Starting from 2006, information about the creation and the speedy entry into service of the Russian army of a fourth-generation tank has periodically appeared in the media. Almost a decade has passed, and no one has even seen a prototype image. It is only known that the creator is the Ural Design Bureau of Transport Engineering in Nizhny Tagil. At the parade on May 9, 2014, a new type of heavy weapons is expected to appear in public. For twenty years of development, the project was encrypted in different ways: “Improvement 88”, Object 195, T-95, T-99 "Priority". Sometimes the names “Black Eagle” and “Armata” are also included here. It should be noted that the "Armata" should not be identified with previous projects, and especially with the T-95, this is a completely new product.
In the late eighties, our engineers looked into the future
The design of a new type of combat vehicle began in 1988. The main idea was to increasecrew survivability and the possibility of upgrading weapons systems without fundamental modifications to the vehicle. To meet this requirement, it was proposed to make the tower uninhabited. That is, to carry out the aiming of a gun or small arms at a target, to choose the type of ammunition and to make a shot was supposed to be automatic. The crew itself should have been placed in an isolated, well-protected armored capsule. It was supposed to be a tank with a completely new layout and powerful protection. The political upheavals of the last decade of the last century did not allow the full implementation of the plan. And the level of development of electronics of that time would hardly have made it possible to create a highly effective combat system. This concept was embodied in metal a few years later by the Ural tank builders who created the Object 195. Photos of the tank covered with a tarpaulin cannot help to get an idea of the design of an autonomous artillery mount.
Unfinished Detective
Due to the high level of secrecy of the fourth generation tank project, confusion arose in the names of the vehicles. It is possible that the discrepancy was inspired by the customer himself, the Ministry of Defense. The details of many developments become known many years later, after the loss of their relevance or the release into wide circulation. There is still a lot of idle speculation about the reasons for the abandonment of the production of new cars two decades ago. In the 90s, domestic tank-building concerns were going through hard times. Each plant was looking for its own way of survival. Omsk tank builders based on the T-80 gas turbine tank developed the Object 640, called the Black Eagle. The car was presented at a private show in 1997 in Kubinka. A little earlier, in 1995, Uralvagonzavod began to develop its own version of a modern tank. Despite the use of innovative passive protection technologies and weapon systems, both vehicles - the Object 195, the Black Eagle - were a deep modernization of third-generation tanks. And this did not really triple the military.
Futuristic exterior
Tank Object 195 was brought to several prototypes. Models listed under the same cipher are far from identical. As conceived by military strategists, the height of the new combat vehicle should not exceed two meters. These parameters, in theory, should have corresponded to the Object 195. The photo, however, captured a car about three meters high with a massive gun mount covered with a tarpaulin. It is unlikely that this is a pre-production sample. An uninhabited tower must be very compact. Most likely, the future universal platform was tested as a mobile base for advanced weapon systems. After all, the military decided to create a universal chassis. One of the modules should be the Object 195 tank. So far no one has been able to get a photo of other designs, if they exist.
Requirements for the 4th generation tank
By the end of the first decade of the new millennium, the concept of a promising tank was finally formed. The new combat vehicle willa revolutionary step in the development of land combat platforms. In this regard, she must fulfill the following requirements:
- The possibility of the maximum probability of destroying the target with a projectile.
- Guaranteed survival of the crew in the event of a tank hit by cumulative or kinetic ammunition.
- The unit is a segment of the network-centric system of the ground forces.
- The chassis must be universal, in order to be able to place combat vehicles for other purposes on its base, as well as equipment for engineering support of the troops.
- Possibility of phased modernization.
Weapons out of competition
Object 195 is supposed to be equipped with a 135-152 mm smoothbore gun with an initial projectile velocity of at least 1980 m/s. If the six-inch 2A83 cannon is adopted as the main gun, then the ammunition will be 42 units of sub-caliber, high-explosive fragmentation and cumulative shells. Traditionally, an exclusive feature of domestic vehicles is the ability to launch guided missiles from the gun barrel. Together with the gun, the entire ammunition load also rotates. The automatic loading system provides a rate of fire of at least 15 rounds per minute. Machine guns with a caliber of 7.62 and 14.5 mm with the ability to fire at aircraft, as well as four small-sized 9M311 missiles, will be mounted on the gun carriage. One option for light weapons is a 30mm automatic cannon paired with the main gun.
Fire control system andCountermeasures
The tankers will receive the completeness of visual information of the situation on the battlefield not only through observation through optical devices. Due to the fact that the crew is deprived of the possibility of a circular view (the tower will be uninhabited), the fire control system is supposed to be equipped with a complex of transmitting devices and several screens inside the cockpit. The monitors receive information from other machines of the unit. The crew will see "through the armor" in all directions. The standard radar system and laser rangefinder should ensure high weapon efficiency. The laser device is entrusted with the functions of actively counteracting enemy guidance systems. recognition system "friend or foe", which excludes defeat from friendly fire in a highly maneuverable battle. The active defense complex consists of installations "Shtora-2" and "Arena-E".
Impenetrable tank
Object 195 is a heavy tank (compared to its predecessors). The base model T-72 weighs 41 tons, the latest derivative of this series T-90 weighs 46.5 tons. A promising model is 10 tons more massive. Improving passive protection led to an increase in combat weight. Combined multilayer armor provides for a new generation of integrated dynamic protection. The equivalent of the armor system against the impact of sub-caliber ammunition is 1000 mm, against cumulative projectiles - at least 1500 mm.
Power plant
Designers equipped the Object 195 tank with a Chelyabinsk V-92S2F2 diesel engine. This is a temporary measure, the power plant does not meet modern requirements. Power is only 1130 hp. with., the mobility of a promising tank slightly exceeds the performance of the main combat vehicle of the previous generation. As a regular unit, it is planned to install a diesel engine 12N360T-90A. The engine is four-stroke, X-shaped, 12-cylinder, with gas turbine pressurization and intermediate air cooling. The cooling system is liquid. Working volume - 34, 6 liters. Power not less than 1650 liters. with. provides a thrust-to-weight ratio of a combat vehicle of at least 30 hp. with. per ton. The engine is located along the combat vehicle and is aggregated with automatic transmission.
Tactical and technical characteristics of Object 195
If we identify a promising vehicle with the T-95, then the characteristics of the fourth generation tank are as follows:
- Maximum combat weight - 55 tons.
- Dimensions: case length 8,000 mm, width 2,300 mm, height 1,800 mm.
- Crew - 3 (2) people.
- Engine - diesel 1650 hp
- The speed on the roadway is more than 70 km/h.
The tank is dead. Long live the tank
In 2008, it seemed that the moment when tank troops would begin to receive the world's best piece of equipment seemed close. Several prototypes of the T-95 (Object 195) were sent for state testing. Two years later, a benefit performance took place in front of the responsible officials of the Ministry of Defense. The department refused to continueproject financing. At least this wording has been the official version for the past few years. "Uralvagonzavod" at its own expense completed the creation of the project. One of the reasons for the refusal to adopt a new model of a promising tank was the moral obsolescence of the technological solutions adopted as the basis for its development. The general concept of the complex of heavy combat platforms was also revised. The time has come for the modular principle of shaping the appearance of a combat vehicle. Object 195 was adopted as the basis for the future mobile system of the battlefield.
So, Object 195 - Armata or not?
Obviously, the actual project has a different working index. It is also clear that the long-term developments of the 195th project and the Black Eagle will not be forgotten. The leadership of the Armed Forces set the task in 2015 to start production of a new machine. Taking into account the short deadlines for the implementation of the task, "Armata" will embody the main concepts of the experimental predecessors. The layout and technological solutions will be preserved. At the same time, to reduce the cost of production, some components of protection and weapons will have to be abandoned. The T-14 (this designation was given to the new main tank) is somewhat smaller, four to five tons lighter, more technologically advanced and cheaper to manufacture. In order to reduce prices and simplify production, the widespread use of titanium passive protection elements will be abandoned.
