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Terrain Battle Machines





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REVEALED : DRDO's  Futuristic Main Battle Tank.

7/22/2017

1 Comment

 

Generation Next Main Battle Tank (GNMBT)

A post based on DRDO CVRDE's recently published paper on Design Configuration of a Generation Next Main Battle Tank for Future Combat on Defence Science Journal.

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We all have seen that Indians take a long time to plan. They develop one of the best plans but many times when the plan is executed the produced outcome is already nearly outdated. A big threat is looming around as Chinese are claiming to be making next generation tanks in greater numbers whereease Pakistan is nearing Ukraine and is in process of acquiring T-84 Oplot M tanks which are considered one of the best tanks in the world but not mass produced due to economic issues of Ukraine.

Considering the future threat and combat scenarios the GNMBT design faces the difficult choice of being either an EVOLUTION or a REVOLUTION. For the designing purpose certain crucial parameters should be set based upon the definition of the configuration. Certain key parameters like weight, crew, armament system, survivability, operating range, transportability, tactical mobility, trafficability, system modularity, theatre operation and ISTAR ( Intelligence - Surveillance - Target Acquisition & Reconnaissance ) have been considered. Based upon that the study fields both design considerations. Finally after evaluation the study observes that if the design of GNMBT would be a REVOLUTION then it would not just offer greater capabilities but also would be ideal for adapting it into a Universal Combat Platform.
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The Main Battle Tank is backbone of Mechanised Forces of an Army. The design of MBTs had been based on the philosophy which is called IRON TRIANGLE. The three sides of this philosophical triangle are firepower, mobility and protection. This philosophy had been long followed until when the proxy wars played by Militant Organisations came. It most largely happened in Soviet Afghan war and US wars post 9/11. Now the future combat scenarios involve a much greater challenge and the proxies which are more correctly called as Non State Actors also form a part of these challenges. If the GNMBT is to be considered an EVOLUTION then it would be a piece of upgraded technologies. An upgrade of what the previous MBTs used to be, just offering better of a capability than what it was previously. But if the GNMBT is thought to be a REVOLUTION then it would be a completely new previously unseen system which is Optimised considering various requirements based on and judged by set parameters. The technical advantages of Evolutionary approach aren't available in the current literature of Tank Making and it forms the main part of DRDO’s recently published paper on an internal study.
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( above and below pic Arjun MBT mk 2 an example of Evolutionary approach )
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~ Future Threat Scenario.

The future threats if visualised, show us a need of an MBT with robust active and passive protection, Detection Systems, firepower as well as other necessary systems. Some of the key futuristic threats are newly seen. Man Portable Rocket Launchers, Anti Tank Missiles of new generation mounted atop Armoured High Mobility Vehicles and also from an Attack Helicopter. The high velocity precision munitions dropped by enemy fixed wing fighter aircraft, Satellite bases monitoring by enemy, The Drone warfare by the enemy. All the visualised threats are shown here in the diagram below.
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ALL THE SET PARAMETERS MENTIONED BEFORE, THEIR RELEVANCE, VARIATION, ADVANTAGES, LIMITAIONS, ETC., HAVE BEEN DISCUSSED IN DETAIL BY THE DRDO PAPER.

~ Crew

While talking about a Next Generation tank a sure thought of making an Unmanned MBT strikes the mind. While considering current level of advancement a Man in the machine is necessary to take decisions. So how many men should we put??? One, Two, Three, Four??. It is clear that we need one Man to drive the GNMBT and one to engage the enemy. If such a two man system is visualised as shown in the diagram one limitation we face is that the man responsible for engaging the enemy is overloaded with tasks. Here in the diagram below this man has been shown at the position of a loader. So he has to load a projectile, find the targets judge their threat level, classify them then take aim and shoot. This is quite lengthy. Modern tanks feature an automatic target acquisition system which is a software that takes inputs from detection systems and classify them and set them ready to be targeted. But as a counter measure the enemy employs various modern camouflage techniques that can cheat these softwares as seen during the tests of T-14 Armata. Therefore in Armata the crew can optionally take target acquisition and prioritisation in its hands. Battespaces are filled with unexpected surprises and as a concern I am saying, It may happen that a new makeshift camouflage is innovated and is employed to cheat automated systems. Hence a man is always needed to do these assements. That man is the Tank Commander who directs the Gunner to simply take aim and shoot.
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( a concept of FMBT of Ukroboronprom of Ukraine )
Whether their should be a Man as a loader or an Autoloader is a different debate. This debate has been in process for a long time. It takes into account mechanical problems related to autoloader and vulnerability to human life when their is human loader. During such debates a clear point was stressed that since the Autoloader is housed inside the turret and if the turret is breached by a Sabot round then all the ammunition stored in autoloader would blow up bringing catastrophic destruction to the tank. Considering this various tank designers have come up with the idea of placing the crew in a capsule covered by thick armour from all sides. This would protect the life of crew even in the case of a catastrophic destruction. Such a thing can be seen applied on T-14 Armata of Russia.
The DRDO study considers parameters such as internal volume, weight, crew comfort, ergonomics, endurance, redundancy and reaction time while determining number of crew. It observes that the two crew manned turret option reduces amount of protection thus reducing amount of weight but it increases reaction time, negatively affects crew endurance and increases the work load thus affecting the combat effectiveness.
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Many people are incorrectly reporting the above two crew manned turret configuration as ‘one of the preliminary designs’ but actually it has been just given as an example in DRDO’s paper describing it as a bad idea as explained above.

~Weight

Weight of an MBT is taken into account considering it as fully equipped and battle ready. All the systems mounted and all the weapons loaded in the store plus the crew sitting inside already. The study takes into account that a general consideration of weight of an MBT at global levels falls in the range of some 40 to 45 tonnes. If the GNMBT is perceived as an Evolution then adjustments and optimisations of weight would come after making considerations about Lethality > Armament > Crew > Systems > Armour > Dimension Constraints. But while we are anticipating the GNMBT as an evolution the weight is the very first consideration and other things like Dimensions , Armour, Crew , Systems, Armament, etc., would be optimised according to these weight restrictions. This has been explained in the study paper by a flow chart
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Here The Top to Bottom approach is taken into account while we make an Evolution wherease While making a Revolution we have to go by a Bottom to Top approach.
DESIGNING THE GNMBT BY THE REVOLUTIONARY APPROACH IS VERY CHALLEGING BECAUSE OF THE WEIGHT LIMITS WHICH EXPECT THE PLATFORM TO BE A MODULAR ONE AND TO BE USED FOR MULTIPLE MISSIONS.

~ Armament

Now of course the main function of GNMBT is to destroy the enemy by hurling a projectile towards it. While deciding what should be the projectile delivery mechanism certain parameters like calibre, muzzle velocity, rate of fire, power consumption, accuracy, weight, dimensions, etc, are needed that evaluate the firing mechanism and pronounces it suitable for the desired firepower. This portion of the paper is most interesting.

The effect of Armament System on a Tank is given shown below in a flow chart. It seems to have taken the Arjun MBT into account.
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It can be clearly deduced that the characteristics of a gun would affect the configuration of turret and would then affect the hull thus affecting the design of an entire MBT. The paper states that as the recoil length increases with higher caliber, the adoption of certain technologies such as concentric or adaptive recoil along with ammunition of lesser length leads to decreased turret width. Also, it is to be noted that as the variety in ammunition increases due to mission, the dimensions need to be same to achieve uniformity in configuration.

At the end it is concluded that by the having an autoloader by shifting the tunnion pivot a little bit lower helps decrease the height of an MBT thus increasing its tactical survivability. The inclination towards usage of an autoloader is also supported by some considerations discussed in the paragraph above.
The DRDO has done studies related to options of gun systems. These gun systems are classified into conventional and non conventional gun systems. Let's see them.
1 Liquid Propellant Gun :-
Here the liquid propellant is injected into the chamber during the combustion or prior to it. The system has earlier been evaluated in Germany and US. The trials were done for various calibre guns.
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2 Electro Thermal Gun :-
In this type of gun a propellant having low molecular weight is used. The propellant is converted into plasma by charging it with the help of a high voltage electrode. This system was also extensively evaluated for many different calibres. During these trials, it was observed that breech pressures could be sustained for the entire ballistic cycle with greater projectile energy for the same gun tube as used by a conventional system.
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3 Electro Magnetic Gun ( Railgun) :-
Here the the projectile is accelerated due to the Lorentz force generated between two electromagnetic rails. BAE hypervelocity gun program for US Navy where a projectile delivered 32 MJ of energy recently at Mach 7.4 with a range greater than 50 km is the most successful EM gun program.
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Various parameters used of evaluation and the evaluated results of various guns have been tabulated in DRDO's paper which are shown below.
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It is clear that in terms of lethality and efficiency compared to conventional armament systems the three guns mentioned above are superior and also offer lower smoke and flash in addition to ignition delay, muzzle velocity and charge temperature control. But just look at the data of power consumption, volume, weight are quite impractical if the constraints of weights, mobility and transportation are considered. So the conventional gun system still seems to be more suitable. Actually we have two options as of now. Either go ahead with the conventional gun system or wait till further developments help reduce weight and volume of the nonconventional ones.

~ Protection

The protection of modern tank is based on the philosophy called ‘Survivability Onion’ . A diagram can be seen below that nicely explains the layers of protection around a tank.
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The above image specifies that initially a Tank should be designed that it shouldn't be available as a target to those remotely operated Unmanned Ground Vehicles and Drones. Later as tier 2 it should have ‘stealth’ capability to substantial levels to avoid any detection by enemy's surveillance systems. But at the same time MBT should be able to detect and have awareness about it's adversaries around. Then as tier 3 even if the enemy detects and tries to target the MBT, it must be able to use some deception techniques like jamming the signal of enemy radar or releasing smoke clouds to prevent being laser targeted.
After this as tier 4 if the enemy successfully launches a projectile towards the MBT, The MBT must have a soft kill or hard kill measure. That means it must be able to repel the projectile fired at it or should be able to launch a counter projectile to stop the fired projectile in mid air. If all these 4 tiers of protection fails,Then Tier 5 involves ‘Armour’ various types of armours must ensure that the projectile fired at MBT should not penetrate inside the body. Finally as Tier 6 of the Survivability Onion as described in the paper is that Crew must have some protective clothing or the entire crew be kept in an armoured capsule.
Since ages Armour has been a crucial component of entire protection system of a tank. It also contributes towards majority of the weight of any Tank. It also contributes to the size of tank which in technical terms described as volume. A pie chart shown below explains this.
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The MBT mustn't be just be anticipated for protection from the front 60° as understood by the famous Whittaker theory of directional probability of variation but considering the advanced threat scenario it must be protected 360° in horizontal plane and 180° in vertical plane as well as substantial protection under belly to prevent an IED, land mine kind of attack. As a solution a number of Active, Semi Active and Passive protection systems has been described in the survivability onion.
The GNMBT if visualised as an Evolution would be based on a concept of Equivalent Protection Factor EPF. Where sloping along with add-on steel armours, composite armours with ceramic plates and explosive reactive armour (ERA) are key features. In addition, non-ferrous armours such as titanium and aluminium armour, perforated steel armour, sapphire glass armour, hybrid and non-explosive ERA and bulge armour may also be explored in non-critical areas i.e. below bustle, cover plates etc. along with EPF to achieve higher protection.
For a Revolutionary GNMBT newer materials like ultra-high hardness armour steel i.e. steels with hardness greater than 600 bHN than the current 300-500 bHN shall be explored. This aids in the reduction of plate thickness used in the fabrication, thereby providing much needed weight saving.
These methods of protection must be augmented with signature management techniques and active protection system otherwise would be redundant in terms of weight.
The Paper suggests that, signature management techniques involve the adoption of ‘multi-spectral’ camouflage which is capable of covering the entire spectrum of sensors. In addition, thermal management in the form of exhaust configuration by sloping it upwards along with cold air blending has the potential to reduce signature. Another approach is to blend kerosene or diesel fuel to the exhaust that creates a thick smoke around the vehicle along with the existing smoke grenades capable of creating an anti-thermal anti-laser smoke. Further, certain paints such as TAN 686 are capable of reflecting radiation of upto 85 per cent and cool the exterior by 15 °C thereby reducing thermal signature. All these signature management capabilities could be achieved by obviating a system similar to BAE, UK’s Adaptive Camouflage.
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The system combines sheets of lightweight, hexagonal metallic ‘pixels’ designed to change temperature very rapidly presenting a thermal pattern that optimally blends with its surrounding. Each electrically powered pixel is individually heated or cooled using commercially available semi-conducting technology.
( pic and data from BAE Systems )
The next thing to be optimised is the Active Protection Systems. It involves constant close monitoring of an incoming projectile and launching of a counter projectile to destroy the incoming one mid air. The destruction must happen at some safe distances from the MBT so as to prevent secondary damages. The counter projectile mostly contains an explosive capable enough to destroy or disrupt an incoming projectile. This system provides protection from Anti Tank Guided Missiles, RPGs, various other Tank rounds and to some extent the APFSDS round too. The Active Protection System had always unquestionably been better than only having a combination of passive and reactive armour.
While considering the threat scenario we have also considered an urban warfare, where myriad threats like IED, ATGM, Unexploded Ordnance, Blast in a nearby vicinity, Mortars, Land Mines are also to be faced. For these threats the GNMBT would also be intended to have an urban survival kit consisting of bar/cage armour, medium appliques, drag plates, tow plates, jammer, spoofer, laser dazzler and electronic countermeasures. These add on protection along with those mentioned previously would make the GNMBT capable of overcoming any kind of threat.

~ Mobility

( a video of armyrecognition showing demonstration of Mobility of Arjun MBT mk2 )
General George Patton used to say that a Good Plan violently executed today is better than the Best Plan executed next week. Clearly he understood the importance of having your forces directed at right places at right times. So the terrain battle machine which matters the most must be able to manovere through the battlefield and get itself to the enemy. The decisions regarding mobility of the GNMBT would be taken considering some factors. The range is defined according to different operating speeds it is different at Max speeds and different at cruising speeds. This affects the configuration as it imposes both weight and volume based constraints. The Operational range which is decided considering the military doctrine of the maker nation as rate of fuel consumption of the available powerplants. For that the amount of fuel carried should also be optimised.
First we have to see that the MBT has to be designed to roll through very impossible barriers like uneven rocky stepped surface or may involve crossing a trench. With respect to agility, it depends upon the power available at the drive sprocket (a function of gross engine output and losses due to transmission and other elements) in relation to the vehicle weight and the flexibility of the transmission, steering and suspension systems. Also, agility reflects the capability of the vehicle in the following circumstances.

•Acceleration at different terrains.
•Radius of turn at different speeds at various terrains.
•Responsiveness of the transmission to engine loads.
•Dynamic response of the hull to the transient shock loads imposed by rapid movement over rough terrain (The maximum usable speed across terrain).
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( Krauss-Maffei Wegmann Leopard 2 main battle tank leaps in the air while demonstrating it's mobility. )
The Overall Mobility of the tank would also involve ability to roll through a varied terrain, soft terrains like porus sands, swamps, porus snow,etc as well as hard terrains like rocky surface or surface filled with gravel. The research paper nicely explains mobility of the two visualised MBTs viz. the Evolutionary and Revolutionary designs by giving a set of equations involving necesaary mechanical parameters and the placement of various forces acting at certain points on the body. After reading them I came to an opinion that understanding these diagrams and those equations need a person with some background knowledge of Mechanics. I think many of our readers may necessary not be Mechanical Engineers or Civil Engineers to understand that so I am not mentioning them here but one thing I would like to share that….
Mobility characteristic parameters depend only on vehicle specification and does not depend upon the type of soil on which it operates, whereas mobility limit parameters are designed to indicate the minimum strength of soil on which the vehicle is expected to remain mobile. Various methods have been proposed and after optimising the configuration for both the the visualised MBTs the Evolution design or the Revolution design, the one which offer superior mobility as per the above parameters be chosen.

Modularity

This is quite simple but remarkable thing in context of Indians. The GNMBT must be adaptable for various battle conditions depending upon the terrain of the theatre of war. For ex. for high altitude warfare the heavy turret be replaced with a light turret (i.e. 105 instead of 120 mm) thus enabling higher mobility. The armour choices must also be available and the mix of armour needed should be reconfigurable. Indians who are experts in ‘jugaad’ ( on time adjustments ) has to take this into account. A general overview prompts us that the Revolution design would be better reconfigurable than the Evolution which simply consists of add-ons.
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Transportation

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The transportability is the ability to ship an object via various transportation facilities available. Here taking logistics of the Army into account the Tanks have been transported via trucks, Railways and Cargo Planes. The volume of the Tank must then be optimised in such a way that it should be Transportable. And also it must not face any logistic problems while doing that. For self transporting the Tank the size and strength of Indian roads in various civilian and military areas should be taken into account as well as strength of civilian bridges. This prompts the designers to have some weight and size based restrictions while designing the tank.
While transporting the Tank via Trailers, Railways and Cargo Planes some predefined regulations are to be followed. These regulations become the basis of design’s weight and volume restrictions. The over dimensioned consignment (ODC) which consists of three classes namely A, b and C for Indian Railways. Out of which the class A is suitably chosen as unhindered movement is ensured on all lines which results in least possible time during deployment. The diagram for ODC Indian Railway is given below.
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The above diagram is the ODC of C-17 Globemaster lll used by Indian Air Force for logistics purposes.
Considering this a composite parameter of road, rail and air transport should be considered together for better transportability should be employed to evaluate both GNMBT designs the design that is Evolution and the one that is Revolution.

ISTAR

Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition & Reconnaissance.

In an era of net centric warfare an individual fighting unit isn't a lone wolf moving ahead and assessing the battle scenario itself but is connected to all the friendly forces and to the command centre. The GNMBT would surely be expected to be a tactical unit which is fully aware of the developments in the battlefield and getting clear directions from the command as well as actively benifiting from the friendly forces around. This network centric approach in a MBT involves the following systems and sensors as given as follows.

• Battlefield management system (BMS)
• Software defined radio (SDR)
• Automated target tracker (ATT)
• Commanders panoramic sight (CPS)
• Gunners main sight (GMS)
• Laser target designator (LTD)
• Laser range finder (LRF)
• Laser warning and countermeasure system (LWCS)
• Drivers sight with thermal imager (TI)
• Combat identification of friend or foe (CIFF)

A video explaining ISTAR scenario.

ISTAR is an advanced multi-dimensional and configurable decision support set of tools, adaptable to all command levels, from national HQ to battlefield commanders. It assists in achieving intelligence dominance for the net-centric battlefield by providing decision makers (commander in MBT) with a real-time situation picture of the theatre. It greatly increases a Tank’s situational awareness thus increasing the survivability.

While integrating ISTAR tools with the GNMBT its weight, size and power consumption would be primary considerations and the extent to which these tools adapt to the considerd Evolutionary or Revolutionary designs would be a deciding factor as to which one fares better.

Theatres of Operation.

Indian Subcontinent is blessed with a varied terrain that consists of a combination of Snow and Boulders in J&K, The salt over layer in the Rann of Kutch, The swamps of the delta region of Ganges in the Bengal, The dense vegitaion in the North East, The sands of Thar and a mixed terrain of medium boulders, vegetation in Punjab. All these are possible theatres where battles have happened and may happen. While India has an experience of fighting the largest ever post WW2 tank battle in 1965 war. The challenges that occur in Deserts and Plains are well documented.

But the information related to challenges occurring at high altitude battles is not much available. As a general consideration at high altitudes, extreme temperature (sub-zero), logistical challenges (>30° gradient), high power requirement (air density less than 50 per cent compared to mean sea level) and material failure are of the major challenges encountered.
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The GNMBT be it an Evolution or a Revolution would be expected to always perform the best possible in any of these ambient conditions. While evaluation is done in these regards the subsequent derived designs of various other armoured vehicles originating from GNMBT should also be considered.

THE FINALISED CONFIGURATION

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The designs pitted in the beginning were thus evaaluated and it is observed that although similarities exist with respect to armament system, ammunition autoloader and transportability, they differ vastly with respect to survivability, cruising range, ISTAR, tactical mobility, trafficability and ease of adaptability.

The revolutionary design as compared to the evolutionary design conforms to integrated survivability but with minimum armour. This pit mounted configuration not only provides higher cruising range but also enough space for packaging ISTAR systems. In addition, the revolutionary design caters to superior terrain accessibility, agility and soft soil trafficability that translates it into a weapon platform capable of superior mobility in a variety of terrains. Finally, this configuration is capable of adapting itself with ease into a universal combat weapon platform for executing multi-mission requirements of the users.

It clears difficulty of choice in between the two designs and provides a clear view as to which one fares better considering all the parameters.
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( preliminary design of The GNMBT )
•1 While evaluating tactical mobility and trafficability it is observed that the revolutionary design with least nominal ground pressure NGP and mean maximum pressure MMP coupled with higher power to weight ratio is capable of achieving superior terrain accessibility and agility. The NGP is the ratio of vehicle weight to contact area. The MMP represents the average of the peak pressures that occur under each road wheel.

•2 Comparing Mobility parameters the revolutionary design has low soft soil sinkage and higher trafficability across a range of terrains namely hard, clay, soft sand, marsh etc. On the transportability front, both the configurations have road, rail (ODC Class A) and air transportability (C-17).

•3 Finally the Revolution configuration ensures that different platforms such as self propelled (SP) howitzer, heavy infantry combat vehicle (ICV), bridge layer tank (bLT) etc, can be easily adopted with ease and flexibility thus serving as a perfect universal combat weapon platform.

DISCLAIMER

The data presented in this article is what available in public domain and was made available in a paper published in Defence Science Journal Vol. 67, No. 4, July 2017. It is available on DRDO’s website and no confidential info has been published anywhere in the article.
The article should not be copied unless permitted by any of our admins. you may simply share the article.
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Prahaar Short Range Tactical Ballistic Missile

7/17/2017

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India is placed at such a place in this world that it has got some highly volatile neighbours. A China which keeps extending it's pre defined boundaries violates international pacts and subjugates other's opinion. A Pakistan which always had an unstable history of Military Dictatorship overthrowing a democratic government and invading India. After 1999 when Pakistan acquired nuclear weapons with the help of China, they described their nuclear capability as ‘minimum credible deterrance’ to prevent high intensity invasion from India. They successfully developed what they describe as developed as a "low-yield battlefield deterrent” tactical nuclear warheads. To deploy these nukes they developed a weapon system which is said to be targeted at "mechanized forces like armed brigades and divisions”.


Under India’s no first use doctrine, the country would absorb the first nuclear strike and then should have adequate residual capability for the second strike. As pointed out by W.Selvamurthy, Chief Controller of Research and Development (Life Sciences and Human Resources) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), since India is wedded to the doctrine of no first use of its nuclear weapons, it needs to have a robust second strike capability. In the ultimate analysis, the class and range of missiles in the Indian arsenal should be capable of giving Indian defence forces a head-start in the warfare involving conventional weapons and nuclear devices and ensure the territorial integrity of the country against any misadventure from the belligerent neighbours.
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Prahaar is a solid fuel Surface-to-Surface guided short range tactical ballistic missile developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation of India. It is specifically designed for tactical strikes against close range targets and to provide Indian Army with an all-weather , quick reaction , cost effective , high accurate battle field support tactical system to strike tactical and strategic targets.
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What is a Tactical Ballistic Missile System ?

1. It is designed for short range battlefield use and mainly the range is limited to 300 kilometres.
2. Tactical ballistic missiles are usually mobile to ensure survivability and quick deployment, as well as carrying a variety of warheads to target enemy facilities, assembly areas, artillery, and other targets behind the front lines. Warheads can include conventional high explosive, chemical, biological, or nuclear warheads.
3. Tactical ballistic missiles fill the gap between conventional rocket artillery and longer-range short range ballistic missile. Tactical missiles can carry heavy payloads deep behind enemy lines in comparison to rockets or tube artillery, while having better mobility and less expense than the more strategic theatre missiles. Additionally, due to their mobility, tactical missiles are better suited to responding to developments on the battlefield.
4. Newer air defense systems have improved ability to intercept tactical missiles, but still can not reliably protect assets against ballistic missile threats. This allows a moderate force of missiles to threaten a superior enemy by penetrating their air defenses better than with conventional aircraft, while providing a deeper strike than conventional artillery.
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Development :-
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It was developed by DRDO Scientists in a quick time span of less than 2 years. Prahar was test-fired successfully on 21 July 2011 from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur,India . During the test Prahar travelled a distance of 150 km in about 250 seconds meeting all launch objectives and striking pre-designated target in the Bay of Bengal with a high degree of accuracy of less than 10 m. After the Missile was test fired the DRDO Scientist said, “ The sophisticated missile was test fired from ITR’s launch pad-3 at about 8:15 am leaving behind its trajectory in an orange and white ribbon of smoke”.And he added that The missile witnessed a smooth vertical take-off from the launch pad and vital parameters will be analysed after mission data is retrieved.

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The uniqueness of the missile system is that "in one salvo, six missiles can be fired with multiple targets," said a scientist associated with this project.This short range missile would be an `excellent weapon` which would fill the gap between unguided multi-barrel rocket system `Pinaka` with 40 km range and guided missiles like `Prithvi`, which can strike at 250 km to 350 km range. The missile fills the short-range tactical battlefield missile role as required by the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force, to take out strategic and tactical targets. In 2013 reports suggested that Prahaar would replace short range Prthvi-1 when declared operational.

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Many indian bloggers believe that prahaar is derived from endo-atmospheric interceptor aad. Or atleats shares a common core stage. Back in time in 2007 it was reported by tarmak007 that an ssm would be derived from aad.
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( Above Prahaar Missile , Below AAD interceptor )
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Design Features :

The missile body has a length of 7.3 metres , diameter of 0.42 metres and weighs 1280 kg during launch. It can carry a conventional or nuclear warhead of 200 kg. In salvo mode, six Prahaar Missile can be fired at multiple targets. It is hghly maneuverable capable of precision strikes at over 150 kilometres. Prahaar is carried by 8×8 TATRA Transporter Erector Launcher. The mobile launch platform will carry six missiles, which can have different kind of warheads meant for different targets and can be fired in salvo mode in all directions covering the entire azimuth plane. Each missile is belived to be vertically launched . It is also suggested that reloads happen quite quickly what is called as a "ripple firing mode" .

The Missile can be launched within 2-3 minutes without any preparation ,providing significantly better reaction time than any other liquid fuel missiles. In fact, any target whose location is known within the range of the missile can be attacked within less than 10 minutes from the launch decision.

Pragati missile has integrated onboard avionics system to reduce the size. It uses Jet-vanes based Thrust Vector Control (TVC) during the boost phase. Which provides high accuracy.

Another important characteristics of the missile is use of Aero-Dynamic Control (ADC) using electromechanical actuator (EMA) system for the remaining flight trajectory.

The missile system has quick deployment with salvo firing capability. The system includes One Battery Control Center (BCC) command & Control four launchers via Fiber Optic/LOS wireless link.


The Mobile Launcher System (MLS) is configured on High Mobility Vehicle (HMV) and it is an all electro-mechanical auto leveling and articulation system for easy deployment and maintenance free operation. MLS is configured on the state of art computer based launcher control system for automatic operation powered through dedicated on board DG sets or PTO.

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Guidance System :

The missile uses a combination of inertial guidance and terminal active radar homing guidance. The inertial guidance takes the missile somewhere nearer to the target based upon a precalculated flight trajectory. But to accurately hit the target the missile must know where it is. So we use a onboard radar and because since the radar transceiver has to be small enough to fit inside a missile and has to be powered from batteries, therefore having a relatively low ERP, its range is limited. This why the radar is activated when Missile is taken very nearer to the target
The Terminal active radar homing ensures very high accuracy. This guidance method is used in Anti-Ship and BVR air to air missile. The missile has a radar at its tip that scans the area, finds the target , tracks it and later homes in and destroys the target. In case of Ballistic Missiles like Prahaar it is very unlikely that it would face any ECM resistance. Because since active seekers emit radiations they also alert the enemy's RF sensors in return. Many times ECM is employed to disrupt the seeker. Such a thing happens more in case of a BVR air to air missile or an AntiShip Missile. But here such possiblities are low.
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( diagram explaining active radar homing and other guidance types )
Inertial guidance was installed in long-range ballistic missiles in the 1950s, but, with advances in miniaturized circuitry, microcomputers, and inertial sensors, it became common in tactical weapons after the 1970s. Inertial systems involved the use of small, highly accurate gyroscopic platforms to continuously determine the position of the missile in space. These provided inputs to guidance computers, which used the position information in addition to inputs from accelerometers or integrating circuits to calculate velocity and direction. The guidance computer, which was programmed with the desired flight path, then generated commands to maintain the course.
Missile Guidance
Click on the above button to know more about Guidance Systems of Missiles.
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Prahaar is integrated with a Inertial navigation System for detecting the location of its targets. It is also integrated with a Terminal Active radar Homing Missile Guidance system that autonomously find and track target.

Inertial guidance system, electronic system that continuously monitors the position, velocity, and acceleration of a vehicle, usually a submarine, missile, or airplane, and thus provides navigational data or control without need for communicating with a base station. The basic components of an inertial guidance system are gyroscopes, accelerometres and a computer. The gyroscopes provide fixed reference directions or turning rate measurements, and accelerometers measure changes in the velocity of the system. The computer processes information on changes in direction and acceleration and feeds its results to the vehicle’s navigation system.

Active radar homing (ARH) is a missile guidance method in which a missilecontains a radar transceiver (in contrast to semi-active radar homing, which uses only a receiver) and the electronics necessary for it to find and track its target autonomously.
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Propulsion and Performance :

The missile has solid fuel and it can be easily stored and deployed at quick notice also. It can have a operational range of 150 km and flight altitude of 35 km.The average speed of missile is Mach 2.03 (2486.84 km/h).It can cover its full range in just 250 seconds and hit the target with accuracy less than 10 m. This solid-fuelled missile can be launched within 2–3 minutes without any preparation, providing significantly better reaction time than liquid-fuelled Prithvi ballistic missiles and act as a gap filler in the 150 km (93 mi) range, between the Pinaka MBRL and Smerch MBRL in one end and the Prithvi Ballistic Missiles on the other.

Thus, the solid-fuelled ‘Prahaar’ is, in essence, a product that overcomes all the deficiencies displayed by the Prithvi family of battlefield support missiles (the SS-150, SS-250 and SS-350), which makes uses of liquid fuel and is consequently cumbersome both in terms of transportation and launch readiness procedures. Furthermore, the Prithvi was never a quick-reaction system and its flight trajectory can be easily tracked by early warning radars as it is a single-stage missile. In contrast, the ‘Prahaar’ reportedly boasts a three-element flight-control system, with the third and final stage comprising only the maneuvering warhead section. The ‘Prahaar’ will eventually replace all existing Prithvi SS-150 missiles that are now deployed by the three Missile Groups attached to the Indian Army’s two Field Artillery Divisions.
The missile equipped with state-of-the-art high accuracy navigation, guidance and electro mechanical actuation systems with latest onboard computer achieved terminal accuracy of less than 10 meters.
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Export :

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India developed 'Pragati' which has a range of 60 km-170 km and will be offered for export to friendly countries. It is based on Prahaar Missile with minor differences and can be termed as an export variant. The new missile meets the limitations of MTCR limiting the export of missile technology carrying warheads heavier than half a ton beyond 300 kilometers. As such, it is positioned to compete with a number of similar weapons already available from the China, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Russia and the USA. Pragati was showcased at International Aerospace and Defence Exhibition ADEX-2013 in South Korea. However after a revelation by a popular Indian media-house led to a much controversy over it.

In a major security lapse, the missile didn't return home and lay unguarded, vulnerable and exposed at South Korean port for a month.


There is a series of violations in the journey of Pragati missile to South Korea.

  • ​The first violation is that the Pragati missile sent to South Korea for the exhibition wasn't a dummy missile but an actual prototype that was to be used for a live firing.
  • Second, the logistical handling of the missile in South Korea was outsourced to a local agent of Chinese-origin. ​
  • Third, the prototype missile missed its ship back to India, stranding it unguarded and vulnerable at the Incheon port for an entire month.
  • Finally, it lumbered back to India as unprotected commercial cargo without the safeguards it needed as sensitive military hardware.



Strategic Implications :-

The arch enemy of India, Pakistan has fielded tactical ballistic missiles like Nasr Tactical Missile which they say was employed in wake of India's "Cold Start" Doctrine to destroy Indian armoured column in 'tactical nuclear strikes'. However it lacks the range to strike Indian cities and strategic bases. Prahaar will come in main role here as its range and features give it an advantage to strike Pakistani strategic targets like Airbases at over 150 km. This is reminiscent of U.S. Army plans to use extensive tactical ballistic missiles to target Iraqi Airbases and depots to pave way for attack helicopters to carry out missions without any specific risk to pilots.

Prahaar is very hard to be intercepted by anti-air defence systems and being easily transportable as compared to Prithvi Missiles and the capability and can be fired in ripple firing mode in a gap of less than 5 seconds which will be an 'overkill'. Since it is a tactical ballistic missile it can be fired using conventional warheads too ( unlike Prithvi Missiles ) and will not escalate the situation to a nuclear war. The Prahaar would provide the army's invading battle groups with lethal fire support, striking Pakistani headquarters far behind the frontlines, and destroying roads, railways, bridges and other communications infrastructure that are essential for rushing Pakistani forces to the border.
Unlike the DRDO's Prithvi missile, which was introduced into service as a 150-kilometre range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile, the Prahaar is categorised as a "battlefield tactical missile".

Its maximum payload of 200 kg allow the Prahaar to carry a tactical nuclear weapon. But while nuclear capable ballistic missiles are useful only in the nightmarish eventuality of nuclear war, the Prahaar can be useful at every stage of a Cold Start campaign.
The Prahaar system has the ability to take out multiple targets in a salvo fire with each of the six missile imaging and finding its own target. Such a system would be required to takeout a mobile Nasr system by individually targeting each of its components - launcher, control vehicle, generator vehicle, etc. It was completely dumb idea for Nasr developers to think that India would send armoured columns which can be destroyed by what they call 'tactical nuclear warhead'. Indian space based assets would simply pin point and monitor the movement of Nasr launchers, making it easy to hit them and send armoured columns afterwards.

There has also been accusations that Prahaar is an India-Paint schemed LORA Missile developed in Israel. This is mainly due to the fact that
 Indian army issued a request for proposals (RFP) long ago for the development and production of a short-range, tactical, surface-to-surface missile. The main competitors were Israel, which proposed the LORA (long-range attack) missile developed by Israel Aerospace Industries' Malam plant; and Russia, which proposed the Iskander missile. India delayed its decision for a long time and the new missile only debuted in July. 

However the missiles differ a lot in design features and capability and cannot be called a copied version of original LORA missile. 

The Status of deployment has till now, not been revealed. It was declared operational long back.
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References :-

1. Wikipedia
2. aermech.in
3. indiatoday.in
4. reddif.com
5. missilethreat.csis.org
6. Army Recognition

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0 Comments

Iron Dome's  - Tamir Missile

7/14/2017

2 Comments

 
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Iron Dome Short range Air Defence System has found unprecedented success during its service since 2011 and has been credited with more than 1500 operational intercepts; a success rate of some 90 percent when measured against the number of rockets designated by the system as imminent threats to people or property. But the main constituent of this combat proven system is formed by Tamir Missile-the main interceptor of Iron Dome System , which makes it quite deadly. It forms the Counter Rocket, Artillery Mortar (C-RAM) and short range air defence system. Tamir Missile uses several steering fins for high maneuverability and is equipped with electro-optic sensors . It is designed for high efficiency and low cost. It has a proximity fuel explosive warhead which is revoked by an active laser fuse which is then used to destroy its own targets. Each battery is capable of protecting an urban area of approximately 150 square kilometer.

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                    Pic : Tamir Missile Firing off
At an exhibition in Israel in late 2010 , Rafael the manufacturer of Tamir Missiles displayed a ground attack version of Tamir Missile called the "Iron Flame" . This missile would eliminate the Tamir missile’s seeker and fuze, although it would retain the capability to receive guidance updates in flight, and could instead be equipped with several different types of warheads and seekers.

Giora Katz told about this in 2015. “This is a highly accurate missile with a relatively large warhead on the scale of about 20 kg,” Katz says. “Its range is longer than 40 kilometers and it has a super-accurate guidance head. The project is in its final stages.”

The Specifications of Tamir Missile are listed below :

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Specifications :-
WEIGHT – 90 kilograms
LENGHT – 3 metres
DIAMETER – 16 cm
Flight Ceiling –10,000 m
WARHEAD – 11 kg (proximity fuel explosive which is triggered by an active laser fuse which is later used to destroy its own targets)
SPEED –Mach 2.2
ACCURACY– 80 %-90 %
MISSILES PER LAUNCHER – 20 per battery
The Iron Flame missile would eliminate the Tamir missile’s seeker and fuze, although it would retain the capability to receive guidance updates in flight, and could instead be equipped with several different types of warheads and seekers.
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IEach interception rocket costs around $95,000. Due to the cost, Israel usually uses it only against rockets destined for residential areas, rather than those headed for open ground. The cost of rebuilding infrastructure damaged by rockets can often exceed that of using the Iron Dome. 

​The interceptors are typically described as costing about $50,000 each, although costs ranging from $30,000 to $100,000 each have been cited. To get a higher probability of kill two interceptors, separated by a short-time delay, can be fired at the same target. It operates within the atmosphere to eliminate the targets.

It is guided by a EL/M-2084 Radar which detects the rocket's launch and tracks its trajectory. A Battle Management & Weapon Control (BMC) which calculates the impact point according to the reported data, and uses this information to determine whether the target constitutes a threat to a designated area. Only when that threat is determined, is an interceptor missile fired to destroy the incoming rocket before it reaches the predicted impact area. Tamir receives commands from the control centre until it is close enough to home in to its target using its own radar seeker. The missile maneuvers using its fins and body lift to destroy its target.

The ELM-2084 or EL/M-2084 designed and manufactured by IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries) ELTA is an advanced three-dimensional, S-Band radar, incorporating modular and scalable architecture. It is used with the SPYDER-MR, Iron Dome, Arrow 3 and David's Sling air defense systems. The WRL (Weapon Locating Radar) version of the ELM-2084 had been purchased by Canadian Army. The Republic of Singapore Air Force has also acquired the EL/M-2084 radar. The Army of the Czech Republic has ordered eight ELM 2084 MMR radars scheduled to be delivered in 2019-2021.
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The MMR is designed to detect and track artillery shells, rockets and missiles, as well as aircraft, and to support defenses against all of these. It is also able to quickly both estimate launch points and predict impact points of artillery shells, rockets and missiles, information which is useful for both warning and missile defense, as well as for attacking launchers.


The ELM-2084 is designed to simultaneously perform hostile weapon locating, friendly-fire ranging and air surveillance. This radar is able to detect rockets, artillery and mortars at long ranges, and can simultaneously engage a large number of targets. Deployed in a C-RAM role, it can provide fire control when integrated with a weapons system. Because of its superior tracking capabilities ELM-2084 delivers a reliable and improved air situation picture as well as reliable, uninterrupted tracking of any maneuvering aircraft. Furthermore, it can detect and track low radar cross-section (RCS) targets. Advanced signal processing enables effective operation even in conditions of heavy clutter as well as in noisy and dense environments, with assured classification and identification of targets and superior low-altitude operation. The radar system also includes advanced Electronic Counter-Counter Measure (ECCM) capabilities.
It can track upto 1,100 targets for air surveillanc
e with a detection rate of up to 256 nm air surveillance.


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Its Features are :-

-3D Multi-beam Operation by Active Electronically steered Array

- Dual Operation Modes: Weapon Location Sector of up to 120° or rotating / Air Defense: Sector or rotating up to 30RPM for fast update rate
- Scalable to several sizes / configurations.
- High mobility and fast deployment
- Air-Transportable by C-130
- Remote operation
- Integrated Network Operations
- Advanced ECCM Capabilities
- Advanced Signal Processing for: Operation in dense environments, classification and identification of targets, superior low altitude operations.
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The two  tables above indicate that the version of the MMR used in the Iron Dome system has a range of “up to” 100 km against artillery shells and other small (low radar cross section) targets and a range of up to 350 km against larger aircraft targets.  They also suggest that it can estimate lauch points for artillery (including rockets) to within about 125 meters for 50 km ranges [0.25% of 50 km =125 m].
​

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Picture : The Tamir Interceptor Missile of Iron Dome System
References :

1. Wikipedia
2. mostlymissiledefense.com
3. www.armyrecognition.com
​4.Raytheon



2 Comments

T-14 ARMATA,  The Fifth Generation Tank

7/10/2017

0 Comments

 
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Introduction

When Soviet Russia collapsed the nations that split out battled to control the economic downfall. Many foreign investors left and many trusted customers lost confidence. A few years later, NATO allegedly betrayed by not keeping up the promise. Their troops came close to Russian Borders. Under a dwindling economy and facing indirect cold aggression from world's largest military force, new weapons were needed. But the current economic state of then, was not able to finance much. Therefore certain amount of money was prioritised. To balance the prowess in Russia's western border the army needed formidable next generation terrain battle machines that can counter the current and upcoming advanced adversaries.

Thus a trend setting decision was made to develop a modular tank who's chassis can be quickly remodelled as a combat vehicle (although tried earlier on a Germam cancelled program ). With keen attention on crew protection and advanced active and passive protection system. Along with unmanned digitally operated turret.

The Fifth Generation Tank was born

As the Russians name tanks after the year. This one unveiled in 2014 was named as T 14. The T 14 Armata.
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What does it takes to be a fifth generation tank???

  • It is required to extend the comparison criteria for the performance characteristics of tanks due to new technology in a new generation of tank:
  • It takes into account not just the speed of the tank on the highway, and the speed of the tank over rough terrain, which is due to the active suspension from the T-14 is up to 90 km / h, which is a record, and shall not suffer serious accuracy of driving on rough terrain.
  • The presence of AESA radar to detect threats and classify them becomes a mandatory attribute of the modern tank.
  • Modern tank should have stealth technology as reduced visibility and technology "dynamic signature changes" in the infrared, radio and magnetic bands to block recognition of tank systems including noise and traps using the signature library.
  • Modern tank should have a means of automatic setting is not just smoke screens that are transparent in the infrared and radio, and automatic setting of multispectral curtains opaque in the infrared and millimeter wavelengths.
  • It takes not just the presence of a complex of active protection, but also the ability of the active protection to reflect not only the rocket attacks, but also to shoot down sub-caliber armor-piercing projectiles.​
  • It takes not just the existence of anti-aircraft machine guns but anti-aircraft robotic precision, capable of shooting down missiles, with the help of an AESA radar.
( a general introduction on T-14 Armata )

Design

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T-14 has many design innovations over prior tanks. One of those is the unmanned turret. The T-14 have a crew of three all of them seated in front portion of Hull surrounded by armour from all sides. It is called as an armoured capsule. The driver sits in the left, gunner in the middle and commander in the right inside a special armoured capsule. Entry and exit are provided through three hatches in front of the hull. The engine is behind as usual. Just like previous designs an Autoloader exists inside the turret. The tank has been designed to sustain direct hit by any current Anti-Tank munitions as well as robust heat signature reduction measures. It is a modular design and can be remodelled to have a different mobile terrain battle machine. Their are many designs based on 'Armata' and would be seen soon. The design intended to be main battle tank, The T-14 has an unmanned turret which is digitally controlled by a crew member ( this may lead to development of a completely unmanned MBT ). It has a more powerful engine. It has one 125mm main gun, a 30mm cannon and 12.7 mm machine gun. The T-14 also has a Ka band AESA radar which would be a part of it's detection system.
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It has 14, 700 mm wheels. It is a speculated that the suspension can be adjusted, probably only on front or on back wheels. It is suggested that their is a partial hydraulic suspension based on adjustable lever arm shock absorbers, that now double as suspension actuators. It is believed to have done to add stability while firing multiple rounds repeatedly. The tank weighs a decent 48 tons and cam be transported easily via heavy lift transport aircrafts, trains and other platforms. Being light it can easily roll through rugged terrain with ease and grace.
The tank is divided in three parts , the crew capsule at the front, the unmanned turret at the mid and engine behind.

1.Armored capsule, where the crew survives even if the tower is damaged and the adjacent compartment is ignited

2.Uninhabited tower with ammunition compartment and elements of the automatic loading device

​
3.Fixed fuel tanks protected with anti-cumulative shield4.Diesel engine capacity of 1800 hp

Powerplant & Suspension

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(the backside of Armata T-14 houses the engine )
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T-14 has a ChTZ 12H360 (A-85-3A) electronically controlled turbocharged diesel engine capable of producing 2000 hp. It is usually not set at that much maximum speed and is restricted to 1500 hp for the sake of conserving the service life. The service life is 10,000 hrs at 1200 hp power and 2000 hrs at 1500 hp.

The turbo piston diesel engine was developed at Chelyabinsk Transdizel design bureau. It is sometimes named 2A12-3, 12CHN15/16 or 12N360 for front- and rear-positioned engine compartment. A-85-3A engine is used on an Armata universal platform. The engine has 12 cylinders arranged in X shape, direct fuel injection. It also has a turbocharger and an air intercooler. It is 813 mm long, 1300 mm wide and 820 mm high and weighs 1550 kgs. This is engine generates 2000 r.p.m. at it's. maximum capability, that powers the tank to a maximum 90 km/hr top speed at speculated range of 500 km.
( T-14 Armata in Action )

T-14 uses a common platform for Armata motor and an active suspension with the following characteristics. The engine with an automatic transmission and variable power from 1200 to 1800 hp provides movement up to 90 km / h and distance of travel up to 500 km. The active suspension provides drastic reduction in rocking the tank on the move, which increases the accuracy of shooting on the move, and movement speed rough terrain, CICS tank monitors the engine, transmission and active suspension devices to automatically make decisions on service tanks and giving voice suggestions to the crew.

Firepower

The main gun of T-14 is a 125 mm smoothbore 2A82-1M (4.92 in) cannon. It can fire a variety of rounds including armour piercing discarding sabot projectiles, shaped charges, Anti Tank Guided Missiles and various other rounds. It is fed by an automatic loader. The turret carries a total of 45 rounds of ammunition, including ready-to-use ammunition. It is capable of firing all standard types of ammunition including ATGM giving it a firing range of 8km.

Noticeably the 125mm 2A82-1M does not have a fume extractor. These are normally used to pull the toxic gases from the firing process out of the muzzle after the round has exited so they do not blow back in to the turret when the breach is open so the crew avoiding breathing in the gases. As the turret is unmanned a fume extractor is not required.
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The main gun is coupled to the autoloader, which Russian media has said is capable of firing 10+ rounds per minute. The Fire Control System has the latest version of thermal sighting equipment for the gunner and commander’s independent sight. The ballistic computer has the latest sensors and laser range finder and is able to track moving targets increasing the 1st hit probability of the main gun.
~Some featured Ammunitions are ..........

1. 9M119M1 Invar-M ATGM - It can also be used against low flying aerial targets. It is believed to be able to penetrate 37 in. ( 900 mm ) steel armour and has an effective range of 5 km.

2. Telnik HE-fragmentation controlled detonation shell.

3. Vacuum I sabot round - It has been specifically developed for the 2A82-1M. It has 0.9 to 1m long penetrator.
The secondary armament consists of two guns one is Kord ( GRAU index 6P49 ) and the other is PKTM ( GRAU index 6P7K ).
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1. Kord 12.7 mm machine gun- It is designed to attack lightly-armoured ground targets, vehicles and group living force at the distance of up to 2000 m. It stands on bipod 6T19 (index 6P57), installed on infantry mount 6T20 (index 6P60), ensures firing in vertical and horizontal surfaces, in a lying position, on a knee and standing in a trench. It is installed above turret roof mounted commander's sight by which it does not obstructs the view. The gun is also capable of destroying incoming projectiles at a max speed of 3000 meters per second.

The gun is around 500 mm in length. It has a speculated rare of fire of around 600 to 700 shots per minute. A speculate muzzle velocity of 860 m/sec ( could be less also). A speculation made by observing says it has 300 rounds that are fed from right side. With muzzle velocity around 820-860 m/sec. The machine gun can hit targets at a distance of 2 kms.


2. The PKTM 7.62 mm gun is believed to be housed inside the turret, a peculiar slit at the turret front is speculated to be for that. It is coaxial with the main gun.

Protection

Crew protection is one big factor in tank making and is given acute attention. Their are mainly two types of protection systems active and passive. both of them protects the tank from incoming projectiles fired by an enemy. The active protection system mostly involves firing a counter projectile to hit the incoming projectile mid air, moments before or would have hit the tank. The passive protection system has the capability to bear the high kinetic energy of the incoming round and sacrifice itself to protect the crew inside. Along with that the tanks are equipped with smoke grenade launchers that produces smoke clouds around a tank to hinder enemy's laser targeting systems from getting a clear view of the tank. Modern tanks have reduced infrared signature and in case of Armata, it has reduced radar signature making it a Stealth tank.
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( composite armour tiles )
Stealth capability in tanks is achieved in a different way than that on combat aircrafts. In combat aircrafts the surface is faceted to deflect radar waves away such that they don't return to it's antenna as well as usage of radar absorbent material to absorb radar waves and many other techniques. In tanks such as Armata, the approach towards achieving stealth is to make it indistinguishable from from ground clutter making it appear as good as is it's surrounding terrain, this shields that tank (to some extent) from air to ground detection from advanced airborne AESA radars making it a difficult target for modern strike fighters.
Its stealth capability is not only cardinal reduction of visibility in the infrared, radio and magnetic band, but also with the use of innovative technologies" distortion signature ", that is, its visual image distortion in these ranges difficult to find tanks GOS ATGM class Javelin, Spike or JAGM among discarded infrared traps and dipole clouds.
~The protection systems on Armata are ................

1. Nll Stali Upper Hemispherical Protection Complex. - It consists of two steerable cartridges with 12 charges and a turret top vertical launch system with two similar charges.

It could be a part of soft kill mechanism. These are likely to launch salvos of projectiles instantly creating a thick, multi-spectral smoke screens designed to defeat guided missiles, laser and targeting systems by blocking infrared, visible light. These soft-kill countermeasures are designed to protect the vehicle from 3rd and 4th generation missiles such as direct attack Hellfire, TOW and BILL, or Brimstone, JAGM, Javelin or Spike missiles, approaching at high trajectory, as well as from nearly vertical top-attack by sensor-fused weapons (SFW).
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( if detected as being laser tagged by enemy, Armata releases a debris of cloud that confuses the laser )
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​These are described by the manufacturer as “The principle of operation is based on the detection of complex precision-guided munitions flew, striking the upper hemisphere, and the disruption of its guidance system or a powerful electromagnetic pulse, or the creation of securable multispectral aerosol cloud of false and IR purposes”.
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2. Armour -
The hull is made up of a modular armour system made of steel, ceramics and composite materials. The low-silhouette of the tank avoids exposition of the parts to enemy fire, which significantly enhances the safety and survivability of the crew. The crew capsule is isolated from the automatic loader and ammunition to increase crew survivability during explosions.

The T-15 uses a skirt of oblique armour panels covering the exhaust from above, but these leave enough space to direct the exhaust gases away from the vehicle. The external fuel tanks (12) positioned on the engine’s sides also add protection. Unlike the jettisonable barrels used on the previous Russian tanks, these external tanks are fixed, and, therefore, are likely to be consumed first to reduce vulnerability in combat.
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( the front and the top of both, hull and turret is covered with ERA tiles )

T-14’s floor is reinforced with an additional armor plate for counter-mine and counter IED protection, and it has a jamming system to detonate radio-controlled anti-tank mines. A new armoured steel plate was developed called 44C-SV-W. It’s understood that it’s lighter than normal steel and used in the vehicles construction to reduce the vehicles weight.
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( mine counter measures can be seen at the bottom front ventral portion of the hull )
~Explosive Reactive Armour
Armata is protected by Malachit Dual Explosive Reactive Armour - It covers both the hull and turret from front, side and top.
​

The tank is anticipated to offer up to STANAG 4569 Level 5 protection. Its forward portion is covered with reactive armour. It’s claimed that the new armour offers protection levels of 1000–1100 mm vs APFSDS and 1200–1400 mm vs HEAT.
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What is an explosive reactive armour ??
​

- The armour consists of thick tiles or plates meshed and spread out over blanketing the outer surface of a tank. Inside these plates there are explosives that perform a counter-explosion disrupts the incoming projectile so that its momentum is distributed in all directions rather than towards the target, It greatly diminishes an incoming projectile's effectiveness.

​An element of explosive reactive armour consists of a sheet or slab of high explosive sandwiched between two plates, typically metal, called the reactive or dynamic elements. On attack by a penetrating weapon, the explosive detonates, forcibly driving the metal plates apart to damage the penetrator. Against a shaped charge, the projected plates disrupt the metallic jet penetrator, effectively providing a greater path-length of material to be penetrated. Against a kinetic energy penetrator, the projected plates serve to deflect and break up the rod.
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( image taken from wikipedia )

​An important aspect of ERA is the brisance, or detonation speed of its explosive element. A more brisant explosive and greater plate velocity will result in more plate material being fed into the path of the oncoming jet, greatly increasing the plate's effective thickness. This effect is especially pronounced in the rear plate which are away from the jet, which triples in effective thickness with double the velocity.

A complication to the use of ERA is the inherent danger to anyone near the tank when a plate detonates, disregarding that a high explosive anti-tank warhead (HEAT) warhead explosion would already cause great danger to anyone near the tank. Although ERA plates are intended only to bulge following detonation, the combined energy of the ERA explosive, coupled with the kinetic or explosive energy of the projectile, will frequently cause explosive fragmentation of the plate. The explosion of an ERA plate creates a significant amount of shrapnel, and bystanders are in grave danger of fatal injury. Thus, infantry must operate some distance from vehicles protected by ERA in combined arms operations.
~ Bar Armour / Slat Armour / Cage Armour

The rear is fitted with bar armour to provide added protection against anti-tank rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). The tank can also be hinged with additional active and passive armour.

It also disrupts the shaped charge of the warhead by either crushing it, preventing optimal detonation from occurring, or by damaging the fuzing mechanism, preventing detonation outright.
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( cage armour applied at the back )
Also nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) protection, automatic fire suppression system and smoke grenade dischargers aboard the tank further enhance the crew survivability.
3 Afghanit active protections system

It is the coolest feature on Armata family of combat vehicles. The claims themselves are so big. The Russians have tested and claimed that Afghanit can protect Armata from Depleted Uranium core sabot rounds / APFSDS rounds or crowbars ( as Russians call it ). The system is speculated to be using an AESA radar system built by the Tula Instrument Design Bureau, which lies at the heart of the Afghanit system. The millimetre wavelength radar is used to detect, track and intercept incoming projectiles.
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​It consists of five cartridges/ canisters on each side at the bottom portion of the turret. They cover 60 degrees on each side of the turret. When a threat incoming from rear side is detected the turret turns to intercept that threat projectile. In T-15 the afghanit canisters aren't arranged on turret and hence it's APS does not have 360 degrees coverage. A relevant cartridge which is near to the incoming projectile would fire an electronically activated charge towards the incoming projectile and would destroy/ damage it.


Each of the APSs has its own sensors as well, mounted on each side of the turret, covering the rear and front quadrants left and right. The sensor (5) coupled with the pedestalled and upward pointing fixed countermeasures seems to be covered by a flat panel. A source from defence.pk indicated the Armata (T14 and T15) have the capability to detect, and simultaneously track and locate 40 land targets and 25 air targets. If this is indeed that sensor, it is likely to be AESA radar panels. Certain flat objects mounted on both sides of the turret seemingly different than the turret surface are speculated to be arrays of the AESA radar. There are four such sensors on each vehicle (T-14, T-15), providing hemispheric coverage, thus detecting potential top attack threats before they enter a lethal zone.
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Michael Kofman, a research scientist specializing in Russian military affairs at the federally funded Center for Naval Analyses, said he is sceptical about the Izvestia report. “I don't see it as realistic,” Kofman said. “A discarding sabot is a depleted uranium dart, the entire concept is that the material is incredibly dense to serve as a penetrator. The Afghanit APS uses a fragmentation charge and is not liable to do much to the A4—the latest variant—of U.S. munitions. I can see it possibly pushing the dart off course with some sort of hit-to-kill approach, but I doubt much can stop it—besides combinations of ERA [explosive reactive armour ] and composite armour.”

Currently the max speed of interceptable target is 1700 m/sec. ( Mach 5.0) with projected future increase upto 3000 m/sec. (Mach 8.8). This system significantly puts Armata a generation ahead in defensive technology. Similar systems are only in their infancy on British and American tanks.

ALSO

The Armata platform is configured with an active mine countermeasure system, designed to detect or trigger mines ahead of the tank. Pictures show the system being mounted on the lower front edge portion of Armata. It also has a special paint that reduces the tank's IR signature.
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( The Tank also have a magnetic repulsive system to repel incoming ATGMs )

Controls and Sensors

The Armata being a next generation tank have robust communication systems, detection systems and user friendly controls making it quite easy to drive. The commander and gunner have independent sights and the driver sights are a the centre.

The driver is speculated to be using the vision system seen at the center of the tank. but a full set of fixed periscopes is placed behind his position. The two headlights use lensed LEDs providing different intensity of visible or infrared lighting on demand. In total the T-15 driver has three vision blocks integrated in the cupola. For complete 360° coverage, panoramic cameras are positioned around the vehicle. The tank is also equipped with Electro Optic based laser warning receivers. The commander's sight is mounted on top of turret offers a 360° field of view, while the gunner’s sight is fitted with a direct-vision periscope and a laser designator
(the video shows Armata under tests and the Controls of Armata Explained)
~ Infrared targeting
Traditionally, tank commanders used panoramic sight for the detection of target coordinates. In the case of "network-centric tank" as the T-14 panoramic sight XM1209 is integrated with the tank’s radar and robotic mechanisms quickly rotates the panoramic sight. This infrared targeting is used not just for fire control but for examination purpose. Thus specified target coordinates compensated low resolution radar and possible loss of contact with a view to the radar because of the use of EW.
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( A pic in which, the turret is without Armour )
( See below pic, the commander's sight is at the remote weapon station and can rotate independently )
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The machine gun turret facilitated with an installed panoramic sight with independent rotation of the gun axis through 180 ° with high sensitivity and high-precision infrared cryogenic cooling system. This system is in production at Kazan opto-mechanical plant. Since the infrared camera is paired camera in the visible spectrum of light and laser rangefinder all together with a machine gun mount panoramic sight is able to rotate 360 ​​°.

Independent rotation of the sight machine gun mode and was first publicly demonstrated 2 April 2016 on the T-14 test. In general, the mechanics of joint motion independent of the gun panoramic sight classical and the same solutions can be seen at the demonstrations from the company Raytheon.
~ Cameras around the Tank.
​

Omnidirection HD-cameras are connected to active protection "Afghanit" system, allowing it to:

• Work with off the radar
• Avoid triggering the error
• Work in conditions of electronic warfare
• Determine laser irradiation tank.
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( One of the Cameras on the rearside of the turret )

​The T-14, in addition to the optical devices included in the MSA is equipped with six cameras HD-resolution on the turret of a tank that allows the crew to monitor the situation around the tank at 360 degrees, without leaving it. The cameras are equipped with autonomous power supply system and hydrotreating optics from dust and dirt. Camcorder on the microbolometer also allow to find the target in the infrared range through the fog and smoke, which is important given the fact that the T-14 is strongly oriented to dazzle opponents smokescreens. For example, when T-14 is surrounded by an enemy infantry can put around itself smokescreen grenade to make invisible, and shoot them from the machine gun according to IR instrument.
Picture
~ Radar
The radar of T-14 is able to calculate the trajectory of projectiles like artillery reconnaissance radar that is capable of trajectories flying by T-14 rounds automatically calculate the coordinates of the positions of enemy tanks and artillery, and perform automatic bombardment. Indeed, in the same radar as the ELM-2133 of the Trophy supported by computing coordinates ATRA shot RPG, or a shell with the transfer of data on MSA to open return fire. However, for example in Merkava similar system can be expected that the accuracy of determining the coordinates of this method missile launch locations may be insufficient for the application on them only response artillery pin need additional exploration objective optical means.
Picture

​Since the T-14 uses pulse-Doppler radar, capable of calculating the target vector velocity, the radar can give very precise angular coordinates of helicopter or air plane to indicate the sector for launching missiles for light SAM class Pine, Strela-10M4 or SAM OCA having no proper circular survey radars, but equipped equipment for external targeting and control of the radio. For a more powerful air defense system class Carapace-C1 such a scenario of external target designation is also extremely valuable, as it allows to avoid unmasking SAM through the work of its own radar to the risk of being destroyed by an anti-radar missile. Experts report that the T-14 will be able to specify the target and its escort of the many old T-90MS upgraded with the installation of noise-communication and GPS / GLONASS-navigators. It is obvious that the accuracy of the radar T-14 is excessive for such a scenario, as the T-90MS will perform the final precise guidance for its infrared sight. However, significantly more important itself implementing such a scenario, as allows T-14, the most valuable being a control computer, evade contact battlefield, and entering into contact fight not destroy its own tanks.
Picture

​The roof of the turret houses a meteorological mast, satellite communications, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS), data-link and radio communications antennae. A wind sensor mounted on top. As mentioned earlier Certain flat objects mounted on both sides of the turret seemingly different than the turret surface are speculated to be arrays of the AESA radar. There are four such sensors on each vehicle (T-14, T-15), providing hemispheric coverage, thus detecting potential top attack threats before they enter a lethal zone.

It is equipped with a battlefield management system. Its computerised fire control system automatically formulates the fire control solution using the data from a muzzle reference system and a wind sensor. Software of the tank can set and track targets by itself, leaving the crew free to focus on other functions. The Fire Control System has the latest version of thermal sighting equipment for the gunner and commander’s independent sight. The ballistic computer has the latest sensors and laser range finder and is able to track moving targets increasing the 1st hit probability of the main gun.
~ Functioning
The tank commander scans the area around and sets coordinates of the target and passes them to the gunner. The gunner later either explore the target more in detail or simply fire. The detection coordinates of both ground based and airborne targets are live broadcasted to other friendly tanks and to the mobile armoured commanding car.
Picture

​The infrared sights are used for precision guidance to the weapons to guide them to target as well as inspection purpose. They are used by both Commander and Gunner. In case gunner using the interface touch screen, can press his finger to specify weather a particular target is relatively more crucial. It also helps detect a carefully disguised target. Here the computer needs assistance from a human to specify a target. Optionally targets can also be automatically detected. The only non-electronic optical periscope available on T-14 is with the driver and commander for monitoring and reviewing the driving. For driving at night the driver is using a night vision device, as well as LED lights allow the tank to switch to ‘infrared illumination of the road’ mode.
Picture

Variants

( video explaining all variants of Armata Family of combat vehicles)
T-16 Armata Armoured Recovery Vehicle

The lesser known brother of Armata family. It is also called BREM-T. The Russian acronym BREM (cyr. БРЭМ) stands for "бронированная ремонтно-эвакуационная машина", literally "armoured repair and recovery vehicle". Derived from the same main hull. It is intended to provide heavy lift support to other tanks and IFVs that may suffer breakdown in a battlefield due to severe conditions.

Armoured recovery platforms are mostly used when armoured terrain battle machines suffer breakdown and cannot move or cannot be pulled by other tanks. Such recovery vehicles are armoured to protect the crew from unexpected hazards of a battlefield. They are equipped with a powerful engine and may also be tasked to perform on site repair works and customised support to the crew depending on specific battlefield conditions.
Picture
Picture
T-15 Armata heavy infantry fighting vehicle.
Picture

​T-15 also called as Universal Combat Platform is a heavy IFV developed by Uralvaganzovd originating from the basic Armata chassis. The main difference being the relocation of the engine to the front in the case of the T-15. Interestingly The IFV weighs in at a hefty 48 tonnes which is even more than 40 tonne T-90. But surprisingly lighter than T-14 and is powered by 1500HP A-85-3A diesel engine governed to 1200HP. Despite being lighter it is slower than T-14.


The turret is also different and the counter measure dispensers of Afghanit system are also arranged differently. They do not provide a 360° protection outright but when a threat is detected approaching from backside or so, the turret turns automatically to face the threat.

Protection of T-15 :-

Armour of T-15 :-
The T-15's basic armor is a lightweight steel and ceramic composite armor and slat armor at the engine exhaust and the rear exit door.

The T-15 have heavy armour panels which are possibly Malachit ERA panels on the hull front sides protecting the engine compartment, with lighter armour panels protecting the upper hull front and rest of the hull sides. This Malachite dual-layer ERA is claimed to protect against Top-Attack ATGMs like the FGM-148 Javelin and Missile Moyenne Portée aswell as 120mm APFSDS rounds like the German DM53/DM63 and American M829A3APFSDS just as the earlier Relikt ERA.

It is unknown if the new American M829A4 APFSDS with a multi-segmented penetrator, designed to defeat the Relikt ERA can be defeated by the Malachite ERA.
Picture

​Active Protection System of T-15 :-

T-15 is also protected by the Afganit Active Protection System.


While the T-14 has its Afganit launch tubes at the base of its turret, the T-15 has them arrayed along the top sides of its hull.
It uses four soft-kill launchers to deploy smoke grenades that disrupt visual and infrared guidance systems, and five hard-kill launch tubes on top of the hull, compared to the T-14's 10 hard-kill tubes on the turret which automatically turns to face a threat.
The Afganit Active Protection System's hard-kill systems is claimed to be capable of destroying ATGMs and APFSDS kinetic energy penetrators with speed's up to 1700 m/s by the use of trainable Explosively Formed Penetrator launchers.
Picture
Picture

T-15’s fire power :-
the T-15 has an unmanned turret which is remotely operated from inside the vehicle. An another new AU-220M Baikal remote turret is in development that features the AK-257 57mm semi-automatic naval gun and the 9M120 Ataka ATGM.

Its main gun is the 2A42 gas operated, dual-feed 30mm autocannon with 500 rounds of varying ammunition, 340 rounds of High Explosive and 160 Armor Piercing rounds, and a Coaxial 7.62x54R PKT General Purpose Machine Gun with 2000 rounds of ammunition. This cannon has a maximum rate of fire of 800 rpm and a muzzle velocity of 960 m/s. The turret is addtionally armed with 2 9M113M-2 Kornet-EM missiles on each side of the turret. Turret is provided with both gunner's sight and commander's sight for full 'hunter-killer' capability.
Picture

​Also :-
The T-15 is equipped with an NBC protection system, it also uses a special paint that significantly reduces the vehicle's infrared signature. The floor is reinforced with an additional armor plate for counter-mine and counter IED protection, and it has a jamming system to detonate radio-controlled anti-tank mines.
Picture
( the mine countermeasure system can be seen here )
( Documentary Movie on Armata Combat Platform )

Specifications

Combat weight, t .............................. 48
The layout .............................. "master stream"
Crew .............................. .3
Developer .............................. UKBTM
manufacturer Uralvagonzavod ..............................
years .............................. development 2009 - N / A
Year of manufacture ..................... ......... 2015
Armor type .............................. Combined multilayer
Active protection .............................. "Afghanit"
Dynamic protection .............................. "Malachite"
Arming
caliber guns and stamp .............................. 125mm 2A82-1M
gun type .............................. Smoothbore gun
gun ammunition projectiles 45 .............................. ( 32 AZ)
machinegun .............................. 1 mm × 12,7-Cord; 1 × 7,62-mm PKTM +
Engine power liter. .............................. .1500 to
speed on the highway, km / h .............................. 70-90
speed over rough terrain, km / h ..................... .. 40-60
Cruising on the highway, 500 km ..............................
Specific power, l. p. / m .............................. 31
Suspension Active ..............................





Images and Info Sources :-

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/complete-information-on-new-russian-armor.375579/

https://thaimilitaryandasianregion.wordpress.com/2015/10/14/russian-t-14-armata-main-battle-tank/

https://defence.ru/article/rossiiskaya-tekhnika-sukhoputnikh-voisk-v-infrakrasnom-diapazone/

http://russkievesti.ru/novosti/tekhnika/t-14-armata-novejshij-rossijskij-boevoj-tank.html

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