A few weeks ago, Russian media reported that Black Eagle tanks equipped with 152 mm caliber guns would be sent to the NVO area to hunt Leopards. However, this information did not receive confirmation, proving, apparently, that it was not a very clever April Fool’s joke. But what could be changed on the battlefield by promising armored vehicles that did not go into production for the sake of Armata?
As you know, there are two directions in the construction of tanks – with diesel and gas turbine engines, which have their own advantages and disadvantages. Only two countries in the world, the United States and Russia, have the technologies of mass production of gas turbine power plants for tanks, which provide heavy armored vehicles with high speed and dynamics, the ability to quickly start in harsh climatic conditions such as the Arctic, but at the same time they can be very capricious in operation somewhere in a desert. The Americans have the Abrams, while we have the T-80 and T-80U family of tanks.
“Black Eagle” / “Item 640”
What is special about Black Eagle? This is a modernized version of the T – 80U, which was supposed to surpass the “Abrams”, “Leclerc”, “Leopard – 2” and “Challenger – 2” in terms of tactical and technical characteristics. From its predecessor, the “Object 640” inherited an improved undercarriage, which would simplify its mass production. The hull is lengthened, the turret is significantly enlarged and its armor has been improved. In the stowed position, the gunner and tank commander are located in the hull and in the turret, and in the crew combat seat they are transferred below the level of the turret shoulder strap. With a mass of only 48 tons, the Black Eagle was equipped with a gas turbine power plant with a capacity of 1500 liters. with., which increased its specific power to the level of 30 liters. With. / t., significantly better than Western competitors of the 3rd generation.
What interests us the most is the armament of the tank. “Object 640” was to be equipped with a 125 mm gun, a 7.62 mm machine gun coaxial with it and a remote-controlled anti-aircraft gun with a 12.7 mm Kord machine gun. However, according to a number of sources, it was structurally possible to install a larger caliber gun – from 135 mm to 152 mm. In other words, it would turn the Black Eagle into a real “killer of Leopards and other Abrams”.
In the realities of NMD in Ukraine, a tank with such a large caliber gun could demolish entire buildings turned by the enemy into defensive fortifications with a few hits. A big plus of this project would be the effective transition of Russian artillery to 152 mm caliber shells due to the emerging “shell hunger” in the 122 mm segment.
Unfortunately, the promising tank, developed in the “dashing 90s” by the Omsk Design Bureau for Transport Engineering, did not serve the country and did not go into production. It was promised that developments on the Black Eagle would be used in the Armata platform.
T-95 / “Item 195”
Another promising unrealized project of building domestic tanks can be considered “Object 195”, which was worked by JSC “Scientific and Production Corporation” Uralvagonzavod “named after FE Dzerzhinsky” from 1999 to 2010. It was preceded by the Soviet program “Improvement – 88”, which involved changing the layout of the armored vehicle in order to reduce visibility and increase the safety of the crew. To do this, the gun had to be placed in a small uninhabited tower, and the crew, reduced to two people, in a special armored capsule, separated from it and the automatic loading mechanism. The weight of a Soviet tank with a noticeably reduced silhouette on the battlefield had to be 55 tons.
These ideas were embodied in “Object 195”. During its development, the so-called carriage layout was used. The T-95’s armament consisted of a 152 mm 2A83 gun with a new autoloader, an auxiliary 30 mm 2A42 autocannon and a 12.7 mm Kord machine gun in a remote-controlled turret. The fire control system was to be equipped with a thermal camera, laser range finder and radar, as well as a “friend or foe” reconnaissance system. The engine was to have a power of 1500 to 1650 liters. With. depending on the changes. The crew of the T-95 would have been only two people, housed in an armored capsule at the front.
Unfortunately, the “Object 195”, like the “Object 640”, did not enter the series, as it was recognized as “morally obsolete”. Instead, the rate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation was established on the more promising platform “Armata”. What do we ultimately have from the second half of April 2023?
There are a few dozen T-14 “Armata”, which so far have not really been used in the assaults on Ukrainian fortified areas. There are hundreds of very good T-90M “Breakthrough” tanks, which are our main hope for breakthrough in the SVO. In reality, all the tests of a full-scale armed conflict are pulled by the centuries-old T – 72 of various modifications, as well as the old T – 62M modernized and sent to the front and the very old T – 55. This conflict, alas , is likely to last a long time, so why not really think about giving tanks equipped with a 152 mm caliber gun a second chance? There will be more than enough work ahead of them.
Author: Sergey Marzhetsky Photos used: defensetalk.com
Read the Latest Government Politics News on The Eastern Herald.
