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Instead, Kontakt-5 was a factory applied set of plates pointing forward to maximize the deflection angle of incoming rounds. Kontakt-1 was only useful against shaped charge warheads, while Kontakt-5 added resistance to kinetic energy sabot rounds as well. The engineers swapped out the Kobra missiles with the laser-guided 9K Refleks guided missile—a more reliable, longer range and harder hitting weapon. TUs crammed in seven more rounds of millimeter shells than the TB. Its new GTD turbine was still too fuel hungry and maintenance heavy.
In its place came the diesel powered TUD. This represented the last T variant to be produced in the Soviet Union. The December separatist war in Chechnya was the first action for the T where the shooting was going both ways … and it was an epic disaster.
The T is a third-generation main battle tank (MBT) designed and manufactured in the Soviet The T is similar in layout to the T; the driver's compartment is on the centre line at the front, the two-man turret is in the centre with the. The T is a Soviet second-generation main battle tank introduced in the early s. It was a The TA turret was adopted for early T tank models, with its main gun and automatic loading mechanism, and upgraded armour. The T .
These troops took TBs and BVs with them. The soldiers had never trained with the T before. The Russian advance into the Chechen capital Grozny was a near massacre for the invaders—nearly 1, soldiers died and vehicles were destroyed from Dec. A second major fault of the T, like previous Russian tanks, was minimal gun elevation and depression. To be fair, T casualties were more likely the fault of ill-prepared crews, inadequate training and disastrous tactics.
It was even alleged that some soldiers sold off the explosive inserts to supplement their salaries. During the Cold War, only Spetsnaz commandos and the Berlin garrison had trained for serious city fighting. Since Russian soldiers were reluctant to exit their transports and clear buildings room by room, their Chechen adversaries—who knew the weaknesses of Russian vehicles from Soviet-era conscription—were free to turn the tanks and other armored vehicles into crematoriums. Each tank had the same millimeter 2A46M gun and similarly performing gun-launched missiles.
In the area of the bridge across the Dniester to other tanks from the 14th Army was fired from anti-tank gun MT "Rapier" armor-piercing projectiles. It introduced a number of advanced features including composite armor , a compact engine and transmission, and a smoothbore mm gun equipped with an autoloader to allow the crew to be reduced to three so the tank could be smaller and lighter. This allowed in case of failure of the steering wheel used instead of any support roller or deploy balancer front suspension assembly with roller, who served in this case the function of the steering wheel. During the testing of the "object " and "Object " with a gun-5TS have found that not everyone is able to physically provide charging rate of rounds per minute. Similar Threads. Mar 4, 4. This is true for T, T and T
Since the TU was far more expensive than the TB, it was only logical for a cash-strapped Russia to favor the T But Moscow continued to experiment with its Ts, adding active protection systems—which use millimeter-wave radar to track incoming missiles before launching explosive countermeasures. The resulting TUM-1 Bars was revealed in but did not enter production, probably again because of budget cuts.
Leningrad and Nizhniy Tagil continued their upgrade battle. However, due to the poor performance of the export TM and TM1 tanks in Iraqi hands during , they found no market for their tanks abroad.
They found no market for them at home either. In , when the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union began to break apart, all orders for tank production came to a sudden end. The reborn TBM, now called the T or TS as an export tank, appeared in and has likewise found no market yet.
However, when compared with Soviet thinking and their artificially generated Military Science, only the T really stands out as the tank which met all their requirements and needs But tradition continues.
This appeared to have some sort of blow-off plate arrangement like that found on the M1A1. And, in Russian tradition, it was done without the knowledge or approval of the Popov bureau in Saint Petersburg. Soviet thinking on tanks was that, while they had to fully flesh out the three qualities of a tank — protection, mobility, and firepower — they also had to be simple, reliable, and capable of moving long distances under their own power. The T, which was a true quantum leap forward in tank design in , proved to be too troublesome and difficult to maintain.
While the tank never saw combat, its legacy — the awkward autoloader device — was cited by authorities such as Colonel General Sergei Mayev and Colonel General Aleskandr Galkin as being indirectly responsible for the massive destruction among T tanks sent into Chechya. The autoloaders in both tanks were quite similar, and extrapolation would show that the T would have been as vulnerable to penetration of the fighting compartment as the T was.
The T was a hybrid; for it combined the best of the past with the best of the new. Its autoloader was not as vulnerable or dangerous, and the tank was far more mechanically reliable and faithful. The T, initially thought to be a world-beating tank, has proven itself to be a dog in service. Still plagued with low mileage — even the most current advertisements for TUM do not claim more than about kilometers road range, including the auxiliary tanks — the T was shown in combat to suffer from the problems that Kartsev warned them about in The Chechens then simply picked them off.
While current models have an onboard 18 kW generator set, the ones used in Chechnya were the same TBV tanks which once worried commanders in Germany when they sat across the border in the Thuringerwald. There have been some signs that the Russians are trying to fix the problem which the Oboronka left them, and are planning to settle on only one tank for the future. But the squabbling still persists as to whose tank it will be, and whose philosophy will be dominant.
The author would like to thank Steve Zaloga for his help and assistance during this project. Bibliography all Russian titles translated Books Bachurin, N.
Ibragimov, D. Kartsev, Leontiy N. Popov, N. Without Secrets or Secrecy St. Petersburg Publishing pp. Savfonov, B. Shmelev, Igor P. Articles Aleshin, A. Koshchavtsev, A.
Pitchkin, S. Will the Leopard Volunteer for Combat? Notes 1The Soviets saw tank generations in this manner: , first generation; , second generation; , third generation; and present, fourth generation.
Since the last really new tank design, the T, came out in , they feel that they have not produced a true Fourth Generation Tank Design. The KV was accepted after Step 2. Reports in Russian press articles seem to indicate that the tanks used in Chechnya, TA models, were far more survivable than once thought. Stephen L. His active duty time was evenly split between strategic intelligence assignments and duty assignments in four heavy divisions — 1st Infantry, 1st Cavalry, 2nd Armored, and 3rd Armored.
He is currently an analyst for the National Ground Intelligence Agency. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites. Posted July 8, edited. Or just summed up. Relating to Soviet tanks. Awesome read, cleared a lot of things for me! Edited July 8, by tenkte. Awesome Read, 2 much facts 4 me :D. TUs are in service in Cyprus and some other countries iirc. Posted July 11, Posted July 13, Are you sure you dont mean the T?
Posted July 14, You'll notice the word Soviet in my post, not Russia. Posted July 14, edited. Then why is it operating T's :learn:? Oops my bad Must have missed putting that in. Posted July 15, edited. Posted April 3, Posted April 3, edited. Yes, but not before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Posted April 4, Go To Topic Listing.
The T autoloader has a capacity of 24 rounds, eight of which are carried in a magazine or carousel. The semicombustible cases are contained in the upper ring of the carousel; the warheads are carried in the lower ring and can be selected by the gunner. Any malfunction or damage to the system would render the tank useless in combat.
The other effect to be considered is crew fatigue. Fighting and driving constitute only a small part of the crew's duties. Routine maintenance by far consumes the largest share of a crew's time. With only three crew members available for maintenance, hours are longer and rest shorter. Tank commanders are often called away to commanders' conferences, increasing the work load on the remaining crew members.