The creation of a robotic tank (RT) has always worried the minds of tank builders, such an opportunity was also considered when developing the last Soviet tank "Boxer / Hammer", but the collapse of the Union made such projects to be forgotten for a long time.
At the end of November, in the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, General of the Army Oleg Salyukov, said in his article that in 2020 R&D will begin to create a robotic tank complex of a heavy class: Shturm. Immediately, the publication "Vestnik Mordovii" revealed what was behind this project. It turned out that on the basis of the T-72B3 tank chassis, it is planned to create a robotic tank complex as part of a family of vehicles for various purposes.
Many were surprised why a promising complex is being created on such an ancient base as the T-72B3, and not on the basis, for example, of the promising T-14 Armata tank.
Why on the basis of T-72B3
The choice of the base, at first glance, is completely incomprehensible. Why T-72B3? Not the best option for the development of a new machine, the budgetary version of the T-72 modernization was taken as a base, with far from the best characteristics in terms of firepower and mobility. In addition, the choice of running gear based on the T-72 is not distinguished by its elegance, since the "cockroach races" of the 70s this running gear was not a masterpiece, the best results were always shown by the "Leningrad" running gear on the T-80.
There is nothing on the T-72B3 that is necessary for a robotic tank, the entire filling of the tank will have to be thrown away and equipped with new sighting systems, noise-immune and crypto-resistant communication system, TIUS, mechanisms and systems for remote control of fire, movement and interaction within the unit. All that remains of the tank is the hull, the power plant and the chassis, the turret must become unmanned, and the hull must undergo major changes.
It would be more logical to develop a RT based on the T-14, in which everything was initially already laid down for remote control of the tank, only the video transmission channel from the tank to the control point is missing. The reason, apparently, is that there is no T-14 yet, it has already been officially recognized that the tank has not been adopted for service and is undergoing a cycle of tests, according to the results of which it will be possible to speak of the presence of such a tank with the declared characteristics.
The need to create a RT based on the T-72 in 2018 was announced not by the military or designers, but by the director of UVZ, a person far from creating combat vehicles, his task is to produce what the military ordered and developed by the designers. UVZ has long been going through hard times, the promising T-14 tank has not gone into production, it is not yet available, there are more than enough T-72 tanks in the army, the Terminator BMPT has not taken root in the army either. The plant needs orders, and the management is trying to break through the development and production of a robotic complex, one of the most promising areas for the creation of military equipment.
In the army of the Republic of Tatarstan, of course, they are needed, but before starting the development of such a machine, it is necessary to determine its intended purpose, tactics of use, interaction with crew tanks and other types of troops, the delivery of vehicles to the battlefield and the organization of their maintenance.
The Shturm project could envisage one of two goals: carrying out a deep modernization of the T-72B3 and equipping it with systems for remote control, or creating a fundamentally new robotic tank that meets modern requirements. Unfortunately, a "production" goal is visible, it is more profitable for the plant to produce a car that will not break the existing technology of tank production than to launch a new car and re-equip the plant. It is very similar to the next budgetary modernization of the T-72 with an attempt at minimal cost to obtain a new quality without fundamentally breaking the tank concept and preserving the existing cooperation ties and the tank production cycle.
Combat vehicles of the Shturm family
What is the RT "Shturm" family? According to the published information, this will be a family of vehicles based on the T-72B3 chassis with "all-aspect" enhanced protection, a blade in the nose of the tank, with a new unmanned turret or platform and various weapon options:
Vehicle number 1: with tank cannon and machine gun armament with two gun variants - 125 mm and 152 mm, a continuation of the T-72 family of tanks.
Machine # 2: with RPO-2 “Shmel-M” rocket launcher units.
Machine No. 3: with two 30-mm automatic cannons and launchers for RPO-2 "Shmel-M" rocket-propelled flamethrowers, continuation of the development of the "Terminator" BMPT.
Machine No. 4: with blocks of NURS 220 mm launchers with thermobaric shots, continued development of the Buratino and Solntsepek multiple launch rocket systems.
It is also planned to develop an RT control vehicle and a security vehicle with an eight-man assault force based on the same chassis. That is, within the framework of the Shturm project, it is planned not to develop a new robotic tank complex, but to deeply modernize existing combat vehicles - the T-72 family of tanks and multiple launch rocket systems based on this chassis, which are currently in service with the Russian army, with their additional equipment with robotic systems. We did not forget to include here the "Terminator", which they have been trying to attach somewhere for a long time.
The mass of the RT of this family is striking: 50 tons is an obvious overkill for a robotic tank, all these are the consequences of using a serial chassis, and you have to pay for it.
So far, in this project, UVZ focuses on the RT chassis, protection and its armament, what the tank design bureau does, and there is absolutely nothing about the robotic complex being developed by other specialized design bureaus and which is the basis of the entire project. Therefore, I understand Khlopotov, who writes that "the work, despite all the folly of the undertaking, is in full swing." Without the involvement of specialized firms and the creation of a robotic complex, the Shturm family will become a project for a tank design bureau, nothing more.
Problematic issues of creating a robotic tank
It should be noted that the Republic of Tatarstan is the future, and with the advent of the necessary technical means, they will confidently occupy their niche. Their development can go in two directions: a deep modernization of one of the types of the existing generation of tanks, equipping them with the necessary means for remote control and the development of a fundamentally new RT family for the purpose of breaking through enemy defenses, reconnaissance, demining, clearing, evacuating people and damaged equipment, combating fortified units and enemy tanks.
Earlier attempts to create a RT, undertaken back in the mid-80s, ended in vain, since there were no technical means for the implementation of this concept - systems for determining the location of the tank, remote firing, closed communication channels and, most importantly, spatial video surveillance and video transmission channels to the control room.
It is impossible to create a full-fledged RT without creating a three-dimensional video image of the battlefield “look at the tank from the outside”. The simplest solution to place video cameras around the perimeter of the machine does not solve the problem, you need an integrated image from various observation means, generated by a computer according to special algorithms and displayed on the operator's helmet-mounted display.
So far, such systems for tanks have not yet been developed, the most advanced in creating such a system in Israel, having created the first versions of the "Iron Vision" surround video surveillance system for the "Merkava" tank with video output on the operator's helmet display.
In the RT "Shturm" project, of course, there is no such system, so the problem of insufficient visibility when driving on all modifications of this machine was solved purely "in Tagil", they put a blade in the nose of the tank and remove everything that interferes when moving to the side.
From the conceptual solutions of the robotic tank, two more issues can also be distinguished: the number of members of the remotely remote crew and the delivery of RT to the battlefield. There is an opinion that the number of crew members of such a tank can be reduced, but studies have shown that it is impossible to combine the functions of traffic control, firing and searching for targets without losing the quality of tank control. The experience of combining the functions of commander and gunner on some types of tanks led to unsatisfactory results. As of today, there are no technical means to painlessly combine the operations of searching for targets and firing on one person. Therefore, the crew of the RT, very likely, will remain three people, and the control vehicle should be designed for nine people, it is more expedient to keep the platoon crew together.
When creating robotic machines, the question of delivering them to the battlefield has already been raised, for example, for the Russian robotic complex "Uran-9" at the expert level, options for their delivery, including on the basis of the BMP platform, are being seriously discussed.
The robotic tank is not "Uran-9", it will weigh several tens of tons and it will have to make marches on its own. In the unmanned version, this can cause a lot of problems, therefore, on the march, it is advisable to drive the car directly to the driver. In this regard, in the "Shturm" project, it will certainly be necessary to save the place of the driver for these purposes. In the concept of fundamentally new RT, most likely, it will be necessary for these purposes to provide for a duplicate place of MV outside the reserved space.
The development of RT represents a new direction in the development of military equipment and will require the adoption of fundamentally new design decisions and machine layouts. The RT options considered in the "Storm" project are still pictures of what is desired and are far from solving conceptual issues of creating a new generation of machines. Such work should begin with defining the concept of a family of robotic machines, defining their purpose and tasks to be solved, and developing tactics for using them on the battlefield. Only after this can justified performance characteristics be developed for a family of robotic tanks, the stages of their development are determined and programs for the creation and production of the necessary systems for equipping vehicles of this class are approved.
