The opinions of a number of military experts and leaders that Russian-made tanks are inferior to foreign vehicles in terms of their combat capabilities and characteristics are completely unfounded, said Vyacheslav Khalitov, deputy general director of the scientific-production corporation Uralvagonzavod for the development of special equipment.
He said that there are a number of criteria on the basis of which a true assessment of the combat capabilities of a vehicle is given, so let's proceed from these criteria. Khalitov, in particular, is amazed by the statements of some domestic experts who say that the main drawback of the T-90S tank is that the ammunition load is located next to the crew. But, where is the ammunition on the Abrams and Leopard, isn't it next to the crew? - retorted Vyacheslav Khalitov.
According to him, the T-90S tank produced in Russia shows itself very effectively in confrontation with armored targets, shows perfect reliability on the march. But for some reason these experts do not talk about this. Further, the production worker said that recently our tank covered 1.5 thousand kilometers, while there was not a single refusal. But can the experts who criticize the T-90S show the 1,500 kilometers that the Leopard or Abrams tanks have covered? He thinks not.
Khalitov noted that the result of a tank battle depends on numerous factors. It is all these factors that must be taken into account, and not pulled out any vague elements.
He admits that the Russian tank does not have a dry closet, but at the same time it is 80 cm lower along the Leopard's profile. And if you raise the tower and install a dry closet, then the likelihood of getting into such a tank increases dramatically.
V. Khalitov says that one should not forget that a tank is, first of all, a combat vehicle. And this vehicle is designed for combat, not to make a hotel out of a tank in the style of "Europe Plus".
Approval of a number of so-called military experts regarding the fact that domestic tanks are allegedly fundamentally inferior in armor protection to advanced foreign counterparts and in this regard it is necessary to purchase armor abroad, according to V. Khalitov, do not stand up to criticism.
He says that all of this much-touted foreign armor is nowhere to be seen anywhere. Along with these, there are a lot of photographs, which show that the same "Abrams" are pierced with 12-mm ammunition from the rear of the turret. Therefore, it is wrong to say that Western armor is better than Russian armor.
According to V. Khalitov, Russian armor is currently one of the best in the world, and therefore there is no need to spend colossal funds on new capital developments in this direction. At the same time, these works do not stop. Already now, Russian tanks are equipped with fifth-generation reactive armor, active protection and remote mine blasting systems are used. According to V. Khalitov, all this in a complex gives good protection of tanks, not only not worse than that of the "Leclerc" and "Abrams", but even better.
He explained that there is such a thing as a weakened zone. As an example, the weakened zones of the frontal projection of the tank. So in the T-90S tank the ratio of weakened zones is 10-15% less than that of the same Abrams and Leopard.
Thus, V. Khalitov said, domestic equipment is not worse than Western counterparts, and this is confirmed by the participation of our tanks in various armed conflicts.
We will remind, earlier, Alexander Postnikov, Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, said that the samples of military equipment and weapons that the armed forces receive according to the nomenclature of the Ground Forces, including rocket and artillery weapons, armored vehicles, are not yet fully consistent with Western standards.
Speaking at one of the meetings of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, he cited the T-90S main battle tank as an example. According to him, this vaunted T-90S is the seventeenth modification of the T-72, worth 118 million. According to the general, three Leopards could be bought for that kind of money.
