Commander's viewing device TKN-3TP went into series and enters the troops

Modern device TKN-3TP. Photo by ROMZ

Domestic armored combat vehicles of all types are equipped with commander's viewing devices of several types and modifications. With the help of such devices, crew commanders monitor the area and find targets for attack. Not so long ago, another sample of this kind went into production - the TKN-3TP viewing device. Reportedly, the first batches of these products have already hit the army and were installed on military vehicles.

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The new viewing device TKN-3TP was developed and is being produced by the Rostov Optical and Mechanical Plant (Rostov, Yaroslavl region). On January 24, the TASS agency reported on the first successes in mass production and the supply of such products to the troops, citing the press service of the enterprise. Events of the recent past that preceded the start of production are also mentioned.

The press service of ROMZ said that in August last year, the company was visited by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov. He got acquainted with the new developments of ROMZ and instructed the military authorities to order such products. This was followed by the signing of a formal contract for the supply and preparation of production.

It is reported that the production of TKN-3TP devices has already begun and is being successfully carried out. At the end of last year, the manufacturer handed over to the customer the first batches of such products. At the same time, the number of devices produced, the rate of their release and the volume of the order are not called.

The production of a new commander's device improved the performance of ROMZ. Thus, in the second half of the year, the volume of production within the framework of the State Defense Order increased by more than one and a half times. The main contribution to this growth of indicators was provided by the order for TKN-3TP products.

The product TKN-3 is one of the old modifications. Photo "103 Arsenal"

The plant also plans to expand production capacity to increase the output of various products. To this end, ROMZ has filed an application for a subsidy, through which the necessary construction and modernization of capacities will be carried out. It is assumed that due to such modernization, the capacities of the enterprises will increase many times over.

New generation

Commander's viewing devices are equipped with a wide range of domestic armored combat vehicles. Thus, in recent decades, devices of the TKN-3 family have been actively introduced. Such devices are mounted on the main tanks all models, on infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, etc.

A modern viewing device allows the commander to monitor the surrounding area, find and recognize various objects, and also issue target designation to the gunner of the main weapon. At the same time, current types of devices are all-day and have a separate channel for operation in the dark.

With all the advantages, current models of devices are not without drawbacks. Thus, the use of a relatively old element base and not the newest solutions limits the main characteristics of the device. In addition, older types of devices use a backlight that unmasks the carrier machine. Means of serif optics are also being developed.

In order to solve all these problems, ROMZ has developed a modernized command device TKN-3TP. In terms of its design and functions, it is generally similar to the previous products of the TKN-3 series. At the same time, the project was based on newer solutions and a modern element base, which made it possible to improve all the main characteristics and get rid of some of the characteristic shortcomings.

In the recent past, TKN-3TP went through all stages of development and passed the tests. In addition, the first orders for the production of such products appeared last year. As reported, the customer has already received several batches of devices for installation on existing armored vehicles.

Tank T-72B3. On the commander's hatch under the illuminator is the head of the TKN-3 instrument. Photo by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

What kind of combat vehicles receive devices of the new version is unknown. However, it cannot be ruled out that they are used to re-equip machines of different models. In addition, some TKN-3TP carriers could take part in the current Special Operation and show their capabilities in real battles.

Technical features

Combined daytime-thermal imaging observation device of the commander TKN-3TP is similar in appearance and basic functions to the previous products of its family. This device is made in a case of complex shape and has a height of 410 mm, a width of 375 mm and a depth of 225 mm. Weight - 14 kg. The device is intended for installation in the fighting compartment of an armored vehicle carrier at the commander's workplace.

The reduced upper part of the body, brought out to the outside of the machine, accommodates optical instruments. On the main assembly of the body are electronics, two eyepieces and the necessary controls. From the point of view of architecture, ergonomics and control principles, TKN-3TP as a whole does not differ from older devices.

The device received two channels - daytime optical and night thermal imaging. In daytime mode, the TKN-3TP has a field of view of at least 9,5° and a magnification of at least 4,7x. Resolution - no more than 12 arc. sec. The possibility of detecting a target of the "tank in lateral projection" type at ranges of at least 3 km is declared. From a distance of at least 2,5 km, such a target is recognized.

The second channel, made on the basis of a thermal imager, is intended for operation at night. The rejection of the night vision device in favor of the thermal imaging principle is the main difference between the TKN-3TP device and determines its advantages over similar devices of previous models. The thermal imaging channel allows you to work and detect contrasting objects even in the complete absence of natural light or artificial illumination.

The night channel is built on the basis of a photodetector operating in the far infrared range. This device uses an uncooled microbolometric multi-element focal plane array. Resolution - 640x480. The thermal imager produces a black-and-white image with subsequent processing by digital means. The processed image is displayed on a miniature OLED display.

Infantry fighting vehicle BMP-2. The commander's hatch of the tower (on the left in the frame) is equipped with a TKN-3 device. Photo Vitalykuzmin.net

The thermal imager has a field of view of 10x7,5 degrees. and 2x magnification. The night channel of the device at any time of the day allows you to view the side projection of the tank from 2,5 km. Identification under normal conditions is carried out from 1,5 km. Other targets, such as manpower, are detected at shorter distances.

Due to the preservation of dimensions and weight at the level of its predecessors, the new viewing device TKN-3TP fits into the requirements and limitations of a wide range of domestic combat vehicles. They can be equipped with tanks of current models, infantry fighting vehicles and other equipment. Replacing an existing obsolete product with a modern device is not a fundamental difficulty and does not require the conditions of a large plant.

Efficiency Issues

Obviously, the overall performance of an armored combat vehicle is determined not only by the type and characteristics of weapons and armor. The overall result also depends on the ability of the crew to monitor the situation, timely identify and engage dangerous objects. To solve such problems, our crews of armored vehicles have a whole range of optical means.

As reported, deliveries of new serial observation devices of the commander TKN-3TP began last year. Such devices should already be installed on tanks and other armored vehicles, and it is quite possible that they managed to be used in exercises and in the Special Operation. And it cannot be ruled out that the results of the use of new devices in the form of successful attacks on various targets have already been demonstrated to the public.

Comments

[Aleks tv]

At last...
I've been waiting for something like this for 30 years.

The device is antediluvian, with a matrix of the first generation, uncooled.
But at least some Teplak to the commander.

But what should he do when the gunner with Sosny's thermal imaging channel is working?
Staring at the "Double" screen? Or brew coffee for the gunner?

But the Rostov plant is still in 2014, the TKN-3TP offered the Ministry of Defense...
Eprst.

[Uncle lee]

Quote: Aleks tv

back in 2014 year

It hasn't even been ten years...

[Civil]

I still don’t understand, does the device fit into its regular place without dancing with a tambourine?

[Bad_gr]

Quote: Civil

I still don’t understand, does the device fit into its regular place without dancing with a tambourine?

[Edward Perov]

Alex, I fully agree. Though such ahem, mammoth, but it's better than what it was.

[not the one]

I agree with previous speakers - better late than never.

[Dimax-nemo]

They offered what Abrams had back in the early 80s. In the Moscow Region, in the corresponding research institutes, there are also perfectionists, as well as on sofas, who do not want to sign for "garbage". That now and this is better than nothing, no one came to mind.

[cold wind]

Better than nothing is the correct definition of this device.

[Dante Alighieri]

Greetings, Alexey! Indeed, things have progressed quite a bit. However, I still continue to consider such a surveillance system extremely inconvenient (as they say now, not a user friend), because. it is still desirable for the tank commander to have a spare pair of eyes: one to look into the finished TKN-3, the second - to follow through the screen of the Double system what the gunner sees, whose sight still remains much more perfect than the commander's. Below and below is a copy of my message from November of that year

Why not instead, and most importantly - in place this "archaic", i.e. to mount a block of three compact cameras (or better, a tandem of thermal imaging and conventional cameras) directly into the triplex of the commander's hatch, which would display a panoramic image on the LCD monitor? Modern video cameras are quite compact in size, they can be carefully placed instead of TKN-3, and the image quality from such cameras is unlikely to be lower than that of the "hero" of this article. Programmatically combining 3 pictures into one is also not an unsolvable task, it could still be push-button phones, and modern models on ios and android even more so. This does not even require an additional calculation unit, everything can be implemented in the case of the monitor itself. Moreover, such a system will also allow you to abandon the screen of the Double system, simply displaying its picture (for example, in the form of a separate area in the right corner) on the same display as the image from the cameras in the hatch. As a result, in one plane in front of the commander there will be data on the environment and what the gunner is observing. And there will be no need to make constant jerks up and down the department in an attempt to break between two different sources of information.

I’m already silent about the fact that this will generally allow us to abandon the large panoramic sights located on the turret itself (hello to the MGOES mast shown to us at the Army forum on the updated T-62M), which have rather weak protection against everything that exceeds caliber 7,62 .XNUMX mm, and therefore invariably attract the attention of lovers of breaking glass on everything that can be reached. Even if one of the cameras in the version I proposed turns out to be damaged due to any factors, this will lead to the loss of the image from only one sector, while the other two will continue to properly broadcast the image on the screen.

Well, and most importantly - such an alteration will require a minimum of costs, the main of which will fall on the cameras themselves. The zoom is over, and in the common people - Zoom, most likely it will be the simplest (no more than x16), and the stabilization and zoom will be digital, but it's quite cheap. Surely, because something similar is being developed for Almaty, so why not try to implement it in a more simplified version on the same T-72B3?

At the same time, I cannot say that I was exclusively against TKN-3TP. I just think that the time of this sight as a tank sight is still long gone, but on the same infantry fighting vehicles it could well look quite succinctly even today.

[Jafar]

With a field of view of about 10 degrees, much more than 3 cameras are needed. Here, I think it would be more interesting to have a system with motion analysis along a wide angle and an additional movable camera with a narrow angle, which will be aimed at movement or at a place indicated by the operator. The problem with the thermal imaging channel, 640 × 480 is, of course, not bad at all, but if you put it on a wide panorama, then the resolution in ug.sec. it won't be very good. Perhaps an array of cameras could help, because. megapixel microbolometers with good diff. sensitivity is not yet about us or China

[Bad_gr]

In my opinion, an interesting proposal was on "Abrams-X" (concept), where the optical devices of the gunner and the commander completely duplicate each other:

[Unlimrpl]

There, most likely, the commander has a second channel duplicating the gunner's sight, they said that this was implemented in the breakthrough, but the fact that the commander can independently observe the environment is + this is an extra pair of eyes

[Carib]

A very advanced ballometric matrix. Of course, it lags behind the best foreign analogues, But it has its own and serial one. Foreigners are already doing 1024 * 768, and perhaps even more sensitive and more distant IR.

[Unlimrpl]

As far as is known, 1024/768 has not yet been installed on the latest Abrams and leopards

[Dimax-nemo]

By the way, a 3rd generation NVD channel would not be superfluous. In addition to the thermal imager.

[FPEDDI_KPYGEP]

What about an analogue of Starlink?
Sorry, I'm not smart enough to write a normal comment

[Nikolay Anatolyevich]

I just read an article about Leclerc, so there is identification at a distance of 2,5 km. And this is the difference ... With our 1,5 km, it is significant.

[Alexey Koshkarov]

The magnification is weak. Increase the multiplicity to at least 8

[Dkuznecov]

the impression that the sample
cast on Mytishchi
factory thin. casting and then a couple
once filed through.
took a closer look.
no, they did not go through with a file.
the cover fell off by itself.
rubber eyecups - one to one from milking machines.
Recognized by sight.

[faterdom]

Any improvement in the "eyes" of the commander is a plus, the main thing is that each of our armored objects should quickly receive a device and replace it on their turret.
We are lagging behind in the detection range or resolution of the matrix, so this is not a reason to do nothing at all until we give birth to a child prodigy. Someone today and tomorrow will go into battle on this machine, and win it, thanks perhaps to the "eyes".

[agond]

Thermal imagers are constantly mentioned, however, in addition to the infrared spectrum, there is ultraviolet, for reference, the shorter the wave, the higher the resolution of the device, not to mention the fact that the dimensions of the lens will be much smaller. (yes, the eyes of birds are not large, but they see better than us) True, the ultraviolet camera does not see heat, but there are other contrasts, for example, a polar bear on a background of snow is much less contrast in a thermal imager than in ultraviolet .. Ideally, the observation device should have three cameras on different wavelengths, infra, normal light and ultra.