to the standards of the so-called "modernization of the 2017 model", within which the tanks in their parameters are a version of the T-64BV with newer thermal imagers, digital radio stations, satellite navigation and dynamic protection modules. According to Ukroboronprom, such modernization of equipment has been carried out for more than 150 tanks to date, and since the beginning of 2019, similar systems have been installed on T-80 tanks.

The history of the development of Ukrainian tanks

Kharkov Design Bureau for Mechanical Engineering (KMDB) after 1992, in parallel with the work to improve Soviet-made equipment, directed significant efforts to create their own designs of new tanks. Such developments were the Bulat and Oplot combat vehicles.

"Bulat"

By 1999, the first prototypes of deeply modernized Soviet main tanks T-64 developed by KMDB were produced in Kharkov. The "Object 447AM-1" was a deeper version of the upgrade, in which the tank based on it was supposed to be assigned the T-64U index, although a simplified version of the "Object 447AM-2", originally called the T-64BM-2 version, was also being worked out at the same time. At the same time, information appeared on the KMDB website that the updated tank would be called Bulat.

This development was finally completed in 2003, and the official adoption of the new tank with the T-64BM index for service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine took place in July 2005. In the future, broad plans for the modernization of several hundred T-64 tanks to the level of Bulat were significantly curtailed, limited to a state order for 85 vehicles. Most of them were transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2008, and the final production of the remaining due to economic problems dragged on until 2014.

"Stronghold"

The first noticeable result of the work of the KMDB under the conditions of the state independence of Ukraine was the renaming of the T-80UD to T-84, made in 1994. The tanks were structurally almost unchanged, but they were equipped with an engine with increased power, from 1000 to 1200 hp. Tank T-84 mass production did not go, but its further modernization continued.

The prototype "Object 478DU9" was equipped with a new turret design with increased strength characteristics, improved aiming and observation devices, and an optical-electronic suppression system for anti-tank missiles of the enemy "Warta" (an analogue of the Soviet "Shtora"). The T-84U "Oplot" tank was put into service, but in the end only a few vehicles were manufactured for state tests, as a result of which, in particular, in 2003, a new dynamic protection "Knife" was tested and installed.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine directed Kharkov tank builders to further improve the T-84 tank, which resulted in the creation of a single prototype based on the Object 478DU9, called Oplot-M. The tank that received new system fire control and dynamic protection "Doublet", was put into service in May 2009 under the symbol T-84BM "Oplot".

The state order for its production was made in the amount of only 10 units, but in the end it was never financed. Only one tank turned out to be produced for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the serial production declared since 2008 could not be organized in reality. In 2011, a batch of BM "Oplot" with a total of 49 vehicles was ordered by Thailand. This contract was completed with great difficulty only in 2018.

Design

In the design of the new Ukrainian tanks, their rather low profile should be noted. Manufacturers especially note the high ergonomics of tanks and enough high level comfort for their crews. Among the special properties of the Oplot, it should be noted the ability of its tower to turn 180 degrees in less than 5 seconds.

Layout

Both Ukrainian tanks have a classic layout: with the control compartment in the front, the fighting compartment in the middle, the engine compartment in the rear of the hull.

Crew

The tanks used an automatic loader, which made it possible to form a crew of three people: a driver, a gunner and a commander.

Temperature mode of operation

The range of ambient temperatures in which the use of combat vehicles is allowed extends from minus 40 to plus 55 degrees Celsius. At the same time, the tank engine is able to operate in such extreme climatic conditions with almost no power reduction, which is inaccessible to most modern tanks.

Armor

The BM "Bulat" is equipped with a complex of built-in dynamic protection (VDZ) "Knife", which several times reduces the vulnerability of the tank from the action of cumulative weapons. In particular, the "Knife" reliably protects the tank from hand grenade launchers, modern anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) of the "Tou", "Shturm", "Fagot" type and other anti-tank cumulative and armor-piercing projectiles. The protection system can be mounted by the crew in the field within 5-6 hours and seriously increases the survivability of the tank.

The Oplot tank has a combined protection system that includes multi-layer armor and a new-generation Duplet VDZ, the elements of which do not detonate when hit by 12.7 mm caliber bullets, armor-piercing shells up to 30 mm caliber and shell fragments. Protection is installed by the crew in 2.5-3 hours. Mine protection ensures the survival of the crew when mines with a TNT equivalent of 10 kg are blown up under the caterpillar, and up to 4 kg under the bottom (in the front compartment).

Combat weapons

The main armament of the Bulat and Oplot tanks is the 125 mm KBA3 smoothbore gun. It can serve as a launcher for the Ukrainian ATGM "Kombat", capable of hitting highly protected ground, surface or low-flying targets (tanks, helicopters, pillboxes, etc.) at distances up to 5 kilometers.

More than modern system fire control, it consists of a 1G46M gunner's sight, a TO1-KO1ER night gunner's complex, which can be replaced with a thermal imager, a 1V528-1 tank ballistic computer, a 2E42M gun stabilizer and a sighting and observation complex PNK-4CR.

A gun

The 125-mm KBAZ smoothbore gun with a barrel length of 48 calibers is stabilized in two planes, it has the ability to fire directly up to 2.6-2.8 km. The tank's rate of fire is up to 8 rounds per minute. The gun barrel is made quick-detachable and can be replaced in the field without dismantling the turret from the tank.

The ammunition load of the gun is 46 shots of separate-sleeve loading, of which 28 are placed in the automatic loader. BM "Oplot" is capable of firing armor-piercing sub-caliber, cumulative, high-explosive fragmentation shells and ATGM "Combat" with a semi-active laser beam control system.

Coaxial and anti-aircraft machine guns

The machine gun paired with a cannon in the Ukrainian name has the designation KT-7.62 and is a PKT. Its ammunition load is 1250 rounds.

The KT-12.7 anti-aircraft machine gun (aka NSVT) has a remote control system and has an ammunition load of 450 rounds.

Specifications

The new tanks of Ukraine, in comparison with similar models of Russian armored vehicles, look quite worthy. But if the statements of the Ukrainian side about the approximate correspondence of "Bulat" in terms of combat capabilities to the T-90A tanks cause reasonable doubts of experts, then the "Oplot" tank is assessed as a very serious vehicle, inferior only to the latest versions of the T-90SM in terms of total characteristics. For Bulat, a comparison with the T-72B-3 looks more objective.

Engine and transmission

The Bulat tank is equipped with a multi-fuel, five-cylinder diesel engine 5TDFM with a volume of 13.6 liters and a power of 850 hp. This engine has one of the "coldest" exhausts in the world, which makes this combat vehicle less vulnerable to weapons that follow the heat trail.

The Oplot tank was equipped with a six-cylinder multi-fuel diesel engine 6TD-2E with a volume of 16.3 liters and a power of 1200 hp, supercharged, direct-flow scavenging and direct fuel injection. Due to the compactness of the power unit and the features of its design, it is placed coaxially with the onboard gearboxes. Due to this, engine alignment is not required when replacing it, the transmission of the tank is greatly simplified and ensures the small size of the MTO.

Transmission

Both new tanks are equipped with a planetary gearbox with 7 forward gears. At the same time, Oplot, in addition to automatic gear shifting, has the ability to 4-speed reverse gear control, which is rare for a tank. Integrated system the movement control of this tank works with a steering wheel instead of levers.

Reserve and fuel consumption

Two additional fuel drums can be installed at the rear of the tank hull, holding 380 liters of fuel.

Tank cost

As of 2004, the cost of upgrading one T-64B/BV to the level of the Bulat tank was estimated at $470,000. In the fall of 2014, this amount was already announced at the level of $1 million per tank.

The announced export price of one Oplot tank is $4.9 million.

Dimensions and weight

Options	Values
	T-64BM "Bulat"	BM "Oplot"
Combat weight	45 tons	51 tons
Case length, mm	6540 mm	7075 mm
Length with gun forward, mm

Ukrainian SSR vs independent Ukraine

The military-industrial complex of modern Ukraine and the defense industry of the Ukrainian SSR have an important similarity. Both republics had (and Ukraine continues to have) the ability to build main battle tanks. However, this is where the similarities end. During the Cold War, the Kharkov plant named after Malyshev produced up to 8 thousand T-64 tanks. This car, of course, can be treated differently, but for its time the tank was quite a breakthrough. As for the plant itself, even in the 90s it could boast of ambitious plans and, at the very least, produced MBT. In 1996, the Ukrainians signed an agreement with Pakistan, which included the supply of 320 T-80UD tanks in the amount of $550 million. The first batch was shipped to next year, and the entire contract was executed in 1999. With a rate of up to 110 built tanks per year.

The modern plant named after Malyshev does not even dream of such a thing. The situation gradually worsened in the 2000s, and the conflict in Donbas, in fact, only revealed the problems that had been accumulating at the enterprise for years. Several dozen BM "Oplot" tanks produced with great difficulty in the interests of Thailand - the best of that confirmation. Under such conditions, an attempt to develop and put into production a fundamentally new tank is a desperate escapism. On the other hand, the Ukrainian military-industrial complex does not lose faith in the "economic miracle", even after ten or fifteen years.

Hammer and Futurized Main Battle Tank

A little . Also in Soviet years specialists of the Kharkov Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering began to develop the Object 477, also known as the "Hammer". It was supposed to be a powerful "colossus" with a smooth-bore 152-mm LP-83 gun. The tank received a "monitor" layout scheme, and the crew was below the turret. The much-loved analogy with the modern T-14 based on the "Armata" is not entirely true: the Object 477 can only partly be considered a tank with an uninhabited turret. The differences with other tanks are that the entire crew of three in this case is located no higher than the roof of the hull. Through the hatch in the tower it was possible to sit down and leave the tank. Above the hull was a cannon with an automatic loader, sighting systems and a number of other systems and assemblies that ensured the combat effectiveness of the tank.

The fate of the tank can be compared with the fate of the Russian Object 195. Partially lost Soviet technology, lack of necessary funding and a lack of understanding of the general concept of using tanks in the 21st century led to the abandonment of the project. The Molot project was canceled in the 2000s, and a number of developments were used in the design of the aforementioned Oplot BM tank. Potentially not bad, but representing a typical example of the Soviet school of tank building, with all its advantages and disadvantages.

Molot can be considered the last real attempt by Ukrainian designers (albeit with the participation of the Russian side) to build a new tank that would not become another version of the T-64 or T-80. What appeared after him can be included in the category of fantasies. Positioned as a new generation tank, the Futurized Main Battle Tank was just a bold concept from the very beginning. Let us recall that it was presented by Ukroboronprom and Spetstechnoexport at the DEFEXPO India 2014 exhibition. By that time, the country could no longer mass-produce such sophisticated equipment on its own.

It was assumed that the tank will receive a 6TD-4 engine with an HP 1500 power. or 6TD-5 with a power of 1800 hp They wanted to place the motor in front of the hull, and immediately behind it, the engineers placed a habitable module. As in the case of the Russian T-14, they wanted to equip the new tank with an uninhabited remote-controlled turret, and the crew would be in a specially isolated armored capsule. As the main caliber, they considered the 125-mm Vityaz cannon or the 140-mm promising Bagheera.

Another "novelty" that is now popular is the active protection complex (KAZ). In the case of FMBT, it was supposed to be Zaslon. By the way, the attitude of experts to this system is ambiguous. Some say that it has no fundamental differences from the outdated active defense systems of the Soviet period, such as Drozd, and is unable to protect the tank from anti-tank weapons. On the other hand, in April of this year, the Turks began to equip the modernized M60 with Zaslon-L. And it’s hard to believe that the modern Ukrainian military-industrial complex could offer something fundamentally better for the Futurized Main Battle Tank project. Only the Israeli Trophy, which is already being installed not only on the Merkavas, but also on the American Abrams, could act as a real alternative. And who, according to rumors, showed himself well.

"Tirex": ghost T-64

After a somewhat strange presentation of the Futurized Main Battle Tank, very strange things began to happen. In 2016, the Azov engineering group, which had previously announced itself as the Azovets tank support combat vehicle, brought to light a concept with the proud name Tirex. The analogy with the T-14 arose almost immediately. There is an uninhabited tower, and three crew members sitting in a row in front of the MBT. Armament standard: 125-mm cannon (probably), machine guns. Proposed dynamic protection in the face of blocks "Knife" and "Duplet". They did not dare to supply the concept with an active protection complex. Apparently, because of the price, although there could be purely technological reasons. But there was an ambitious idea to integrate the machine into a modern unified information and command network, thus giving it superiority over Oplot and Bulat.

Finally, the most interesting thing: they wanted to do all this on the basis of ... T-64. And put in a conditional series. The main thing is not clear - why do Ukrainian soldiers, who have suffered with the T-64BM "Bulat", new problems in the face of an unmastered raw tank, made on an outdated basis. The developers positioned the Tirex as a "transitional tank". However, in fact, both Bulat and BM Oplot are such. In any case, they are far from the most powerful tanks in the world and can (in the form in which they are) be considered only as a temporary solution.

There is obviously no future for development. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense seems to have expressed its readiness to cooperate and purchase these tanks, but one should hardly expect anything like that. Now Ukraine operates several different Soviet MBTs and their modifications at once, which, of course, runs counter to any concept of unification. The appearance of a new “guest” with dubious characteristics will not please anyone in this regard.

The most recent statement by the Ukrainian side about a “new generation tank” appeared on the website of the Ukrainian State Concern Ukroboronprom in May 2018. It was about the development by the forces of the Kharkov Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering. A. A. Morozov infantry fighting vehicle and tank. It was reported that automation would reduce the number of crew to two, and the engine power would be approximately 1,500 hp. With. This information was limited, which is generally logical. The problem is that main battle tanks are not the most important thing for the Ukrainian army. Modern armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, anti-tank systems and communications are much more important. We are no longer talking about the state of combat aviation and air defense, as well as possible purchases of new aircraft. Because of this, we repeat, the likelihood of a new tank of "national" development in Ukraine is extremely small. And in the future, Ukrainian specialists will probably consider some version of the Leopard (if there is money) or the Chinese VT-4 (if not) to replace the T-64.

The "new" Ukrainian tank presented by President Petro Poroshenko was ridiculed on the Web. Users joked that the T-72AMT "shoots canned meat." On the air of Sputnik radio, military political scientist Alexander Perendzhiev noted that this is not far from the truth.

Users of social networks ridiculed the footage of the tests of the Ukrainian tank, published by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.

Earlier, the Ukrainian leader announced the start of testing the T-72AMT main battle tank, developed by the Kyiv Armored Plant.

"This is the T-72AMT main battle tank. Now it is undergoing fire tests at military training grounds," the Ukrainian leader wrote on Facebook.

Some Twitter users recalled the failure of the Ukrainian tank crews, who finished last in the Strong Europe Tank Challenge in April.

"Yours at the tank biathlon have already shown that Oplot, like all other Ukrainian-made weapons, is ordinary garbage," wrote @KrasnyiKomissar.

"What does it shoot with? Canned meat or pots?" users joked on VKontakte.

"Does he have anything of his own? He praises all Soviet developments," wrote @kirsamov.

"The number 72 in the name of the tank means the year of development in 1972. In those days, they fought with cavalry, and the infantry was armed with swords and bows. Just don't tell Poroshenko about this," @uralpage added.

Experts have repeatedly caught Kyiv trying to pass off old Soviet developments as new Ukrainian weapons.

On the air of Sputnik radio, Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science and Sociology of the Russian University of Economics. Plekhanov, military political scientist Alexander Perendzhiev expressed the opinion that Ukraine does not have the opportunity to create super-modern tanks.

"To create a good tank, you need money, good technology and very strong design bureaus. In addition, you still need to conduct tests, and even better, test it in combat conditions. Everything performance characteristics tank: firing range, armor strength, speed, maneuverability - all this plays a role in battle. As for Ukraine, most often they create not a tank, but something like a "shell". He really drives and shoots. But there is no need to talk about his ability to counteract some threats, about survivability, the ability to overcome obstacles. All tanks that are currently being created in Ukraine do not have these properties. They do not have the opportunity to create super-modern tanks," Alexander Perendzhiev said.

However, he continued, Ukraine has a great desire to announce its developments.

“At one time they said that they were producing missiles. Apparently, now they decided to raise the image by saying that there are new tanks. But this turns out, in a sense, a comic book. Because something very cheap and very inefficient is being produced , but is presented as ultra-modern. Therefore, they put themselves in a ridiculous position," the military political scientist noted.