This material is dedicated to the project of the Bulgarian light tank of the late 1980s, which can be called the Bulgarian Octopus. This is the first and only tank designed in Bulgaria. Unfortunately, due to the democracy that burst out in the 1990s, things never came to production.
By the mid-1980s. The Bulgarian military, through strategic analysis, came to the conclusion: in view of the predominant mountainous terrain in the Balkan theater of operations, a light "mountain" tank is needed, with high firepower, mobility and reduced radar signature.
During socialism, Bulgaria had a well-developed military industry and a fairly high design potential. The main think tank of the army was the Military Scientific and Technical Institute in Sofia (VNTI), and he was entrusted with this project.
When forming the performance characteristics of the tank, the designers considered the Yugoslav T-84 (T-72) as a potential "opponent". The Bulgarian light tank must have a gun capable of hitting the T-84 at medium range, which is typical for mountainous terrain. At the same time, the Bulgarian tank should have greater mobility and less visibility. For comparison: in the tests it was planned to use the T-72 already in service in Bulgaria. It was expected that Turkey and Greece would soon acquire new Leopards-2, which required an adequate response in accordance with the specific terrain on the Balkan Peninsula.
As a basis, the Bulgarian designers took the Gvozdika self-propelled gun, which, together with the MTLB armored personnel carrier, was produced under a Soviet license at the May 9 military plant in Cherven Bryag. Earlier, on this base, the Bulgarians developed their first BMP-23 and produced 150 units. A small series of BMP-30 with a turret and armament from the BMP-2 was developed and produced.
Work on the project started in 1987-88. The BMP-23 hull was shortened by removing one row of rollers, and the armor was increased. This improved maneuverability. For better buoyancy, the height of the sides was slightly increased. The clearance was increased. Added 2 road wheels. In Bulgaria, according to their projects at the Zebra plant in Kurilo, they have already produced tracks with a rubber cushion for the T-72. This was also developed for the new LPT. Swimming was to be carried out by rewinding the tracks.
The innovation was the use of multi-layer armor made from a slab of zeolite - a special rock mineral that was mined in the Rhodope Mountains. It is very effective against HEAT ammunition. Such armor was developed and installed by Bulgarian designers on the domes of the T-55. The outer layer of the armor of the new light tank was supposed to have radio-absorbing characteristics due to the special material and the absence of a gap between the sheets. It was planned to use a special technology for fastening.
For the power plant, it was planned to use a diesel engine with a capacity of 600-700 horsepower. At first, the designers thought to take the engine from the T-55 or T-72, but then they abandoned this idea. The opportunity opened up to buy compact turbo engines of the corresponding power in Sweden, we decided to take advantage of this. It was planned to master the Swedish engine in the future in the production of the Vasil Kolarov plant in Varna. The plant itself was built by the British firm "Perkins" and produced diesel engines in large series for Bulgarian trucks.
The weight of the tank was not supposed to exceed 18 tons. The crew was supposed to consist of 3 people. The armament of the tank should be from a 7.62 mm PKT coaxial machine gun and a 12.7 mm NSVT machine gun or a 14.5 mm KPVT machine gun. The PKT machine gun has already been produced at the Arsenal plant in Kazanlak.
The main weapon of the tank was to be the Soviet 100-mm MT-12 Rapier cannon. Its production according to Japanese and German technology was planned to be established at the Cherven khlm heavy engineering plant in Radomir, which had the most modern equipment. It was believed that the plant would be able to improve the cannon and combine it with an automatic loader. The ammunition load was supposed to include 40 shells, the production of which was to be mastered at the VMZ in the city of Sopot. For guaranteed destruction of well-armored vehicles at long distances, a special composition of ammunition with high-strength material cores was developed.
In Bulgaria, the armor was produced by several enterprises: a metallurgical plant in the city of Pernik, a military repair plant "Khan Krum" in Targovishte, at a plant "Beta", "Cherven bryag", where the BMP-23 was already off the assembly line. The very production of the tank was to be carried out at the ZTM "Cherven Bryag", Radomir.
By the end of 1988, a preliminary draft was ready and was considered at the highest state level. Soviet specialists were also invited, who, having familiarized themselves, gave a very high assessment to the project.
Since the tank was to be adopted not only by the Bulgarian army, but also to be exported, the Soviet specialists nevertheless showed a certain jealousy. Instead of continuing development, the Bulgarians were offered the supply of Soviet PT-76s at a very low price and assistance in their modernization. The then Deputy Minister of Defense of Bulgaria Boris Todorov categorically opposed this proposal, making the following argument: PT-76 does not meet modern conditions. Todorov criticized the weak armor and the D-56 gun, which was not powerful enough to fight modern tanks. The very concept of the "floating tank" PT-76 was optimized for better buoyancy, which was not suitable for the role that the Bulgarian light tank was supposed to play. Ultimately, the Soviet specialists evaluated the project objectively. They agreed that the tank is quite modern and meets all the requirements. The work began to boil again, the prototyping of the body and parts began. Test samples were to be developed. According to the plan, they were supposed to pass tests at the Bulgarian and Soviet proving grounds.
Meanwhile, November 10, 1989 struck, the day when major changes in social and political life began in Bulgaria. Initially, this was not reflected in the design progress, although funding fell sharply. Contacts were established with Israeli firms for the supply of the most modern observation devices for the tank.
But in the end, the supporters of "democratic values" did their job. All the achievements of VNTI were abandoned, funding stopped, the institute was closed. All specialists were dismissed. Documentation on the development of the institute was destroyed or went to no one knows where. The only layout of this promising machine has been preserved. Military enterprises, factories, combines went bankrupt and closed. The Bulgarian military industry in the 1990s was destroyed in the same way as in Russia.
The performance characteristics of the project tank:
• weight - 18 tons;
• crew - 3 people;
• engine - 600-700 hp;
• speed on land - 70 km / h, on water - 6 km / h;
• armament: smoothbore gun of 100 mm caliber (with automatic loader), machine gun of 12, 7 mm or 14, 9 mm caliber, smoke grenades;
• ammunition - 40 shells;
• the armor is designed using stealth technology.
Actually, this is all that is known about an interesting car, which, without a doubt, could appear not only in the army of Bulgaria, but also in the army of the USSR and other countries of the Internal Affairs Directorate.
