PODNEBESNAYA CONTINUES TO LEAD IN THE NUMBER OF LITTLE KNOWN PERSPECTIVE DEFENSE SECTOR CONCEPTS. SECRET PROTOTYPE OF ADVANCED INFANTRY COMBAT VEHICLE
Carefully following the dynamics of the development of tank building programs, as well as projects for deep modernization of existing models of armored vehicles in the leading countries of Western Europe, the Middle East and Asia, engineers of the Chinese company "China North Industries Corporation" (NORINCO) together with specialists from the "North China Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering No. 201" (NEVORI) do not sit idly by and develop their own prototypes of updated armored vehicles. One of these samples can be safely considered a "secret" combat vehicle, photos of which appeared on the network at the end of 2016. In the unnamed city of the Celestial Empire, at the facade of an unknown institution, an amateur captured a very interesting combat unit, positioned as an infantry fighting vehicle of the next generation. The vehicle is distinguished by an original low-profile turret with impressive transverse dimensions, which indicates such qualities as a rather low silhouette (determines the unit's low optical signature) and a high equivalent turret durability within the safe maneuvering angles of ± 35º from the longitudinal axis of the BMP gun barrel.
Considering the only photograph from which one can visually assess the length, width and height of the turret within 3000 x 2700 x 700 mm, respectively, we conclude that the promising turret has a durability of about 100 - 170 mm (from 40 mm APFSDS-T Mk2 automatic guns of type CT40) within ± 35º and up to 80 - 90 mm - when firing on the side armor plates of the tower at angles ≥50º from the direction of the gun barrel. Thus, the security of optoelectronic sighting means in the uninhabited turret of this BMP exceeds that for the manned turrets "Bradley", MCV-80 "Warrior", "Scout SV" and BMP-3, which have a "whipped" design. This is a huge advantage of the new little-known BMP. Moreover, the tower is represented by a large number of inclined and angular segments that reduce the radar signature of the product: everything is in the tradition of the BBM of the XXI century. To further reduce the RCS, as well as the infrared signature, the main weapon is "hidden" behind a thick composite rhombic cross-section cover.
As for the gun itself, judging by the photo, the Chinese are gradually moving from 30mm automatic cannons to 40mm guns. As shown by field tests conducted by Western European experts, 40-mm APFSDS-T Mk2 armor-piercing projectiles have approximately 2 times more armor penetration than 30-mm projectiles such as Kerner or Trezubka (70 versus 140 mm, respectively). It is obvious that the PRC has developed a modern 40-mm cannon, similar to the Swedish L70B "Bofors" and the American "Bushmaster-III". The design of the hull of a promising Chinese BMP has much in common with the design of our Kurganets-25 infantry fighting vehicle, but its dimensions are about 15% smaller, which also contributed to a decrease in the silhouette of the product on the battlefield. A huge upper frontal piece, set at an inclination of about 75 degrees, reaches the middle of the body,which significantly increases the field of view for the driver in the immediate vicinity of the infantry fighting vehicle (when looking through the viewing slot). Due to the presence of high-resolution cameras for an all-aspect view around the vehicle, control tasks can also be assigned to the gunner-operator or commander, whose places are located in the central part of the BMP (in front of the troop compartment). The armored capsule, integrated into the hull, provides several times greater safety for the crew of the armored vehicle.
THE CHINESE VISION OF THE NEXT GENERATION BASIC BATTLE TANK CONCEPT MAKES ALL AMERICAN ALLIES IN THE INDO-ASIAN-PAC REGION NERVOUS
Despite the actively spreading information about the advanced BMP for the Chinese army, Beijing does not seek to expose it to the public, and keeps the new concept under a veil of secrecy. At the same time, a promising heavy infantry fighting vehicle is not the only little-known example of the Chinese defense industry, preparing "surprises" for a potential enemy in the Asia-Pacific region. More recently, in the vastness of the Chinese, and then the Western Internet, with reference to the information resource mil.news.sina.com.cn, technical sketches of a promising 5th generation main battle tank were published, indicating Beijing's correct vision of the requirements for MBT of the third decade. XXI century.
One of the last main battle tanks of Chinese design is the MBT-3000 (VT4) transitional generation vehicle, developed by NORINCO since 2012. Designed primarily for export shipments, the MBT-3000 incorporates all of the best achievements of the Chinese tank building school over the past few decades, in addition to fully digitalized elements of the fire control system and tactical information exchange facilities. A large number of VT-4 subsystems are unified with the electronic equipment of the Type 99G and VT-1A MBTs: on the turret you can see a full-fledged sighting system, represented by the commander's panoramic sight and gunner's sight, equipped with 2nd generation infrared matrices. An advanced tank information and control system with a single data bus allows the gunner's MFI to display TV / IR images received by the commander's panoramic sight. MBT of the transitional generation MBT-3000, exactly like the Type-99A2 / G tanks for the Chinese army, can be equipped with an active protection complex of the GL-5 type (analogous to the Arena). The destruction of attacking ATGMs and heavier tactical missiles is carried out by specialized small-sized ultra-short-range anti-missiles, which are launched at the target designation of a small multifunctional radar operating in the Ka-band of millimeter waves.
Armor protection of the VT-4 is based on the elements of the built-in DZ, located on the parts of the upper and lower frontal parts of the hull, as well as on modular armored plates with special armor on the frontal and side plates of the turret. The equivalent resistance from OBPS can be of the order of 800 - 900 mm both for the VLD of the hull and for the frontal armor plates of the turret. Resistance from HEAT shells approaches 1100 - 1300 mm. As for the side armor plates of the turret, their size (even taking into account the overhead modules with composite armor) does not exceed 320 - 340 mm, which is definitely less than that of the M1A2 SEP "Abrams" and "Leopard-2A7". This is the only noticeable disadvantage of the MBT-3000. Another advantage is the driving performance of this tank, provided by a 1300-horsepower 12-cylinder diesel engine ZhO with a turbocharger "Type 150". With a mass of 51 tons, a specific power of 25.5 hp / t is achieved, which is significantly higher than that of most of our MBTs with a diesel engine.
Returning to the promising Chinese concept of the 5th generation MBT, we note that the first sketches indicate a completely uninhabited tower with a decent number of optoelectronic sighting systems operating in TV / IR ranges (we are talking about 3rd generation IR matrices). Also, in the 4 corners of the prominent segment of the rectangular roof of the tower, miniature built-in modules with small-sized high-resolution cameras for all-angle illumination of the crew about the situation in the immediate vicinity of the tank are clearly visible. Similar cameras are also installed on the upper frontal part of the hull and the aft armor plate of the hull (above the engine compartment). Instead of the standard fixed gunner's sight in the front left part of the turret, a compact multichannel sighting module with 360-degree view is installed in the left rear sector, including TV / IR channels, as well as a laser rangefinder with a semi-automatic laser guidance system for tank guided missiles of the Reflex family , Or Chinese counterparts. Also, optoelectronic guidance devices are installed on a rotating platform with a coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun. The turret module is installed to the right of the center of the upper armor plate of the tower and provides for the placement of a panoramic sight, a container with ammunition for a machine gun, as well as 4 quadruple GPD launchers for 16 smoke grenades; 12 more grenades are placed in 2x6 launch guides on the wedge-shaped elements of the turret frontal armor plates.
The compactness of the tank's optoelectronic sighting systems makes it less likely to disable the vehicle at the moment of shelling from large-caliber 12, 7-mm machine guns, as well as 20-40-mm automatic cannons of the enemy infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. Nevertheless, this design also has a serious drawback, which is the flimsy design of the rotary modules. So, the rotating part (in the area of the ring gear of the shoulder strap) of the combined sight of the operator-gunner / commander (on the left side of the turret) has a thinning with a diameter of ~ 120 mm. Even one hit of a 20 - 30 mm projectile is enough to completely destroy the moving part of the turret; in the course of a high-intensity battle, this will predetermine its negative outcome for the next generation Chinese MBT presented in the sketch.
The promising active protection complex (KAZ) of the new tank was executed in a very original way. Unlike the existing JD-3 / GL-5 and Arena KAZs, the new complex is close to the Afghanit design. In particular, the antenna arrays of the multifunctional millimeter detection and guidance radar are not located at a single post, but form a 4-sided distributed aperture. The radar complex is represented by four three-sided antenna posts "month-shaped" in each corner of the tower roof with a 360-degree all-round view. The presence of 3 antenna arrays at each post expands its field of view to 240 degrees, due to which damage to one of them will only slightly affect the defensive capabilities of the tank. Even "Afghanit" has a noticeable drawback here, which consists in the fact that each of the 4 available AFAR does not overlap the field of view of the neighboring antenna array, and therefore, if one of them malfunctions, a 90-degree section of the missile-hazardous direction falls out.
Nevertheless, in "Afganit" this moment is successfully compensated by an additional optoelectronic aperture, built on the basis of additional infrared and ultraviolet sensors, covering the probable "gaps" caused by the defeat of one of the AFAR-radars. One of the visible advantages of the Afganit complex installed on the "Armata" is the many times greater energy capabilities and resolution of large AFAR radars, in comparison with miniature Chinese circular antenna arrays. According to sources, the Afghanit radars, built using LTCC technology, are capable of calculating the flight path of enemy shells and missiles at significant distances of several kilometers, and therefore have counter-battery qualities. The Chinese car will hardly differ in such features. Interceptor shells are placed in 2 compact eight-dimensional rotary launchers on both sides of the tower roof in the amount of 16 units.
The security of a promising Chinese MBT may become one of the highest in world practice in tank building. This conclusion can be made based on the "uninhabited" tower in conjunction with its impressive transverse dimensions in the horizontal plane: the same design is observed as on the captured "secret" Chinese BMP. The dimensions of this turret are typical of the American MBT M1A2 "Abrams", but the reserved volume of the fighting compartment is about 1.5 - 1.6 times less, which provides a decent increase in the physical dimensions of the frontal and side armor plates. Consequently, the protection of the frontal projection of the tower from feathered armor-piercing subcaliber projectiles can reach 1200 - 1300 mm! As for our T-14 "Armata", even its indicators of resistance of the frontal projection of the tower may be slightly lower, because the tower is more "whipped" and has much smaller dimensions in the horizontal plane, while the height is about 110 cm. sketches of the "Chinese" clearly show that the main armor barrier of the tower has an overall size of about 1500 - 1700 mm (immediately behind it is a combat module with a machine gun and a panoramic sight). Resistance to HEAT shells can reach 1600 - 1800 mm.
Pay attention to the Chinese vision regarding the protection of the most vulnerable embrasure section of the new tank's turret. For increased protection of this sector, it is planned to use a massive gun "mask" 300-400 mm thick, smoothly turning into the gun cradle. Equivalent resistance against armor-piercing shells here can reach 750 - 900 mm, protecting against BOPS such as M829A2, or even M829A3, which may become the best indicator among all known MBT of the 4th generation (only the mask of the Israeli Merkava Mk.4 cannon has a similar equivalent resistance. "). Judging by the sketch, frontal and side armor plates can be represented by "packages" of combined and spaced filler using any types of materials (from ceramic-uranium layers of the UO87 type to ceramic-uranium-carbon layers with titanium lining of the UO100 type); it is possible to use a corundum-ceramic filler from steel sheets obtained by the method of electroslag remelting (increase in hardness by 1, 15 times).
The side armor plates, taking into account the minimum reserved volume of an uninhabited tower, are about 600 mm thick in the front and 450 - 500 mm in the rear, which is more than the M1A2. When firing at the turret from safe maneuvering angles of ± 35-45 degrees from the longitudinal axis of the bore, full protection against the American M829A2 BOPS is provided. The estimated thickness of the upper armor plate of the turret can reach 100 - 120 mm, which at an angle of 60 degrees provides a durability of 250 mm. It is almost impossible to calculate the protection of the aft armor plate according to the published sketches, but usually it reaches 70 - 100 mm.
Let's move on to assessing the booking of the hull of the advanced Chinese MBT. The hull layout is close to the Turkish version "Leopard-2A4" under the designation "Leopard-NG" ("Next Generation"). The upper frontal part is absolutely flat, with closed wings of increased security, has an inclination of about 75 degrees up to an armored capsule with a crew. In the sketch, you can note that the front of the armored capsule is outlined by a small rectangular contour on the VLD, located about 1200 mm from the leading edge. The physical dimension of the VLD reaches 210 - 230 mm, which, when tilted at 80º, gives about 1050 mm equivalent to armor-piercing feathered subcaliber projectiles, which is much larger than that of the M1A2 SEP and even the T-90MS "Tagil".
On the lower frontal part there is a 50-60-mm armor plate (material is currently unknown), which increases the resistance of the frontal projection during shelling from close distances. At long distances, the NLD is often hidden by a "screen" of relief. Approximately 2/3 of the hulls of the promising MBT, starting from the bow of the VLD and ending with the engine compartment, are covered with massive anti-cumulative modular-type screens with a physical size of 200-250 mm. They provide an increase in equivalent durability not only from cumulative, but also from armor-piercing sub-caliber projectiles. Together with side armor plates 80 - 90 mm thick, massive PQEs provide 350 mm resistance from BOPS in the area of the upper part of the crew capsule. In the area of its lower part, the durability decreases to about 170 - 200 mm, since instead of the PCE there are only rollers here. In the same turn, when firing from safe maneuvering angles of ± 30º from the course of the tank, the above indicators of the durability of the sides of the hull increase by 2 times: up to 700 mm in the PQE area and up to 400 mm in the area of the rollers, which is not enough to protect against American armor-piercing shells M829A1 / A2 / A3. The vulnerability of the side projections of the tank hull is an eternal constructive problem in tank building, which is practically impossible to solve without increasing the mass and dimensions of the MBT.
The engine compartment is covered with standard lattice anti-cumulative screens that do not provide protection against BOPS. However, the thickness of the armor plates in this section, based on visual assessment, should exceed 50 mm, as in the section of the crew compartment.
The advanced Chinese tank will receive a large number of structural elements made of composite materials, as well as receive radio-absorbing coatings to reduce the total radar signature (RCS). For the same purpose, it is planned to use a thick 6-sided "cover" for the main 125-mm gun of the tank. The "cover" will also significantly reduce the infrared signature of the tank during combat. Obviously, the new MBT will receive the most modern tank information and control system (TIUS) and a fire control system (FCS), built on the best Chinese element base, which is in no way inferior in characteristics to Western developments. The tank will be equipped with an upgraded ZPT-98 cannon, which is an analogue of our 2A46M. From the sketch it can be understood that, in order to increase the shooting accuracy by 1, 15 - 1, 2 times, it is planned to use a barrel bending accounting system (SUIS). This is evidenced by the rectangular slit on the upper part of the "mask" of the gun, where the photo-receiving sensor with the emitter and the receiver of the reflected light beam should be located. Meanwhile, in the design of the depicted SIUS of the new tank, for some unknown reason, there is no main device for determining the bend - a triple-prism reflective unit with a lens, which should be located at the end of the gun barrel.
From all of the above, we can conclude that in the event of a real start of the program for the development of a promising Chinese MBT of the 5th generation, NORINCO has every chance to break into the leaders against the background of such Western European companies as the French "GIAT / Nexter" and the German "Krauss-Maffei" with their Leclercs and new modifications of the Leopards. The administration of the military-analytical resource "Military Parity" hastened to equate the concept of the new Chinese MBT with the French AMX-56 "Leclerc". Apparently, the emphasis was on the overall layout of the hull, but if you look at all the above-described features of booking and crew accommodation, Leclerc will be significantly inferior to the Chinese prototype with an uninhabited turret.
The AMX-56 square turret has a large booked volume, which for the worse was reflected in the physical dimensions and the equivalent durability of the frontal and side armor plates. For example, the thickness of the side armor plates of the turret of the French vehicle is extremely small and barely reaches 280 mm, even at an angle of 60º such an obstacle is not able to protect against the American M829A2 projectile or the Russian ZBM-44M "Lekalo". Frontal and side armor plates are represented by steel armor plates of high hardness, ceramic-fiberglass filler, as well as Teflon-fiberglass lining. Their total size with a frontal angle of fire at angles of 0 - 20º is only 650 - 800 mm, and the equivalent resistance from BOPS is 620 mm. This is absolutely not enough to conduct combat with MBTs such as the T-90A / S / MS, Leopard-2A5 / 6/7, Challenger 2 and M1A2, and therefore the comparison of the Leclerc with the new Chinese concept looks inappropriate. The only criteria for comparison are TIUS and weapons.
According to the tank information and control system, the "Chinese" is unlikely to lose to the "Leclerc", which cannot be said about the weapons. The French tank is equipped with a fairly advanced and powerful cannon of the L52 "CN 120-26" variant, which gives an armor-piercing projectile an initial velocity of 1750 m / s, which is even better than that of the US M256 and on a par with the German Rh-120L55. The design of the turret of the prototype of a promising Chinese tank is very similar to the layout of the turret of the Japanese "Type-10", which is expressed in wedge-shaped frontal armor plates. The 8-roller undercarriage with hydropneumatic suspension is also of great interest. This indicates that the main task of the Chinese engineers is to give the 5th generation of PLA tanks increased survivability in comparison with Japanese, South Korean, Indian and American MBTs "Type-10", K2 "Black Panther", "Arjun Mk.2", T -90 as well as M1A2; the latter are equipped with 6 and 7-roller undercarriages. The larger number of rollers allows the tracked combat vehicle to remain mobile even after several of them have been disabled during a high-intensity confrontation in a theater of operations.
Considering that it is the Celestial Empire that is distinguished today by the greatest number of innovations in the defense sector, in the coming years one should expect official statements from representatives of NORINCO and the defense departments of the PRC about the start of the program for the development of a new "network-centric" main battle tank of the 5th generation, capable of more than compensating for all existing shortcomings of serial "Type-96B / 99A2" and MBT-3000.
