The most modern and powerful tanks in the world
Russia relies on the creation of a completely new armored vehicles, and its opponents to the last to modernize the model thirty years ago
Presented to the general public at the Victory Parade in Moscow, the new Russian T-14 tank on the Armata tracked platform made a splash among tankers around the world. The Russian novelty made everyone again and again compare the combat capabilities of the armored vehicles that are in service today around the world. Although, in fact, there is not much to compare tanks. Only four countries were and remain the trendsetters in tank building and the main exporters: Russia, Great Britain, Germany and the USA. In addition to them, Israel, India, Iran, Italy, China, both Korea, Pakistan, Poland, France and Japan produce or put on their own tanks. The vast majority of countries are satisfied that they are acquiring more or less new developments from large tank-building powers or ordering the modernization of existing armored vehicles.
It is impossible and pointless to seriously compare tanks that have never met each other in real combat. And if in reality, say, the Israeli Merkava Mk.4 met with, for example, the Chinese Type 99, then to a large extent the outcome of the fight would depend on the characteristics of the theater of operations, and on the skills and experience of the crew, and from many other factors, which even tankers-veterans cannot always take into account. A simple comparison of tactical and technical characteristics makes it impossible to seriously talk about the advantages of one tank over others and vice versa.
Our current rating takes into account the only objective indicator: the year when a particular tank was accepted into service. And, of course, a simple requirement was taken into account: the tanks included in this top-10 should be original designs. Taking into account all these indicators, we have chosen ten of the most modern and powerful tanks in the world.
Not surprisingly, the first place in this list was received by the domestic T-14 "Armata". On the one hand, there is simply no more modern tank in the world today, already presented to the public and released for military trials. On the other hand, in many formal indicators, the Armata is ahead or at least raised by the same level as most other modern tanks, and in the aggregate with good reason claims to be the most modern and powerful armored vehicle.
T-14 "Armata" (Russia)
Year of adoption: 2016 (plans)
Combat weight, t: up to 55
Crew, person: 3
Caliber cannon, mm: 125 (installation of 152-millimeter cannon is possible)
Type of gun: smooth-bore + ATGM launcher
Ammunition, shots: 40
Rate of fire, rds / min .: 10 – 12
Machine gun caliber, mm: 12,7
Dynamic protection: yes
Engine power, hp: up to 1500
Specific power, hp / t: 27,3
Maximum speed, km / h: up to 75
Cruising on the highway, km: to 600
Tank T-14 "Armata". Photo: Sergey Fadeichev / TASS
The most radical difference between the “Almaty” and all other modern tanks is the so-called capsule scheme: all three fighters of the T-14 crew are located in a special armored capsule inside the body, that is, in fact, behind two separated layers of armor. At the same time, the tower, which is also unique to modern tanks, remains uninhabited - all fire control is carried out with the help of the combat information and control system. In addition, the serial T-14 will be able to equip 152-mm smooth-bore gun - missile launcher, which will make the "Armata" firing advantage indisputable: no modern tank has a weapon of such caliber, power and range.
K2 Black Panther (South Korea)
Year of adoption: 2015 (plans)
Combat weight, t: 55
Crew, person: 3
Caliber cannon, mm: 120
Type of gun: smooth-bore
Ammunition, shots: 40
Rate of fire, rds / min .: to 10
Machine gun caliber, mm: 1 x 7,62, 1 x 12,7
Dynamic protection: yes
Engine power, hp: 1500
Specific power, hp / t: 27,3
Maximum speed km / h: 70
Cruising on the highway, km: 450
Tank K2 "Black Panther". Photo: wikipedia.org
Tank K2 "Black Panther" experts call the first independently developed South Korean tank. Its predecessor, the K1, was an American tank Abrams that was actually adapted to the conditions of the Korean Peninsula. The Korean novelty, judging by the formal tactical and technical characteristics and demonstration firing, claims to be one of the most modern tanks. The Black Panther, like most of the current tanks of the NATO member countries and their allies, is armed with the well-proven, but already aging, XHUMX-mm smooth-bore Rheinmetall Rh-120 gun. True, it is complemented by a modern and fast automatic loader, providing a high rate of fire. However, the same tank also holds a very dubious record of the highest cost of a combat vehicle: 120 million dollars apiece. It is not surprising that at this price the South Korean army refused to completely replace the K8,5 fleet with K1 and ordered all 2 new cars.
Type 10 (Japan)
Year of adoption: 2012
Combat weight, t: 44
Crew, person: 3
Caliber cannon, mm: 120
Type of gun: smooth-bore
Ammunition, shots: 28
Rate of fire, rds / min .: 6 – 8
Machine gun caliber, mm: 1 x 7,62, 1 x 12,7
Dynamic protection: no
Engine power, hp: 1200
Specific power, hp / t: 27,3
Maximum speed km / h: 70
Cruising on the highway, km: 450
Tank Type 10. Photo: Shizuo Kambayashi / AP
Closing the top three of our review is the new Japanese tank Type 10 - the third and last of the modern tanks with the highest engine power density. Like “Armata” and “Black Panther”, it achieves an 27,3 horsepower per tonne weight of an armored vehicle. However, the Japanese tank did not receive such a thrust-to-weight ratio at the expense of engine power, but at the expense of a smaller mass: 44 tons against 55 from the Russian and South Korean rivals. "Armata" Type 10 is inferior and due to its main weapons - all the same 120-millimeter German gun, mass production of which began as much in the 1979 year.
"Arjun" Mk.I (India)
Year of adoption: 2011
Combat weight, t: 58,5
Crew, person: 4
Caliber cannon, mm: 120
Type of gun: Threaded + ATGM launcher
Ammunition, shots: 39
Rate of fire, rds / min .: 6 – 8
Machine gun caliber, mm: 1 x 7,62, 1 x 12,7
Dynamic protection: no
Engine power, hp: 1400
Specific power, hp / t: 23,9
Maximum speed km / h: 70
Cruising on the highway, km: 450
Tank "Arjun" Mk.I. Photo: M. Lakshman / AP
Like the South Korean KHNUMX, the Indian Arjun can be considered the first independently developed tank in India. True, it took as many as 2 years for Indian engineers and technologists to create a novelty! During this time, many of the decisions laid down in the Indian tank became obsolete or came very close to the line of obsolescence, and the need to constantly change the architecture and nomenclature of the onboard equipment led to problems with unification. As a result, India adopted the entire 37 tank of this modification.
Type 99А2 (China)
Year of adoption: 2011
Combat weight, t: 58
Crew, person: 3
Caliber cannon, mm: 125
Type of gun: smooth-bore
Ammunition, shots: 41
Rate of fire, rds / min .: 7
Machine gun caliber, mm: 1 x 7,62, 1 x 12,7
Dynamic protection: yes
Engine power, hp: 1500
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Specific power, hp / t: 25,9
Maximum speed km / h: 70
Cruising on the highway, km: 450
Tank Type 99А2. Photo: topwar.ru
The Chinese Type 99А2 (the most modern modification of the tank Type 99, put into service in 2001 year) - one of the two tanks in this review, which is completely independent national development can be called with some stretch. This machine is based on the well-proven Soviet medium tank T-72, which, however, received a completely new welded turret, enhanced protection - both armored and active, as well as a much more modern stuffing. In particular, an automatic loader is installed on the Type 99А2, due to which the crew decreased to three people, and the rate of fire increased to seven rounds per minute. In addition, a unique complex of active countermeasures installed on a Chinese machine that is capable of literally dazzling enemy vehicles and equipment is unique to tanks participating in this rating.
BM "Oplot" (Ukraine)
Year of adoption: 2009
Combat weight, t: 51
Crew, person: 3
Caliber cannon, mm: 125
Type of gun: smooth-bore + ATGM launcher
Ammunition, shots: 40
Rate of fire, rds / min .: 8
Machine gun caliber, mm: 1 x 7,62, 1 x 12,7
Dynamic protection: yes
Engine power, hp: 1200
Specific power, hp / t: 23,5
Maximum speed km / h: 70
Cruising on the highway, km: 500
Tank BM "Oplot". Photo: topwar.ru
Ukrainian combat vehicle (this is how the abbreviation “BM” stands for) “Oplot” is the second “conditionally independent” member of the current rating. The conditionality of its independence gives the fact that in fact BM "Oplot" - the fourth derivative of the modification of the Soviet tank T-80U, more precisely, its diesel version, produced at the Kharkov plant named after Malyshev. It is not surprising that this version was designed and implemented in the metal in just three months and six months later adopted by the army of Ukraine. However, to date, the Ukrainian army has not received all the ordered Opnom 50. But much more successful is the implementation of the contract with Thailand, which should receive 49 "strongholds", 10 of which have already been delivered to this country. Thus, to date, the armed forces of the Kingdom of Thailand are the only army in the world where BM "Oplot" really stands on board.
Merkava Mk.4M (Israel)
Year of adoption: 2009
Combat weight, t: 65
Crew, person: 4
Caliber cannon, mm: 120
Type of gun: smooth-bore + ATGM launcher
Ammunition, shots: 48
Rate of fire, rds / min .: 8 – 10
Machine gun caliber, mm: 2 x 7,62, 1 x 12,7, 60-mm mortar can be installed
Dynamic protection: yes
Engine power, hp: 1500
Specific power, hp / t: 23,5
Maximum speed km / h: 70
Cruising on the highway, km: 500
Tank "Merkava" Mk.4M Photo: Tsafrir Abayov / AR
In terms of combat capabilities and combat experience, which only three out of ten participants in the current rating can boast, the Israeli Merkava tank has more than once been recognized as one of the best or even the best tank in the world in the last two or three decades. Indeed, in terms of the ratio of combat power, security of the crew and the machine itself, as well as fourth-generation Merkava armament, it has one of the best indicators, but only for the Israeli theater of operations. “Merkava” has never been exported, and, as many military experts believe, not only because the Israel Defense Forces imposed a ban on the sale of these vehicles abroad, but also because a tank developed specifically for Israeli conditions will lose significantly in efficiency outside the Middle East theater. In particular, it has too much weight to move freely in a wooded or marshland, and it is not intended to overcome water obstacles.
2 Challenger (UK)
Year of Adoption: 2008 (the beginning of a large-scale modernization of the vehicles in service)
Combat weight, t: 62,5
Crew, person: 4
Caliber cannon, mm: 120
Gun Type: Threaded
Ammunition, shots: 52
Rate of fire, rds / min .: 6 – 8
Machine gun caliber, mm: 2 x 7,62
Dynamic protection: yes
Engine power, hp: 1200
Specific power, hp / t: 19,2
Maximum speed km / h: 56
Cruising on the highway, km: 400
Tank "Challenger 2". Photo: Joerg Sarbach / AP
The British tank Challenger 2 is the second armored vehicle in this ranking with real combat experience. True, very specific: the British machines participated in the so-called peacekeeping operation in Kosovo and fought on the side of the anti-Iraq coalition during the invasion of NATO forces in Iraq in 2003 year. According to experts, the British tanks showed themselves well in battles; however, few of these experts specify that the 2 Challengers had to fight with the morally and physically obsolete Iraqi T-55 - tanks created in the middle of the 50's! It is not surprising that in this confrontation the British came out victorious. True, the Iraqi experience still showed that the 1991 Challenger originally put into service in 2 needed to be seriously modernized and carried out in 2008 in relation to three quarters of the tanks in service: they received new guns, new engines and transmission (German instead of British), as well as a new fire control system. But even with these innovations, British tanks are still significantly inferior to foreign competitors created in the last decade.
"Leopard" 2A6М (Germany)
Year of adoption: 2004
Combat weight, t: 59,9
Crew, person: 4
Caliber cannon, mm: 120
Type of gun: smooth-bore
Ammunition, shots: 44
Rate of fire, rds / min .: 6 – 8
Machine gun caliber, mm: 2 x 7,62
Dynamic protection: yes
Engine power, hp: 1500
Specific power, hp / t: 25
Maximum speed km / h: 72
Cruising on the highway, km: 550
Tank "Leopard" 2A6M. Photo: topwar.ru
The first tanks of the Leopard model entered service with the Bundeswehr in August 1963. The 2А6М tank that has fallen into the current rating of the Leopard is the sixth modification of the second generation of the legendary armored vehicle. Legendary because today it is in service with almost two dozen countries, and many of its units, primarily the 120-mm smooth-bore gun, can be found in more or less processed versions on many foreign modern tanks. For all that, since the tank platform has not changed for several decades, each subsequent modification comes closer and closer to the limit of the modernization capabilities of the machine. And some of the unchanged features of the Leopard, such as the lack of an automatic loader, significantly reduce its combat capabilities.
Abrams M1A2 SEP (USA)
Year of adoption: 2000
Combat weight, t: 63
Crew, person: 4
Caliber cannon, mm: 120
Type of gun: smooth-bore
Ammunition, shots: 42
Rate of fire, rds / min .: 6 – 8
Machine gun caliber, mm: 2 x 7,62, 1 x 12,7
Dynamic protection: yes
Engine power, hp: 1500
Specific power, hp / t: 23,8
Maximum speed km / h: 67
Cruising on the highway, km: 425
Abrams tank M1A2 SEP. Photo: Efrem Lukatsky / AP
Along with the German "Leopard", the British "Challenger" and the Israeli "Merkava", the American "Abrams" can be called one of the most famous tanks in the world. This is not surprising: the first modification of this model was regularly upgraded, receiving more and more new onboard systems, weapons systems and fire control systems, as well as active and passive protection. The reason for each new modernization was the participation of these tanks in various military operations, but always outside the United States. The model, which is included in the current rating, received primarily new armor in the frontal part of the tower with uranium filler, as well as new digital fire control systems and ... air conditioning. Currently in the US, work is underway on the next reincarnation of the Abrams - МХNUMXА1, which should become easier and faster than its predecessors. The weight of the new model will be 3 tons, the gun will be high-precision and long-range - American tank builders clearly stand in the wake of their Russian colleagues.
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