In September 2013, a promising new Polish tank PL-01 was shown at an exhibition in the Polish city of Kielce. Perhaps only lazy did not write about this, and Western military and couch experts called this project almost the killer of “Almaty”. But the time of the first euphoria has passed. And let's see and try to find out how the perspective Polish tank Now.
But first we offer a small excursion to history.
Even at the dawn of tank-construction times, relations between Poland and the USSR were more than cool, read: hostile. And both countries sought to acquire their own armored forces, which, in principle, succeeded.
And the appearance in the Red Army of the BT series of tanks was greatly facilitated by the Poles, who also became interested in the creation of Walter Christie. They, like the USSR, bought the English 6-ton Vickers tank and made their own light tank 7TR on its base.
In general, nothing human is alien, and the purchase of foreign samples in those years, and in subsequent years, was normal. Why does the author write all this, dear reader will ask?
And the fact that in the USSR they were able to create their own tank-building school, which in present-day Russia continues to develop successfully, despite the horrors of the 90s.
In Poland, the problem with this, the country lost its battle at the beginning of World War II rather quickly, and the entire war was fought on foreign-made tanks.
In the first post-war period, Poland produced T-34-85 and T-54 tanks, and later T-72 tanks. That is, Polish tank factories did not develop independently from scratch.
After the cessation of almost all ties at the turn of 80-90-s of the twentieth century, the question of maintaining the combat capability of Polish tank units arose. As a result, a modernized T-72М1 tank called "Wilk" (wolf) appeared, and further modernization led to the appearance of the PT-91M2 "Twardy" tank.
The Poles wanted to further upgrade the tank, and even the RT-94 Gorilla project was ready, but it didn’t grow together, and German tanks Leopard А2А4 and later Leopard А2А5 began to enter the armed forces, but with one mark these tanks boo.
Based on the above, it is possible to make an intermediate conclusion that the Poles do not have any serious developments and samples before creating a new tank.
In 2013, a program was adopted to re-equip the Polish army and replace the PT-91 and BMP-1 tanks with vehicles based on the heavy GEPARD platform. But there is an opinion that in connection with the events in Ukraine and then in Syria, this program will be greatly revised.
The fact is that it assumed the creation of a platform with a lower combat mass, which made it highly mobile and heavily armed (the main weapon - 120 mm).
The events in the above-mentioned countries showed that tanks with 125-mm guns are much more productive in battle than tanks with 120-mm guns, moreover in Russia they showed the T-14 project, which in the future can be armed with an instrument of a much larger caliber, and last year, the Rheinmetall guys showed off a new 130-mm tank gun. The Poles had a lot to think about.
For many, it will probably be a discovery that the PL-01 tank looks similar to the Polish light tank Anders (joke), which in turn was created based on the Swedish BMP Strf 90 (eng. CV90), which was developed in 1984 year, production with 1993.
Light tank Anders
BMP Strf 90
Our ward also grew out of the above BMP. Given the current realities, it is not surprising that after the 2013 of the year, the PL-01 actually disappeared from view.
The video shows that the exhibition at the time was shown only a running layout, its real performance characteristics, weapons and armor are not known.
But we will try to simulate a little situation.
Considering the base that the Polish engineers chose for their advanced tank, the car will be very high, on 50 cm above T-90, which clearly reduces survival, despite the fact that the presence of composite armor is foreseen.
No matter the situation will be with mobility, given the desire to make a tank weighing in 45-50 tone (which is 15-20 tons more than the BMP Strf 90 weighs).
Who and how to share the secrets of armor or blanks is unknown.
The fact is, as was written in the Polish media, that the secrets of the reservation are kept very carefully, and in Poland there are no ideas about this. Here Russia, China, USA, Israel, Germany and, perhaps, Great Britain rule the ball.
The same question is the SLA (fire controls). OMS, most likely, will be foreign, and obviously not the most advanced (as usual, myself in the first place). Do not forget about the desire of a number of countries to increase the caliber of tank guns.
From which it can be concluded, more precisely, to repeat it for all the same Polish media that this tank, if it is created, in its present form, does not even reach the “potential victim” even for the distance of the radar. Domestic 125-mm artillery systems simply will not allow this.
And even if it happens (the battle in the city or on the rugged terrain), according to Polish publications, Russian tanks have a very serious armor protection (just remember the footage from Syria. - Author's note) to confidently confront the PL-01 tank.
Against the background of all this, the statement that the future PL-01 will become the killer of “Almaty”, otherwise you will not call it nonsense. It is worth mentioning that this tank was already at the present time to pass military tests, and in the future (2018) to go into mass production, the main customer first had to be the Ministry of Defense of the Polish Republic.
But since last year, little is heard about the tank, and it’s not at all clear whether at least one prototype has been built for testing, or a sample from the 2013 exhibition of the year is nothing more than a hoax. And what is the fate of the project?
There is an opinion, even in Poland, that the pseudo-tank will not be ever implemented at all, not only because of technical difficulties, but also because by the time of release it may simply cease to be relevant. And this all goes.
And as written on pl.sputniknews.com, the only advantage of the Polish tank over the Russian Armata is an armored gun cover, stylized as a space blaster, and the original rounding of armor.
What is the essence of the appeal to the topic of this machine? The essence is easily (with a knowledge of the language) can be found in the Polish press. On the one hand, there is a hefty bloc crying about the threat to independence, territorial integrity and other pleasures on the part of Russia. On the other hand, there is (fortunately) a considerable number of opponents, soberly reasoning in the style of "So what?"
Quite a few in Poland understand that two hundred, if not new, but “Leopards” is still a force. This is even enough if something happens to ... Enough for something.
But this is not a reason to put on the stream "unknown animal." Unless you really invent a blaster.
Panov, protect the zloty and nerves. Still useful.
According to the materials of the Polish and not only press:
http://www.defence24.pl/321736,chaos-wokol-geparda-co-dalej-z-polskim-programem-pancernym
https://pl.sputniknews.com/opinie/201608193719455-armia-czolg-polska-anders-armata/
https://pl.sputniknews.com/polska/201606073048656-polska-armata-pl-01/
https://bmpd.livejournal.com/1960458.html