What is dangerous Ukrainian T-72AMT? "Critical parameters" of the new tank of the aggressor, which should take into account the sun of New Russia
During the visit of US Secretary of Defense James Mattis to the “Square” (24 August 2017), it finally became clear that supplies to the Ukrainian military units of lethal weapons would sooner or later be included in the list of operations of the United States Department of Defense Military Cooperation (DSCA). The implementation of this stage of military-technical support can go through both foreign military sales (“Foreign Military Sales”, FMS), and through completely different arms transfer channels to the US allies. The head of the US defense department said that a few weeks ago a document had already been signed for the delivery of an unnamed "equipment" to Kiev with a total value of $ 175 million. The amount is very impressive. For example, it may provide for the supply of X / NUMX anti-battery AN / TPQ-5 “Firefinder II” artillery reconnaissance radars with a range of enemy artillery batteries in 37 — 50 km, as well as a huge number of anti-tank complexes (from “TOW” to “Javelina”) and means of passive electronic intelligence.
So far, information on this matter has not been disclosed, but judging by Poroshenko’s “glowing face” during the briefing, a lot has been promised. However, we can learn about the details immediately after the actual “fall” of the next “school truce”, but for now let's run a little ahead and consider the technical qualities of the modernized Ukrainian MBT T-72АМТ, which in the next few months, in the amount of several dozen units, will go into service with Ukrainian armored units in the Donbass and will be used against buildings NM LDNR. What should the military personnel of the New Russia army know for successful opposition to this MBT?
About 2 months ago, we conducted a detailed technological review of the main combat vehicles reconstructed at the Kharkov Armored Plant tanks type T-80B / BV, which step by step take up service in the front-line units of the Armed Forces. Very negative news It became the presence of the "Square" unique gas turbine engines GTD-1250, which are also installed on the Russian T-80U. This power plant will give Ukrainian vehicles unprecedented dynamic performance, allowing you to accelerate to speeds of 85 - 90 km / h with a specific power in 27,8 hp / t, which will create considerable difficulties in hunting for them from the tank units and anti-tank forces of the DPR. The availability of OBT data gives ukram the opportunity to carry out a sudden and lightning “breakthrough” of the anti-tank frontier corps of the People’s Militia of the DPR in the area of such settlements as Kominternovo, Belaya Kamenka, Novolasp or Styl only due to its speed characteristics. As for long-term tank battles, the T-80BV for these purposes is adapted poorly enough.
Firstly, the equivalent resistance of the frontal projection of the hull and turret of this tank leaves much to be desired. The upper frontal part of the hull is durable within 430 mm from BOPS and can be pierced with armor-piercing projectiles ZBM-42М Lekalo, ZBM-22 Pin and VBM-32 Vant at a distance of 1200 — 1300 m. shells does not exceed 900 mm (depending on the angle of the meeting of the cumulative jet and the surface of the frontal armored plate). Taking into account the modules of the remote contact “Contact-1”, protection is provided against such CSs as 9K115 “Metis”, “Baby” and one-piece RPG-7 variants. From the tandem “kuma” of type PG-7BP, 9М131М “Metis-М1” and “Konkurs-M”, the upper frontal part T-80BB in the classic version will not protect. The situation with the armorlessness of the tower (taking into account the DZ "Kontakt-1") is the same: the resistance from BOPS is 540 mm, from the COP - 900 mm, which is not much better than in the case with the case. All the same “thin-walled” cast tower is used, the side projections of which easily make their way from the RPG-7, the RPG-26 “Agleni” and the LNG-9. Aft projection can be punched even from 30-mm automatic gun type 2А42М. The people's corps of the LNNR militia have all the necessary range of anti-tank weapons to fight Ukrainian T-80BV. Even if the Ukrainian T-80BV tankers temporarily advance into the operational depth of the LDNR, in the very first hours they will be completely defeated by anti-tank calculations and motorized infantry of the LDNR armies using the Metis-M, Fagot and Konkurs-M complexes ".
With the upgraded T-72AMT, the situation is a bit different. To support "lightning-fast" offensive operations, these machines cannot because of the use of the standard 840-strong diesel engine B-84-1. This power plant allows you to realize a speed of no more than 60 km / h, mediocre traction capabilities and power density of the order of 19,5 hp / t, given that the weight of the machine reaches 43 tons after equipping with a complex of dynamic protection and huge anti-cumulative fences on the side and stern armor plates towers. In terms of dynamic qualities, T-72АМТ is about 45% inferior to gas turbine T-80Б / В. But the bronze protection of this machine may not be a very pleasant "surprise" for tankers and anti-tank forces of the armies of Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. For example, if the T-80B / BV modernized at the Kharkiv Armored Plant are covered with a hinged dynamic protection of the Contact-1 type, which absolutely does not provide an increase in durability from armor-piercing projectiles, T-72AMT is covered by a combined DZ as on the basis of "Contact -1 ", and on the basis of many times more efficient complex built DZ" Knife ".
The principle of operation of the elements of dynamic protection HACCK-19 / 34 "Knife" is fundamentally different from the method of anti-shear action of the elements 4-20 "Contact-1". If in the second case, the stopping and destructive effect on the cumulative jet or armor-piercing core is extinguished by metal plates that are fired towards the attacking element due to the detonation of the built-in package with an explosive, then in the first case, several flat cumulative protective jets are used against the attacking cumulative jet or core . The latter occur after the initiation of explosive charges in “month-shaped” tubular explosive packs, tightly packed in EHL CASKV-19 / 34. Consequently, the Knife DZ modules increase the equivalent durability of tank projections approximately 1,8 - 1,9 times, a similar increase in security is observed in the case of single-piece cumulative projectiles; Resistance from tandem COPs increases approximately 1,2 times. Moreover, 60% increase in durability from anti-tank weapons of the “shock core” type is being implemented. Now we apply these figures to the standard security of the T-72A tanks, on the basis of which the Kiev Kiev Armored Plant produces the updated version of the T-72АМТ.
It is well known that the equivalent stability of the frontal projection of the T-72A tank, although insignificantly, exceeds the indicators of the T-72М1 supplied to the Warsaw Pact countries. The envelope of the frontal armor caste of the tower is represented by three main layers: the outer and the rear steel armored plates and the central niche in which the special reservation is located on the basis of “sand cores” fastened with steel reinforcement. This type of special reservation for the T-72A tower (“176 Object”) initially provided 37% increase in durability from cumulative projectiles in comparison with the U-T early X-72 tower (560 against 410 mm, respectively). The stability of the frontal armor of the tower from BOPS is 500 mm without DZ. After placing the EHD HOSCHKV-19 / 34 “Knife”, it increases to approximately 850 — 900 (with frontal shelling) and to 650 — 500 mm (when shelling at safe maneuvering corners ± 20 - 35 °). To pierce such a tower with an ordinary BOPS "Hairpin", "Vant" and "Lekalo" in a frontal attack on the tank units of NM LDNR will not work even with 700 — 1000.
Destroy the upgraded T-72AMT with the above shells will only happen if you hit a little to the right of the gun, where Ukrainian “virtuosos of tank building” (by analogy with T-80BB) instead of the Noz modules, placed an infrared searchlight. If we consider the security of the T-72AMT tower from the CS (taking into account the presence of the “Knife”), then with 0 degrees to the normal, stability in 1000 - 1050 mm from monoblock PTURS and 700 mm - from tandem ones is provided. As a result, during a frontal attack in the tower, T-72AMT can be hit by such anti-tank systems as Metis-M, Cornet-E, Competition-M, or RPG-28 Cranberry, but not Metis. , RPG-7 (including PG-7BP shot), etc. The only exception is the small sector of the infrared illuminator to the right of the gun mask (equivalent resistance here is about 370 - 450 mm).
The stability of the side projections of the “Knife” turret (within the range of shelling ± 35 degrees) reaches 600 — 700 mm both from the armor-piercing cores and from the cumulative projectiles. The same numbers for various types of armor-piercing effects are observed due to the fact that the side projections do not have niches filled with “sand cores”, which increase the anti-cumulative potential of the armor. These sites can be pierced with the help of RPG-28 “Kryukva”, RPG-29 “Vampire” and the ATGM “Metis-M1”. Outside the 35-degree angle from the longitudinal axis of the gun (≥35 °), the sides of the turret are almost “cardboard” and are not covered by DZ elements, and therefore they can be punched both from ordinary “Baby” or “Fagot”, and through “boots” (LNG-9), Metis, Flies, or the Aglene RPG-26.
With the security of the upper frontal parts of the case the situation is much more complicated. It is represented by a 3-layer barrier, consisting of an 60-mm outer steel sheet, an 105-mm fiberglass laminate plate, and a back plate with an 50 mm envelope. At an inclination angle in 68 ° to the normal, we have a physical dimension of 573 mm and equivalent resistance from BOPS - 420 mm. Nothing better than Kiev specialists to put on 4C20 “Contact-1” on VLD EDS was not invented by the Kiev experts, and therefore we see absolutely no increase in the protective qualities of kinetic projectiles. Taking into account the thickness of the DZ 4C20 modules and a small high-explosive effect at the time of their initiation, the resistance of VLD to armor-piercing projectiles can reach 430 - 440 mm. For breaking through such a barrier, standard 125-mm feathered armored-piercing sub-caliber projectiles ZBM-23 "Pin", ZBM-27 "Nadezhda-R" and ZBM-30 "Nadfil-2" are perfect. In this case, the range may be close to 2100 m.
The armored security of the T-72AMT WTD tank from cumulative action (taking into account Contact-1) can reach 900 - 950 mm, which causes it to break through with almost any tandem-based cumulative means (from RPG-7 with an RPG-to-RP-AI-X-RP-87). -7 "Tavolga", not to mention the tandem ATGW). The upper frontal part of the T-27AMT can be considered the second most vulnerable spot of the tank, immediately after the uncovered area with an IR illuminator on the turret (to the right of the gun).
The side projections of the T-72АМТ case are well protected. Not only that the onboard armor plates have an 80 mm size in the area of the mechanical drive and combat compartment work station with a thinning to 70 mm in the engine-transmission compartment area (at corners ± 20 ° from the tank heading, this gives the steel equivalent 204 and respectively) An additional element of the reservation of these sites can be considered and huge 245-millimeter track rollers, which add another couple of tens of millimeters of resistance (depending on the angle of fire). Airborne protivokumulyativnye screens add a few tens of millimeters. But their main drawback can be considered an extremely small width, which does not allow covering most of the hull and rollers, which is why kinetic and cumulative projectiles can easily penetrate the hull, despite the large rollers. One more minus, undoubtedly, can be considered an extremely small area of coverage of anti-cumulative screens as elements of remote sensing. As for the enormous anti-cumulative “fencing lattices”, covering the onboard and stern projections of the CI chy; t, the CI chapters, or with the 750-xnumx BMP cannons, or shelling with RPG-72 assault grenades of the OGs, and the chapters of the CI 30A2 guns, or shelling from RPG-42 with splitting grenades of the OGs; the grille will be for the T-7AMT “like a dead poultice”: it will very quickly turn into a “leaky colander”, after which cumulative means will be used and the tank will be safely destroyed. A similar technique is also applicable to the anti-cumulative grill covering the stern armor plates of the hull, including MTO with an ejector cooling system.
MBT T-72AMT
Another constructive feature, on the contrary, markedly increases the survivability of the modernized Ukrainian MBT. We are talking about the horizontal placement of the ammunition in the mechanism of the automatic loading of the tank, thanks to which the area of the projection of the side sheets, which penetration leads to the detonation of the pack and the death of the crew, is reduced by several times. In particular, MBT T-64 BM "Bulat" have a vertical ammunition, which leads to the destruction of tanks, even from single precision shots from the RPG-7 or LNG-9 to the center of the on-board armor plates of the hull. Nevertheless, despite the loss of a certain number of Bulatovs in the Donbass, these machines proved to be very worthy thanks to the excellent armor protection of the tower with the help of the dynamic protection of the Knife. Thus, according to the stories of one of the crews of Bulat Bulat 30 of the APU brigade, 12 February 2015, in the tank confrontation under Logvinovo (Debaltsevo HE), elements of the Noz DZ reflected the penetration of an armor-piercing projectile projectile and even allowed the Ukramins to continue the fight with further the destruction of the T-72 army of New Russia.
This case confirms our calculations: the Knife modules increase the frontal durability of the T-64BM and T-72A towers to 850 - 900 mm, and therefore republican tankers cannot break them even with the same Lekal without resorting to tricks with firing at weakened sections of the tower. This applies to both the Bulat and the T-72AMT. One of the advantages of the “Knife” is the dense location of the EDZ HSChKV-19/34 (between the modules on the tower there are no cracks exposing the frontal armor plates). The main battle tanks T-72A / B of the LPR People’s Militia Corps are distinguished by the presence of the Contact-1 DZ (which does not protect against BOPS) or Contact-5. Despite the fact that the latter increases resistance to BFPS by approximately 20-30%, its 4C22 elements do not form a continuous protective surface (large gaps are observed between the elements, which can easily penetrate the BPS core). Also, in order to maintain an overview of the sighting system of the gunner, to the left of the mask of the gun there are no elements of remote sensing. Nonetheless, weapons Donbass craftsmen were able to improve Contact-5 by adding thick rubber pendants with Contact-4 elements 22C4 at the edges to the wedge-shaped joints of elements 20C1. As a result, the “boxes” of “Contact-1” reliably overlap tower epaulets (there is no such advanced “dodger” on Ukrainian cars).
MBT T-64BM "Bulat"
A separate point is to consider the sighting complex of the T-72AMT gunner. The basis for day and night tank battles is the far from advanced combined surveillance and targeting complex 1K13-49 "Neman", which provides overview and guidance in television and infrared sighting channels, as well as semi-automatic laser guidance of the TUR. At the same time, at night, in passive IR mode, the target identification range reaches 500 - 600 m; during infrared illumination - 1200 m. The field of view in night mode reaches only 6 ° 4`. On the face of a very mediocre night fighting qualities. For example: the detection range of a "tank" -type target at night by means of the thermal imaging sighting device of the TPV "Sosna-U" gunner reaches 3000 m, identification - about 2000 m.
Considering that this sighting system, which fell on the Voentorg line, was already seen on the “Seventy-second” corps of the LDNR People’s Militia, then T-72AMT punitive units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with their “Nemani” have no chance to destroy the tank forces of the New Russia army under the cover of night. The Sosny-U review sector reaches 9º x 6,75º with the resolution of the displayed infrared 640x460 (on the 5,7-inch LCD display). Against this ukry will not be able to oppose. Tankers-defenders of Novorossia will be able to open fire almost 2 times earlier than tankers of the Ukrainian military formations. The only problem is that far from all modifications of the Donbass “Urals” are equipped with this gunner aiming complex, but after the delivery of the first “package” of American lethal weapons to Kiev, the situation may change.
In the day mode, the Neman’s target identification range is 5000 m, which is quite acceptable. The complex also has an integrated laser channel for the semi-automatic control of the 125-mm tank battled Kombat missile with a range of 5000. This ATGM can create a lot of trouble for tank crews of LDNR armies, because its armor penetration can reach 650 — 750 mm in DZ. Not one modification of the T-72 (including the “B3”) does not have full protection against the “Combat”. The only exceptions are those "Seventy-second", which are equipped with a complex of dynamic protection "Relic" and KAZ. The tanks of the NM LDNR buildings "Relic", unfortunately, do not have. But the militia can respond tank TURN 9K120 "Svir" or "Cobra" (applied to the T-64BV or future trophy T-80BV).
On most T-72AV / B armored units of the NM DNR there are obsolete 1K13-49, equalizing the chances of night battles with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, due to the best protective qualities of the DZ “Knife”, the upgraded “Bulaty” and T-72АМТ can even get a noticeable superiority over the tanks of the Armed Forces of New Russia. The use of the aforementioned improved Ukrainian MBT (we will add high-speed T-80BV to this list) can be observed only in the most important operational areas (new Azov, Telman or Debalt). Nobody will send these vehicles, which are scarce for the junta, to Donetsk or Gorlovka.
As a subtotal of our review, it is worth noting that the upgraded MBT T-72АМТ, which can be adopted by the Ukrainian military units in the number of 200 and more units, are distinguished by a sufficiently high bronze-proofness due to the DZ "Knife". And therefore, if they are used in one or another operational direction, anti-tankers of the Armed Forces of the DPR should be as prepared for their “frontal meeting” as possible, where the enemy’s mechanical leads will try to keep the vehicle bodies in the corners of safe maneuvering (there will be very few vulnerable zones) .
Preparation consists in equipping the advanced anti-tank calculations of NM LDNR, which will be the first to meet Ukrainian tanks, with tandem anti-tank systems (Metis-M, Konkurs-M) or with grenade launchers with Tavolga, Klukva and Vampire". No "Bassoon", "Baby", "Metis", RPG-22 and RPG-26 with a single-blooded "godfather" weather will not do here. And most importantly, do not forget about the bad night opportunities of the SLA of the new punitive brainchild of Square.
Information sources:
http://news.eizvestia.com/news_technology/full/908-ukrainskij-tyuning-t-72amt-zloj-odessit-foto
http://www.btvt.narod.ru/4/t-72.htm
http://armor.kiev.ua/Tank/dz/1.php
http://fofanov.armor.kiev.ua/Tanks/ARM/apfsds/ammo_r.html
Information