Heavy armored vehicles have shown their reliability in battles with bandits, terrorists and rebels
T-84 is a rather "popular" vehicle among the military in such a problematic region as South Asia
World experience shows that the military of different countries of the world, regardless of nationality or technological level of development, often make the same mistakes and in no way want to learn from the mistakes of others.
For example, some Russian generals "do not see" a place for tanks on a modern high-tech battlefield. Their views seem to coincide with the direction of foreign military thought. For example, the command of the Canadian Ground Forces declared in 2005 about the "lack of tasks for tanks" and the expediency of revising the number of main battle tanks (MBT) required for the national army. However, today the Canadians have turned "180 degrees" and even intend to increase the number of armored units and the MBT grouping involved in Afghanistan.
INCREASED ACTIVITY OF Militants
The reason for this radical change of views was the increased activity of the combat formations of the opposition forces in Afghanistan, where a fairly large contingent of the Canadian armed forces is solving the tasks assigned to it. It turned out that there is nothing better than the "good old" and time-tested weapon - a tank - to fight the rebels hiding in caves and behind the duvals.
Firstly, to this day, only the armor of tanks can withstand mines and landmines, which began to be used by the enemy in large numbers on the roads and known routes of movement of Canadian patrols and convoys.
“Only tanks were able to save the lives of our soldiers from their (that is, terrorists. - Author) bombs,” Lieutenant General Andrew Leslie, Commander of the Canadian Ground Forces, emphasized during a speech at a meeting of the Parliamentary Defense Committee. - Literally this morning, one of our tanks was blown up by an improvised land mine, but all the crew members survived. Thus, this tank has fulfilled its task in full."
Secondly, the unique combination of a powerful engine and durable tracks allows the tank to pass almost any sections of the rugged terrain of Afghanistan, as well as abandoned settlements, fortified points of the enemy's infrastructure and foothill areas replete with numerous obstacles and obstacles.
“Our tanks have proven that they have high mobility,” emphasizes the representative of the army command, “and they can easily overcome the obstacles that our LAV armored vehicles“stand on”.
Finally, thirdly, the main battle tank turned out to be the most highly mobile powerful means of fire support for infantry and mechanized units, as well as special forces groups, which were so lacking for the commanders of the Canadian military contingent in Afghanistan. Only tanks were capable of destroying duvalas and enemy fortified points where the militants were hiding with high accuracy.
“Before we got the Leopard tanks, even the massive fire of the 25-mm guns of our LAV combat vehicles could not penetrate the almost meter-long stone-clay duval, as strong as concrete,” wrote the Canadian Army Journal, published in the Canadian military magazine Major Trevor Kadue who fought in Afghanistan.“Therefore, we were often forced to call for aviation or risk the lives of our soldiers by sending them closer to the wall in order to penetrate it with anti-tank weapons or to detonate it with a mine or explosives.”
LAV-25 - Marine Corps Fighting Vehicle
But only one 105-mm projectile of the "Leopard" C2 from a distance of up to 4000 meters - that is, twice the effective range of the 25-mm cannon of the LAV armored vehicle - pierced a 5x5-meter hole in such a "fortress" without touching at the same time, neighboring buildings or infantrymen located nearby.
Tank Leopard 2
The above example is in defiance of those Russian commanders who have repeatedly stated that they “do not see a place for a tank on the modern battlefield”, giving it to some “high-precision systems”. In skillful hands, a tank is a precision weapon. True, for this it is necessary that the tank's fire control system meets the most modern requirements and be integrated into a single tactical control system. This will allow the tank commander to communicate in real time with both the superior (platoon, company, battalion) commander or with the commander of a "parallel" link - for example, the commander of an infantry unit requesting fire support or the commander of a patrol (convoy).
The Canadian army command, having appreciated the positive experience of using Leopard 2 tanks in Afghanistan, intends to strengthen the armored component of its military contingent in distant Kandahar. In the summer, an additional 20 Leopard MBT 2, as well as 15 Leopard MBT 1 MBT upgraded by Canadian specialists, which received the designation Leopard C2 in the Canadian Armed Forces, will be sent there to the "destroyers" already operating there.
The tanks preparing for a long-distance mission are from a batch of vehicles purchased some time ago from Holland and which have been in storage to this day. Moreover, the tanks will first undergo modernization at the enterprise of the German manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (the mine protection, the tower's electric drive, the air conditioning system and communications are being finalized, and the armor protection will also be strengthened) and only then will they be shipped to Afghanistan. It is possible that along the Russian route.
But some 4-5 years ago, the Canadian military command, also “not seeing a place for tanks on a modern battlefield,” decided to remove the existing MBTs from service. And by the time the command of the Canadian military contingent in Afghanistan literally "cried out" for help, requesting tanks, the would-be generals had already managed to send part of the MBT to the scrap, and others - to shoot at the training grounds, using them as targets. As a result, Ottawa then had to first take two dozen Leopard 2 tanks on lease from the German Bundeswehr, and then purchase 50 Leopard 2 tanks from the Dutch military. The latter are currently undergoing modernization and adaptation to the standards of the Canadian armed forces.
The army command, having received a difficult but seemingly useful lesson from Kandahar, now intends to increase the fleet of its armored forces to 80 main battle tanks of the Leopard family, of which 40 will be permanently located in Afghanistan (while the national military contingent is there), and the rest will remain in Canada to support the process of combat training. Another 20 tanks are to be repaired by the Canadians and returned to their German counterparts.
PAKISTAN MODERNIZES TANKS
However, Canada is not the only country in the world where the military command has recently paid increased attention to the development of its armored forces. Pakistan, surrounded on all sides by "problem areas", has also developed and is implementing a large-scale program in this area. At the same time, Islamabad still considers India as the main potential enemy, which leaves a special imprint on the construction of the armored forces of the Pakistani army - after all, in the event of a large-scale armed conflict or war on the land front, both sides simply cannot do without the massive use of artillery and tanks. …
T-90S "Bhishma" Indian Army
Upgraded T-72
However, if the Indian Ground Forces are armed with a significant number of modern main battle tanks, such as the T-90S or the modernized T-72, then the basis of the Pakistani armored forces fleet is still modernized, but still technically outdated Type 59-II tanks. The Type 69-II and Type-85-IIAP are of Chinese design, but built primarily under license from a Pakistani plant. Especially the Pakistani army received a lot of tanks of the first type. A significant part of them have been modernized, having received the designation "Al-Zarrar": the tanks are distinguished by new armor, thermal imagers, a new control system and the equipment of an integrated combat management system (IBMS), which allows the exchange of data on the tactical situation and enemy targets. However, the command of the Pakistani Ground Forces nevertheless associates the future of its armored forces with the arrival of new main battle tanks, equipped with powerful weapons and the latest systems, into the troops.
Tanks Type 59-II
Tank Type 69-II
Tank Type-85-IIAP
Upgraded tanks "Al Zarrar" at the military parade
Moreover, these tanks, according to the firm intention of Islamabad, should be produced only by the national military-industrial complex, which, in the opinion of Pakistani military experts, will allow avoiding unexpected "freezing" of contracts, as was the case even in the case of American weapons and military equipment, or problems with the supply of additional MBTs or spare parts for them during the threatened period or in wartime.
Therefore, one should not, as it seems, expect new Pakistani contracts with foreign developers and manufacturers of main battle tanks, as was the case with Ukraine in 1996-1999, when the Malyshev Kharkov Plant supplied 320 T-84 (T-80UD) tanks to the amount of about 650 million dollars (however, modern Pakistani-Chinese tanks of the Al-Khalid family are equipped with Ukrainian engine-transmission units and a number of other systems). Islamabad, unlike today's Moscow, is firmly convinced of the priority of the national military-industrial complex over foreign companies in the supply of various weapons and military equipment to the national armed forces.
Main battle tank "Al Khalid" (Al Khalid)
It should be especially noted that in order to improve the efficiency of work in the field of creating new models of armored vehicles in Pakistan on the basis of the Heavy Industries Taxila company (HIT, the number of personnel is about 6,500 people; location - the city of Taxila (sometimes Takshashila), Punjab, the former the capital of the ancient Indian people of the Gandharas) by now a special Research and Industrial Complex has been created. Its main tasks are currently defined as the modernization of the MBT of the "Al-Khalid" type, which is a modified version of the Chinese MBT Type 90-II, equipped, as already mentioned above, with a power plant of Ukrainian design and production and supplied to the Pakistan Ground Forces by HIT in the amount of 300 vehicles, as well as the creation on its basis of an already completely new main battle tank. The modernized MBT "Al-Khalid" I, named in honor of the famous commander Khalid bin al-Walid, the closest ally of the Prophet Muhammad, who has not suffered a single defeat, is already being tested today, and the promising MBT "Al-Khalid" II is still at an early stage. development.
At the same time, the main attention in the modernization of MBT "Al-Khalid" II, according to Pakistani military experts, was paid to improving electronics and control systems, as well as increasing the combat rate of fire to 9 rounds per minute. For example, the modernized tank is equipped with a Ukrainian optoelectronic suppression system "Varta", which is an analogue of the domestic OESP of the "Shtora" type. Its main task is to divert ATGMs attacking a tank from the trajectory and jam laser seeker, range finders and target designators, for which there are infrared, smoke and aerosol jamming units. MBT "Al-Khalid" I also received the latest (3rd generation) thermal imager of the French company "Sazhem".
As for the promising Al-Khalid II MBT, according to Usman Shabbir, analyst of the Pakistan Military Consortium, most likely, some elements of its design will be similar to those implemented on the Chinese MBT Type 99. Most likely, the tank will receive and an imported cannon. It should also be noted that in 2009, the Peruvian armed forces leased five VT-1A tanks from China - for evaluation tests, as a result of which the Peruvian army will be ready to purchase 80-120 tanks of this type, which is a variant of the Chinese MBT taken as a basis for the creation of a modernized tank "Al-Khalid" I. New tanks, according to the command of the Ground Forces of Peru, will become a worthy replacement for the three hundred Soviet T-55 tanks available in Peru today, which form the basis of the fleet of armored forces of the Peruvian army.
Tanks T-55, Peru
It seems that our military command, before making loud conclusions about the loss of one of the leading roles in the war on land by tanks, should study the experience of the military of Canada and Pakistan, and of other countries, which have recently also paid increased attention to the further development of the national armored forces. armed forces. It is still better to learn from other people's mistakes, and not to stuff "bumps" on your own "rake".
