Not so long ago, a foreign edition of Defense revue published an openly tendentious rating, where the American tank "Abrams" was called "the best example of armored vehicles in the history of all mankind." The Americans, as always, are cunning. Our T-90 tank, in almost all characteristics, is not only not inferior, but even much superior to the "Stars and Stripes" enemy, primarily in terms of the protection of the tank hull.
The invulnerability of a tank on the field directly depends on how strong its armor is. On the T-90, the hull was reinforced with a new built-in reactive armor. The Americans, on the other hand, add depleted uranium to the armor of their tanks, and this is extremely harmful to the health of the people inside it, which still does not save them on the battlefield.
“As the Americans assure,” says Colonel Sergei Suvorov, a researcher at the Kubinka Tank Museum, “the frontal armor of their tank was able to prove its reliability during the fighting in Iraq, when it withstood the exact hit of old Soviet one hundred and twenty-five millimeter shells. At the same time, they do not say that these ammunition was removed from service in the USSR back in 1973. The latest shells against the Abrams were not used in Iraq, since there were no such shells in the army arsenal of Saddam Hussein."
But at our T-90 they shot like that. This took place at the Uralvagonzavod test site in Nizhny Tagil, where tanks are made. They fired at him with the latest shells, similar in power to the latest ammunition used in the Abrams. At a distance of two hundred meters, 6 shots were fired at the tank. After that, the "shot" T-90 tank on its way successfully reached the required test site, where the tests were continued.
Now the side of the tank has come under fire. The fire was carried out from new grenade launchers using advanced technologies. The result was predictable: only the protective shields were damaged on the armor. At the same time, according to the assurances of experts, during the military clashes in Iraq in 2003, the sides of the "Abrams" easily penetrated from the RPG-7 of the Soviet release, even with the very first samples of grenades.
"Also, in Iraq, another big weak point of the Abrams was revealed - the external power plant of tanks (APU), which ensures the operation of all electronic equipment, while the engine is turned off," says the colonel. - In an American tank, this system was taken out, so it can be easily damaged from any large-caliber weapon, and the tank will instantly go blind. And on our tank, the APU is installed inside the main armor, and it is not afraid of anything."
By the way, the T-90 tank, even in its minimal design, is equipped with the Shtora optoelectronic suppression system. This clever system easily misleads an enemy missile on a tank. The American tank has no such miracle. Therefore, experts think, in a duel "Abrams" will most likely not be able to resist a guided missile T-90, which is launched through the barrel. Thanks to these smart missiles, our T-90 has the title of "longest arm tank" in the world. The average range of the tank is five kilometers, and its accuracy is almost absolute. Moreover, the T-90 gunner does not need to have any professional shooting skills.
But, nevertheless, in battle, a tank must destroy not only the armored force of the enemy, but also manpower that is dangerous to tanks. That is, the calculations of ATGM and grenade launchers. And in this, the T-90 also greatly surpasses the Abrams. The combat kit of our T-90 includes shrapnel-fragmentation shells specially created for it with the possibility of remote detonation. They can be blown up over the heads of enemies. The Abrams does not even have similar ammunition.
For a long time, it was believed that the electronic filling and optics of our tanks compared to the West, to put it mildly, are not very good. There is some truth in this. But now the gap has been completely destroyed, - said Sergei Suvorov. For example, our tank's fire control system is in no way inferior to American counterparts. In addition, the Russian tank holds the world record for rate of fire and accuracy.
So, at one of the foreign demonstrations, the gunner of our tank in 54 seconds hit seven targets, which were at a distance of one and a half to two and a half kilometers. At the same time, he fired on the move, at a speed of thirty-five kilometers per hour. Past achievements belonged to the German Leopard-2. Under the same conditions, he hit one less target. For Americans, this figure is much lower.
There is no way to compare our technique and the American one in terms of cross-country ability. Tankers even laughed at the case at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi. On a demonstration drive, an American tank simply lost its track. And it was just a training ground! We are not afraid of any off-road. Once during the Malaysian trials, our tank covered the entire route, although other competitors did not reach the finish line. The Malaysian military, who laid the route, were one hundred percent sure that no tank would overcome it. But the T-90 moved with ease in the area in which the others were stuck.
The only time a breakdown occurred was in the Thar Desert in a 50 degree heat. At first, the engine boiled, and soon the car came to a complete stop. The Hindus wanted to send a special tractor to be evacuated. But they were told: "No, thanks, we ourselves, somehow." With the help of two trees and a strong cable, the crew pulled the engine out of the tank, repaired it and installed it back into the tank, continuing to move. The entire repair took about three hours. Later they confessed that they did it on purpose to show how quickly our tank is being repaired.
As a result of these tests, there was a contract for the supply of our T-90s to India. The Indians called our tank the second deterrent shield after the nuclear bomb. Nobody would say that about American tanks.
Experts from Sweden simulated an artificial battle of our tank against the American one. The result was predictable, with the Abrams having a 36% chance of survival. Luckily for him, it was just a virtual battle.
Our tanks are equipped with a modular-type reactive armor system, "Relikt". In action, this innovation will show itself at the exhibition of military equipment in Nizhny Tagil from September 8 to 12.
The basis of the protective complex was made up of the newest element of dynamic protection 4S23, which continued the line of EDZ developments of the Scientific Research Institute of Steel. In this element of the DZ, a completely new composition of explosive was used, effectively working against armor-piercing, cumulative, as well as tandem ammunition. The new EDZ is effective both for high-speed projectiles and low-speed ones.
Now the "Relikt" complex has no analogues anywhere. It can be installed on absolutely any tank, thereby increasing their anti-cumulative resistance by at least 2 times, and anti-cannon-proof at least one and a half times. The complex weighs 2.5 tons.
But as NII Stali says, this complex has long passed the stage and soon there will be fundamentally new developments that do not use explosives. They will use the latest energy compounds, which are many times safer and more effective than explosives."
