Since 2006, information has been periodically appearing in the media about the creation and speedy entry into service of the Russian army of a fourth-generation tank. Almost a decade has passed, and no one even saw the prototype image. It is only known that the creator is the Ural Design Bureau of Transport Engineering in Nizhny Tagil. At the parade on May 9, 2014, a new model of heavy weapons is expected to appear in public. For twenty years of development, the project was encrypted in different ways: “Improvement 88”, Object 195, T-95, T-99 “Priority”. Sometimes the names “Black Eagle” and “Armata” are also included here. It should be noted that you should not identify “Armata” with previous projects, and especially with the T-95, this is a completely new product.
In the late eighties, our engineers looked into the future
Designing a new model of a combat vehicle began in 1988. The main idea was to increase the survival of the crew and the possibility of upgrading weapons systems without major alterations to the machine. To meet this requirement, it was proposed to make the tower uninhabited. That is, to carry out the guidance of a gun or small arms on the target, choose the type of ammunition and make a shot should have been automatic. The crew itself should have been placed in an isolated, well-protected armored capsule. It should have turned out to be a tank with a completely new layout and powerful protection. Political upheavals of the last decade of the last century did not allow to fully realize the plan. And the level of development of the electronics of that time would hardly have made it possible to create a highly efficient combat system. This concept was embodied in metal a few years later by the Ural tank builders creating Object 195. A photo of a tank covered with a tarp cannot help to get an idea of the design of an autonomous artillery installation.
Unfinished Detective
Due to the high level of secrecy of the fourth-generation tank project, confusion arose in the name of the vehicles. It is possible that the discrepancy was inspired by the customer himself, the Ministry of Defense. The details of many developments become known many years later, after the loss of their relevance or a wide circulation. There are still many idle speculations about the reasons for refusing to manufacture new cars two decades ago. In the 90s, domestic tank building concerns were going through hard times. Each plant was looking for its own ways of survival. Omsk tank builders based on the T-80 gas turbine tank developed Object 640, called the “Black Eagle”. The car was presented at a private show in 1997 in Kubinka. A little earlier, in 1995, Uralvagonzavod began to develop its own version of a modern tank. Despite the use of innovative technologies for passive protection and weapon systems, both vehicles - Object 195, the Black Eagle - were a deep modernization of the third generation tanks. And this military did not triple much.
Futuristic exterior
Tank Object 195 was brought to several prototypes. Models listed under one cipher are far from identical. According to the plan of military strategists, the height of the new combat vehicle should not exceed two meters. In principle, Object 195 should have met these parameters. The photo, however, captured a car about three meters high with a massive gun mount covered with a tarp. It is unlikely that this is a pre-production sample. An uninhabited tower must be very compact. Most likely, the future universal platform was tested as a mobile base for advanced weapons systems. After all, the military decided to create a universal chassis. One of the modules should be the Object 195 tank. Nobody has managed to get photos of other structures, if they exist.
4th Generation Tank Requirements
By the end of the first decade of the new millennium, finally, the concept of a promising tank was formed. The new combat vehicle will be a revolutionary step in the development of land combat platforms. In this regard, she must implement the following requirements:
- The possibility of the maximum probability of destroying a target with a projectile.
- Guaranteed crew survival in the event of tank destruction by cumulative or kinetic ammunition.
- A combat unit is a segment of a network-centric system of the ground forces.
- The chassis should be universal, for the possibility of placing on its base combat vehicles for other purposes, as well as engineering equipment for the troops.
- The possibility of phased modernization.
Armament out of competition
It is supposed to equip object 195 with a 135-152-mm smoothbore gun with an initial projectile speed of at least 1980 m / s. If the 6A 2A83 cannon is adopted as the main weapon, the ammunition will be 42 units of sub-caliber, high-explosive fragmentation and cumulative shells. Traditionally, an exclusive feature of domestic cars is the ability to launch guided missiles from the gun barrel. Together with the gun, the entire ammunition rotates. An automatic charging system provides a rate of fire of at least 15 rounds per minute. Machine guns with a caliber of 7.62 and 14.5 mm with the possibility of firing at aircraft, as well as four small-sized 9M311 missiles, will be mounted on the turret gun mount. One of the options for light weapons is a 30-mm automatic gun, paired with the main gun.
Fire control and counteraction system
Tankers will receive the fullness of visual information on the situation on the battlefield not only through observation through optical instruments. Due to the fact that the crew is deprived of the possibility of all-round visibility (the tower will be uninhabited), the fire control system is supposed to be equipped with a complex of transmitting devices and several screens inside the cockpit. The monitors receive information from other machines of the unit. The crew will see “through the armor” in all directions. To ensure high weapon efficiency, a standard radar system and a laser rangefinder must ensure that the laser device is assigned the functions of actively counteracting the enemy’s guidance systems. The active installation itself will find the enemy’s optics and neutralize it with a beam of light. The machines will be equipped recognition system "friend or foe", eliminating the defeat from friendly fire in a highly maneuverable battle. Active defense complex consists of set wok “Stora-2” and “Arena-E”.
Impenetrable tank
Object 195 - a heavy tank (compared to its predecessors). The basic T-72 model weighs 41 tons, the last derivative of this T-90 series is 46.5 tons. A promising 10 ton model is massive. The improvement of passive protection led to an increase in combat mass. Combined multi-layer armor provides for the integrated dynamic protection of a new generation. The equivalent of a reservation system against the effects of sub-caliber ammunition is 1000 mm, against cumulative shells - not less than 1500 mm.
Power point
The designers equipped the Object 195 tank with the Chelyabinsk V-92S2F2 diesel engine. This is a temporary measure, the power plant does not meet modern requirements. Power is only 1130 liters. pp., the mobility of a promising tank slightly exceeds the performance of the main combat vehicle of the previous generation. As a standard unit, it is supposed to install a 12N360T-90A diesel engine. The four-stroke engine, X-shaped, 12-cylinder, with gas turbine supercharging and intermediate air cooling. The cooling system is liquid. The working volume is 34.6 liters. Power not less than 1650 liters. from. provides a thrust-weight ratio of a combat vehicle of at least 30 liters. from. per ton. The engine is located along the combat vehicle and is aggregated with automatic transmission.
The performance characteristics of the Object 195
If we identify a promising vehicle with the T-95, then the characteristics of the fourth-generation tank are as follows:
- Maximum combat weight - 55 tons.
- Dimensions: body length 8,000 mm, width 2,300 mm, height 1,800 mm.
- Crew - 3 (2) people.
- Engine - Diesel1650 hp
- The speed on the roadway is more than 70 km / h.
The tank is dead. Yes, hello tank!
In 2008, it seemed that the moment was near when the tank troops would begin to receive the best model of equipment in the world. Several prototypes of the T-95 (Object 195) were sent to undergo state tests. Two years later, a benefit took place in the face of senior officials of the Ministry of Defense. The agency refused to further finance the project. At least this wording has been an official version for the past few years. Uralvagonzavod completed its own project with its own funds. One of the reasons for refusing to adopt a new model of a promising tank was the obsolescence of technological solutions adopted as the basis for its development. The general concept of a complex of heavy combat platforms was also revised. The time has come for the modular principle of shaping the appearance of a combat vehicle. The basis of the future mobile system of the battlefield was adopted Object 195.
So, Object 195 - “Armata” or not?
Obviously, the current project has a different working index. It is also clear that the long-term achievements of the 195th project and the Black Eagle will not be forgotten. The leadership of the Armed Forces set the task in 2015 to begin production of a new machine. Taking into account the short terms of the task, “Armata” will embody the basic concepts of experimental predecessors. The layout and technological solutions will be preserved. At the same time, in order to reduce the cost of production, some components of defense and weapons will have to be abandoned. The T-14 (the new main tank received this designation) is slightly smaller, four to five tons lighter, more technologically advanced and cheaper to manufacture. In order to reduce prices and simplify production, they will abandon the widespread use of titanium passive protection elements.