A little tank news from the
Ukraine...
AS a further modification of the
T-72B1, they have now developed the
T-72AMT (And
good luck trying to keep up with all these mods for the T-72 from here and their close friends to the East.). Both refs. say the Army received the first tank this month. The second ref. indicates a 130 T-72'S have already been improved to this mark and are in service. Both agree a unit is operating with them. One is saying they're still finishing testing. So here's what I think...
1) FOC
OCT 2017. It "cuts to the chase" of the ambiguity of the issue from these articles. They are as I predicted over a year pressing on with
tank production and I posted on this then when they hired and I forgot his name, the American that was in charge of that and more for the USA. In fact also very recently I posted an article that as a side bar mentioned how they had ramped UP production of the
OPLOT-M. Ukraine is defiantly selling armor now (Memory "
lighting bolt" that article dealt with Pakistan updating their T-84 and possibly looking into buying an updated version of the OPLOT-M that the Ukraine also wants to build about 3 weeks back as I recall.) sells and foreign investment is spurring on production. Anyway...
2)
3rd GEN Night Vision well that means simply the
TI/GSR will be greater then 40. The OPLOT-M should be at 50 however I can't determine if this should be rated at 50 or 45.
The next should narrow that decision point down somewhat I think to the higher side.
3) At
5km this ATGW can penetrate
750mm of protected armor. Poland is looking into this ATGW as well that was developed with the help of a small Middle Eastern country. The numbers have been verified by India very recently for the
ARJUN Mk II. It sounds similar to the
BAR'ER or
STUGNA-P weapon now used in a man portable and APC versions in the ARMY. The comparison chart was also very interesting IN REF 1.
http://spetstechnoexport.com/catalogues/494
http://www.defence24.com/361151,ukra...-tank-weaponry
4) Protected by
NOZH all the way around which is a highly effective ceramic armor system. There further news here concerning the
T-64 BULAT apparently they now have the same system as well.
OPLOT-M was the first to receive it.
And because I type so slooow...
"The tank is also hinged with anti-cumulative gratings, reducing the impact of HEAT hits, while protecting the most vulnerable parts of the tank. The engine, transmission and other components are also protected by slat armour to reduce the impact of shaped-charge weapons." from ref 1.
5) Comms very similar to Turkeys
ALTAY because it is from them. Believe
ALTAY will have a level III system at FOC.
6) More durable mobility and suspension system.
http://www.army-technology.com/proje...in-battle-tank
http://www.defense-aerospace.com/art...-ato-zone.html
Now I know this next tank will cross someones mind out here, so, let me just quash that thought now. It is not the
T-72UA1 that's been available to the export market since
2012 and
rumored to be sometime after that in Ukrainian service.
http://www.military-today.com/tanks/t72ua1.htm
However the fact that
Ethiopia has been operating them might be of some value here.
[b]3a)/B] I believe I got it looks like it's possibly the
KOMBAT ATGW or improved version which I suspect based on the articles I've read concerning India's testing of them for ARJUN. But it does fit the refs. from the beginning of the post.
https://en.uos.ua/produktsiya/vooruz...kombat-i-konus
Regards,
Pat
