Army chooses upgrading T-72 instead of purchasing T-90
It is worth noting that in recent years, the military has accumulated a fair amount of complaints about the products manufactured at the enterprise. At the exhibition held in early September, among other models, the T-90 tank was once again demonstrated. In the spring of 2011, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, Alexander Postnikov, already criticized the tank, saying that the Russian Defense Ministry did not see the point in buying the “17th modernization tank T-72 "for 118 million rubles. Perhaps this is why the order structure of the defense department for tank technology is changing with great creak. For many years now, the Ministry of Defense has been purchasing 63 T-90 tanks, supplementing the order with overhaul and modernization services for the T-72 tanks in service with the T-72BA level.
The statements of General Alexander Postnikov did not arise from scratch; apparently, the military really do not see the point in buying a large number of new T-90 (which actually originally had an index T-72BU) at the price of 118 million rubles apiece. Last year, the defense ministry bought these tanks for 70 million rubles. Leaving behind the reasons for such a sharp increase in the price of this tank, it is worth noting that the fact remains: the Russian Ministry of Defense considers the mass purchase of the T-90 too expensive.
Instead of buying new “old” tanks, the Ministry of Defense decided to increase the pace of modernization of the T-72 tanks in service. According to the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in 2010, the military ordered the modernization of 198 T-72B tanks to the level of T-72BA. It is also reported that in March 2011, a contract was signed on upgrading 300 tanks to the level of T-72BA during 3 years, that is, 100 tanks per year. However, taking into account the total number of T-72 tanks in the troops (according to information from open sources, their number exceeds 9 thousand units), and even taking into account their inevitable reduction during the transition to brigades of the “new look”, such modernization rates should not be considered the highest .
The desire to move to the modernization of existing tanks instead of acquiring the T-90 is confirmed by the concept of 3 types of combined-arms brigade "new look", which was published by the General Staff in 2010 year. According to this concept, brigades of 3 classes should be created in Russia - heavy (on tracked tracks), medium (on wheeled armored personnel carriers) and light (on armored vehicles). At the same time, the military demanded the maximum unification of vehicles within the same compound. In practice, this means that in the case of a heavy brigade, if possible, the entire fleet of its equipment should be based on a single chassis: from tanks, self-propelled guns and infantry fighting vehicles to engineering vehicles and tractors. The tanks and infantry fighting vehicles currently in service, as well as the hypothetical T-95, do not satisfy this requirement.
That is why the project appeared under the code designation “Armat” (there is an opinion that somewhere on the way in the media, a mistake has crept into the name of the project, and it is still called “Armada”). This development in the language of the military is referred to as “a promising unified heavy platform,” and it is on it that the whole complex of combat and auxiliary tracked vehicles of Russian heavy brigades should be deployed. It is assumed that the development of "Armata" engineers "Uralvagonzavod" will use all the successful solutions that have found application in the T-90 and "object-195."
Armata is expected to leave the plant’s workshops in 2015 year. Before this deadline, the military decided to use an economical recipe with the modernization of the T-72 tanks already in service. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, it will be more practical and cheaper.
Modernization of T-72
History The appearance of the T-72BA tank in the Rossi Armed Forces goes back to the very beginning of the 1990's. At that time, the production of tanks was carried out at two factories of the Chelyabinsk Tractor and the Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union put an end to the production plans of both plants, the mass production of T-72B tanks was almost stopped, and at ChTZ, the production of tanks, as it turned out, was stopped forever. Uralvagonzavod for some time pinned its hopes on the deployment of a large order for the T-90 tank (“188 object”) and was engaged in the delivery of products for export. However, the landslide conversion of 1992 of the year forced the plant to turn its attention to a new type of activity for itself - the repair and modernization of vehicles in service to a more perfect level. However, the MO did not have the necessary financial resources for this either. Instead, during the year 1993, the plant was engaged in simple repairs and minimal revision of products in small batches. From 1994 to 1997, the company didn’t carry out any upgrading of the T-72 tank at all.
The situation revived in 1997, with the change of director at the enterprise and the revival of the Russian economy. In 1998, the company for the development of skills for the modernization of vehicles taken from the Ministry of Defense 20-30 tanks for overhaul. In March, 1998, the factory completely decided on the ideology of improvements. According to the T-72 tank, it included the replacement of the B-46 engine with the B-84, the installation of a modern automated FCS, a thermal imager and a VDZ (built-in dynamic protection) Contact-5. By the end of the year, the plant prepared the first modernized machine according to this scheme, and the installation of the tower on the hull was completed at the second tank. Both tanks were planned to show at the arms exhibition in Abu Dhabi. However, this modernization option again proved to be expensive for domestic aircraft. Two tanks remained prototypes for the further modernization of export versions of the tank, and the rest were subjected to major repairs and minor improvements in general. In 1999, the company underwent repair of X-NUMXB 30 tanks, the time has come to legalize the modifications carried out during the repair and in the period from 72 to 15.10, the state tested the modernized version of the tank, which entered into service with the Russian army under the T-26.11.2000BA symbol.
The first machines upgraded for this project (1998-2000 years) received the “Contact” mounted dynamic protection complex, some received “Contact-5” and the 1-40-1 control system. Externally, these tanks could be identified by the presence of atmospheric conditions sensor TWE-BS in the aft part of the tower (which can be decoded as a capacitive wind sensor with an interface unit). It is the interface block that is responsible for integrating the sensor with the MSA. The 1A40-1 control system provides fully automatic operation, but entering the total corrections still remained manual. Later, the tanks began to install the upgraded OMS 1А40-1М. Its distinctive features are:
- the presence of TBV (tank ballistic computer) on the processor;
- automatic input of lateral lead and aiming angles when firing from a cannon and a machine gun paired with it
- taking into account side wind, angular velocity of the target, roll, deviations of the initial velocity of the shells and individual departure angles;
- calculation of aiming and lateral lead angles for the commander's sight;
- semi-automatic tracking of a moving target.
The Svir guided weapons complex, which allows firing 9М119 and 9М119М missiles, is included in both of these MSAs. The Svir KUV guidance device was mounted in a periscopic passive-active night sight 1K13-49. In the 2005 year, after the implementation of the next improvements on the tank, a new OMS 1А40-М2 appeared. The standard weapon stabilizers were replaced with a new two-plane 2-42-4 "Jasmine" stabilizer with a horizontal horizontal electric-driven drive and an electro-hydraulic vertical drive.
Instead of the old B-84-1 and B-84M diesel engines that were installed on T-72B, which have disadvantages in the form of exhaust manifold burnout and overheating, an improved diesel engine was installed on the tank - B-84MS. At the exhaust manifolds of this diesel engine, the bellows were mounted, mixing the exhaust gases of the engine with atmospheric air, which had a positive effect on the temperature of the collector and reduced the thermal visibility of the T-72. Similarly, the T-90 tank model 1993, the transmission was modified. The chassis has received tracks with parallel RMSH and with the possibility of installing asphalt shoes. In accordance with this, a new drive sprocket and a sloth were applied.
The tank received enhanced mine bottom protection under the driver’s seat. There were mounted 2-a additional stiffeners under the bottom and transverse pillers. Directly next to the seat was an extension stand, and the seat itself was suspended from the tank hull roof. Overhead armor plates can be installed between the stiffened ribs (as an option).
Machines upgraded after 2002, were equipped only with built-in dynamic protection “Contact-5”, and from 2003, they began to receive a new unified MTO with a B-92 – 2 diesel engine with 1000 hp power. This MTO was tested on T-90С tanks of the Indian order. In addition to the engine, the tank received a new enhanced transmission, a modified air cleaning system, aluminum radiators with enhanced heat transfer, as well as embedded IR masking tools. The tank received the “Paragraph” communications system, which provides a confident communication range at a distance of at least 20 km. both on-site and in motion on sredneprossechennoy terrain and the new nightly device TVN-5 for the driver.
Unfortunately, even this small upgrade was done by a fairly small batch. At the end of 2009, the troops were no more than 219 tanks upgraded under this program. Presumably in 2010, their number increased by an additional 198 units, and in the period before 2014, the number of such tanks in the armed forces could reach 700. At least, the contract concluded between March 11, 15 of the RF Ministry of Defense and OAO Uralvagonzavod Research and Production Corporation OJSC implies upgrading over 2011 tanks during 300 years.
Currently, this modernization is rightly criticized by experts for its inferiority, but the Ministry of Defense still does not want to spend significant funds on bringing the T-72B tanks to the level of T-72B2, which was developed during the OCD project "Slingshot-1". Most likely, a compromise solution will be born, according to which the T-72BA tanks will be refined in terms of installing a new SLA, including the gunner's thermal sight, since such developments at Uralvagonzavod have been ready for a long time. According to preliminary information, the Sosna-U thermal sight, developed by Peleng OJSC (Belarus) and equipped with a 2-generation thermal imaging camera manufactured by French company CATHERINE, can be installed on tanks.
Despite the fact that this modernization of the tank in its ideology has become outdated for years on 15, it is fully consistent with the current technical level, adjusted for operation in the Russian Army. It is worth noting that this upgrade is an upgrade for the money - for what they paid, they got it. It is possible to stretch before entering the troops of the developed tanks of a new generation with the modification of the T-72BA (especially if the thermal imagers receive tanks).
Information