The Ukrainians drew a conclusion from Azerbaijan’s successes in Karabakh. Will it be so easy to repeat success? The UAV is not
Table of contents
- Otoman (Russian Ataman)
- Spys (Russian Spear)
- Stronghold
We have already talked about what Ukraine has donea big deal with Bayraktar for the purchase of reconnaissance-strike and strike UAVs from Turkey. But in the conflict in Donbass, the main role remains with ground equipment, at least if hostilities resume soon.
The past phase of the conflict, especially in the initialstage in 2014-2015, showed that the country's army was in a terrible state and was not ready to wage war even by old standards. Almost all components were in poor condition - control systems, communications, electronic warfare, logistics, aviation. The insufficient competence of the military, coupled with the indecision of politicians, did its job - 7 years after the start of the conflict, the republics in the east of the country survived and continue to exist.
Several years of pause in fighting in Ukrainespent on strengthening and modernizing the armed forces, which received bloody experience. Let’s try to figure out what the Ukrainian military-industrial complex on its own is capable of today, because the country will not be able to be fully equipped with imported military equipment even according to the most optimistic forecasts.
Taking into account the fact that aviation is not an actual striking force in a conflict (because the DPR / LPR are doing surprisingly well with air defense), armored vehicles will perform the decisive tasks.
Otoman (Russian Ataman)
Infographics of the Ataman armored personnel carrier in 8x8 performance. The active module is reinforced with ATGM
Most of Ukrainian developments are based onattempts to weld nato-shaped combat modules onto the decrepit skeletons of Soviet equipment, and so on in the same spirit. Which is logical - the military industry of Ukraine is still very far from creating a fundamentally new technology, and military operations will begin before the "great technology of the future" has time to be embodied in its final form. In short, the Ukrainians simply do not have time to develop, run in and saturate their troops, the result is needed “today”.
I fit into this concept as well as possiblepromising BTR Ataman, created on the basis of the Soviet BTR-60 and BTR-70. By Western standards, the engine moved forward from the stern, acting as an additional protection for the frontal projection. The protection of the vehicle, according to Ukrainian developers, corresponds to STANAG 4569 Level 4 - this means that an armored personnel carrier withstands a hit from a KPVT (14.5x111 mm) from 200 meters, and is also capable of surviving an explosion on a push-action mine, or radio-controlled under the bottom.
Execution options in the 6x6 base – landing, infantry support, command and staff vehicle, wheeled tank, self-propelled mortar, medical vehicle
Since 2019, the car has been turned into a whole platform,on which amphibious options, self-propelled mortars, command and staff vehicles will be created, and in the future they carefully talk about the prospects for developing a wheeled tank on its basis. The Ataman was executed in the 8x8 version and in the shortened 6x6 version, rather unusual for the class - only the French have six-wheeled platforms of this type in mass production.
The fire support version has a combatmodule "Assault". It meets modern standards, but nothing more: a 30-mm automatic cannon paired with a PKT, a 30-mm automatic cassette grenade launcher. The Kashtan fire control system is integrated into the on-board computer with information output to the monitors.
Evacuation and landing is possible only through the rear ramp
The engine remained the weakest point, for it it is notfound nothing better than a diesel Deutz with a capacity of about 300 horses, which is obscenely small for a colossus of 27 tons. True, in more recent materials they already write about engines of the same brand, but for 550 horses. Probably, the weak engine will be left for auxiliary vehicles, and the combat ones will be given more powerful ones.
In fact, only the chassis remained of the Soviet old people in Ataman - as a rule, the most hemorrhoid part in repair and maintenance.
Spys (Russian Spear)
A similar procedure was carried out over the BMP, went under the knifeSoviet BMP-1. Instead of a cramped and squat troop compartment, the vehicle received a spacious compartment with injury-safe seats for infantrymen. True, the disadvantage of this was the inability to fire from loopholes. However, in modern combat this type of fire is of little use.
An early version of the Spear, the BMP base is clearly from Eastern European storage bases, the state of similar equipment at Ukrainian bases is close to scrap metal
Defense express
Active module Spear-Synthesis is more advanced thanon the Ataman. Armament - local versions of the 30-mm 2A72 cannon and the KBA-117 automatic grenade launcher (the same AGS-17), but the ATGM is already its own, with laser-guided generation 2+ Barrier. True, it is far from the BMP-2 Cornets both in distance and in penetration. The module is digitized as much as possible, everything is displayed, a fire control system with a thermal imaging channel, target acquisition and tracking. Of particular note is the repeated praise for the cannon stabilizer, the weakest point of the previous variants.
In general, this BMP corresponds to the RussianBMP-2M with the Berezhok complex, which is equipped with the Russian base in Tajikistan. Perhaps the booking has been somewhat increased, but the old BMP-1 chassis loses a lot against mines, since the clearance has remained the same, and it is impossible to radically strengthen the bottom of a combat vehicle on such a base.
Modernized "High" option, like Ataman, exit through the rear ramp
Unlike Ataman, the BMP Spear is positioned as a vehicle completely ready for the series; Ukraine already has experience with the BMP-1U Shkval, which entered the troops in noticeable quantities.
Use an outdated platform forty years agonot a stupid idea, a warring army cannot be enhanced with drawings and exhibitions. For alteration, you can also start up the BMPs available for conservation, with the collapse of the USSR there were thousands of them, although they were actively sold to third world countries or cut for scrap, but, nevertheless, there will certainly be more than a hundred suitable samples.
BMP-1 was not chosen by chance - a significant partThe Ukrainian army lost BMP-2 during the fighting in 2014-2015, more archaic samples began to be taken out of canned food, neighbors threw something in, scraping the bottom of the barrel. Ukraine presented BMP variants with different modules almost every year, but only Ataman has a chance to go into the series for real.
Stronghold
Stronghold at the proving ground in Arizona
This topic cannot be ignored in any way.The subject of constant srach and "war by correspondence" between quilted jackets and svidomits. According to some, Oplots smashed columns of "separatists" and "ichtamnetts" with almost no support, according to others, these are pathetic tinted Soviet T-80UDs rusted at storage bases under rain and snow, in a deplorable material condition - they say, a leaky screen and a stupid propaganda blank Ukrainian defense industry.
We will try to judge the car more objectively.So, in the database this is, of course, the T-80UD. Initially, eighties were created for powerful gas turbine engines, which provide noticeable performance advantages over the V-84 and V-92 diesel engines (T-72 and T-90, respectively). But gas turbine engines are expensive to manufacture, and maintenance, in addition to being expensive, is complicated by snotty eighteen-year-old conscripts from repair companies and repair battalions, who should not be allowed near gas turbine engines.
But who should be allowed then? And here they came up with a compromise with the T-80UD on a diesel engine.
We must pay tribute to the Ukrainians - they couldto develop for Oplot an intelligent 6TD2 boxer diesel engine of 1200 horses, which is noticeably more powerful than the Russian B-92, barely pulling 1000 l / s. The engine is omnivorous, in addition to standard diesel fuel, you can pour gasoline, kerosene and feed the car with mixtures of this fuel in any proportions. A special feature is the air intake system for fuel combustion from the least dusty areas, which significantly increases the operating reserve of the filters, and allows you to dive into the water without preparation.
Stronghold tower in the production hall
Otherwise, let's not dissemble, this is triviallate Soviet tank. It is armed with a 2A46 125 mm cannon-launcher, which, in addition to shells, can throw at the enemies of the Independent ATGM with laser guidance. It is paired with a Kalashnikov tank machine gun, and is powered by the familiar 28-round automatic loader + stowage in the fighting compartment, 46 rounds in total. Classic.
There is not much to say about passive armor, buthere is the dynamic protection of the Doublet differs from the Russian counterparts in the large coverage of vulnerable zones. The Warta optoelectronic complex is connected to the active protection. It warns of laser-guided enemy ATGM targeting a tank, and is equipped with aerosol grenades for setting backlight curtains, homing heads, or hiding the vehicle for thermal imagers.
T-84 Oplot
In general, T-84 Oplot, no fools, quite worthyeven a competitor to the T-90 or T-72 B3. His weak side before them is something else - the poverty of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and huge problems with the competence of managers in this area over the past decades. The trouble with Oplotov is the wildly unstable (most often bad) quality of components, assemblies and build quality.
Deliveries to Thailand, which he planned to buyabout 50 tanks in 2015 turned out to be a grandiose shame - the Thais found rust under the paint, and later it turned out that many elements and parts were removed from the mothballed forty-year-old tanks. In the production itself, some of the components and assemblies lay on the street, even without sheds. The indignant Thais eventually canceled the order and bought tanks from the Chinese, and Ukraine, which dreamed of competing with the Muscovites in the sale of military equipment, disgraced itself in front of a foreigner, so no one else wanted to buy the T-84. And it is not very clear what to do now after the first demonstration batch for export so tarnished the reputation of the country's military industry.
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Storage base in Ukraine
In a tank tournament in Germany, the Ukrainian crews took the last place, mainly due to the failed shooting. Failed automation malfunctions and the lack of stabilization of the gun.
From all this, we can conclude that Ukraineyet it is simply not capable of mass production of Strongholds. Even several dozen machines of stable quality were not produced. Well, the fact that the Soviet, for the most part, the machine will not be able to compete with modern European and American tanks, is a topic for a separate conversation.
Tit in the hand of the Ukrainian defense industry tank T-64 Bulat, modernization of the first Soviet MBT (main battle tank)
The bottom line:Ukraine has developed technology that significantly surpasses the characteristics of the equipment of the ground forces of the DPR and LPR. The only question is production: how many of the listed weapons the Ukrainian army will be able to obtain, in what time frame, andvery important- what quality?The fact that upon returning to Donbass Ukraine will have a largely new army is an obvious fact. In the next article we will talk about what the Ukrainians have to win on the electronic battlefield.
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