"T-95" THE BLACK EAGLE TANK (2)

December 22, 2009

According to the Sauron's Creations information, this tank is being developed in cooperation with and for export to S.Korea and may even feature Korean thermal imagers. It will not be fielded with the Russian Army and seems to be entirely an initiative of Omsk Plant. It originates from the now-closed Nikolai Popov's design bureau at Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) and is now developed by Alexander Morozov. The tank is built on a T-80U chassis and will borrow most of its components including FCS from T-80U. The most significant difference between the new tank and T-80 is the completely redesigned turret (at Omsk'97 a full-sized mock-up was presented). This new turret will have a larger degree of protection than the current Russian MBTs. The steep slope of forward armor plates on the turret reflects designers' desire to maximize protection from APFSDS rounds in a duel situation, when tanks fight "face to face". For additional protection, the tank is fitted with Kaktus ERA and the new Drozd-2 APS.



It was originally planned to install a 152 mm gun that is being developed for a future Russian MBT. However, since this tank is not going to be fielded with the Russian Army, it will carry a 125 mm 2A46-series gun. Another innovation is a new automated ammo storage/loader, located in a turret bustle. It is separated from crew compartment by an armored bulkhead which greatly increases crew survivability. This design has several reasons. First, the Chechen war has shown that the carousel used in T-72/T-80/T-90 is too prone to ammo detonation when penetrated, invariably killing the crew. Second, adopted configuration also reduces Black Eagle's height by 400 mm by comparison with the T-80 (Perhaps a typo here, since this means that the tank is a mere 1.8 meters in height). Finally, horizontal ammunition arrangement in the turret bustle permits using longer (and therefore, more powerful) APFSDS rounds, simplified automatic loading process and increased rate of fire (expected to reach 10-12 rds/min). It may be worth noting that the latest 3BM42M round for a 2A46M 125mm gun of T-80 and T-90 MBTs has reached the maximum length allowed by current auto loaders. Black Eagle's on-board information system monitors all essential systems of the vehicle, and permits automated data exchange with other tanks and headquarters. The tank shall have a new 1200 hp 16-cyl. turbo-diesel engine and shall weigh around 50 tons. VTTV-Omsk-99 exhibition have finally revealed the complete vehicle (referred by KBMZ as Item 640) without any netting.

Several features became immediately apparent. First it appears that the vehicle's hull is not taken directly from T-80U as was originally believed, but was significantly redesigned, the obvious change being the 7th road wheel. It seems that most of the additional length has gone into the raised front hull protection and greater glacis obliquity. It also raises doubts if the tank indeed stays in Class 50. The active protection system appears to be Drozd, not Arena, derivative. Although the tank indeed carries the 2A46M main gun, it was stated that provision is made for installation of a new 152mm main gun. This implies that Omsk still hopes to win the hearts of the Russian military with their new tank.

CHIORNY ORIOL: MBT OF THE 21TH CENTURY


The newest Russian main battle tank (MBT) named Chiorny Oriol (Black Eagle) was shown for the first time at the second VTTV-Omsk-97
International Exhibition of Armaments, Military Equipment and Conversion Products ended early September in Omsk, Siberia region, Russia.
The tank was demonstrated at a distance of 500 meters from the spectators. During the demonstration, the tanks turret, gun and armament system were carefully concealed. Chief of the Main Armour Command of the Russian MoD, colonel-general Sergei Mayev, and Deputy Director General of Rosvoorouzhenie company, Sergei Bukharov, who have inspected the tank on a closed proving ground of Omsk Transport Machinebuilding Plant (OTMP), refused to comment on its characteristics.

However, as well-informed specialists in Moscow report, the Chiorny Oriol represents a mobility test-bed of a 21th century tank and is a result of radical upgrading of the T-80U MBT carried out under the direction of the Designer General Boris Kurakin. The selection of the T-80U as a base for development of the 5th generation MBT derives from the fact that it is rightfully considered as the best MBT in the world which suc-cessfully combines all the basic performance characteristics: speed, maneuverability, fire power and protection system.

The Chiorny Oriol has the same overall dimensions as the T-80U does, nevertheless it has a lower silhouette which makes it less distinctive on the terrain. The experts believe that in terms of combination of the basic charac-teristics such as maneuverability, fire power, armour piercing capability and protection this MBT will surpass the Western MBTs such as M1A2 Abrams, Leclerk and Leopard-2 by a factor of 1.5-1.7.

According to Sergei Mayev, the 5th generation tank will be in service with Russian army at the beginning of the next century. However, some sources in Moscow are inclined to believe that the new tank might be fielded by mid-1999 if sufficient fund are allocated.

The Chiorny Oriol is being devel-oped by OTMP within a recently ap-proved state program of armament development till 2005. Due to the lack of required funding, the program envis-ages only creation of prototypes of the newest weapons. In the future, as the financial situation in the country will little by little improve, switch to large-scale upgrading of the army with the newest weapon system prototypes cre-ated will be possible during a short time period.

Currently, over 25,000 MBTs are in service with Russian army. However, up-to-date MBTs based on the T-80 and T-90 models, with service life of 15 years, account for only 30 per cent. By the year 2007-2009, the tanks which today are fielded with Russian army will exhaust their service life. Acquisition of new military materiel is at a critical level. As little as 50 new tanks have been fielded with the army during the last two years, according to Mayev. A number of tank-building plants will be provided with minimum state orders calling for production of modern weapon systems to maintain the re-quired technology potential. Sergei Mayev believes that the tank-builders would get a state order within the next few months.

Source by : kaskus. us

"T-95" THE NEW RUSSIAN MBT (1)

December 18, 2009

The T-95 is a future main battle tank, in development at the Russian Federation's Uralvagonzavod plant (designers of the T-72 and T-90 series, and the only Russian facility currently producing tanks). It was first reported by Jane's Defence Weekly in 1995, and announced by Russian official sources in 2000, but the tank has not been seen or photographed, and no concrete data has been released. It is due to be introduced in 2009, and production could be launched in 2010.

Most information about this tank is speculative. The tank is presumably a significant departure from the Soviet-era tanks currently in service. In particular, according to Moscow Defense Brief, it is expected to have a new hydropneumatic suspension with adaptive features, and the entire crew will be placed in a sealed compartment inside the hull, isolated from other tank components.

Although no concrete information has been released, various websites have published descriptions and illustrations of a novel design. The main gun will reportedly be of 135 mm or 152 mm caliber (larger than the 105-120–125 mm guns in current main battle tanks) and will have a new multi-channel fire control system that works in optical, thermal, near IR, and radar spectrum. The gun will be located in a remotely-controlled mount. Such an arrangement is anticipated to improve crew survivability compared to existing designs, because the crew compartment is separated from the ready ammunition supply, and also because the tank would be nearly completely hidden and protected in a hull-down position. The crew would number just three, all being carried within the hull itself.

The tank will reportedly be built on the principle of identical capabilities for both gunner and commander and fully supports the hunter-killer mode of operation, a unified command information system and tactical level automatic management system, and advanced active and passive defensive aids to protect the tank from various modern and future types of threat.

T-95 is a name given to the tank by media; it is not an official name. According to published sources, development of a new tank called "Item 195" began at the Uralvagonzavod design bureau in the early 1990s.

According to Moscow Defense Brief, T-95 has been in development for a long time, and the development has been delayed in part because of the workload imposed by the T-90 export contracts on Uralvagonzavod and the design bureau. The journal also points out, that "whether Russia’s defense industry is capable after fifteen years of near-paralysis of providing the Russian army with a high-technology product in the quantities it needs" remains an open question.


The prototype tank was announced by the Russian Minister of Defense in 2000. Another recent Russian prototype tank, the Black Eagle tank built by Omsk Transmash, appears to have been built only for the export market, not for Russian forces. In a recent editorial a Russian engineer stated that the T-95 is currently being tested and will begin entering service with the Russian army in 2009.

On July 10, 2008 the Russian government announced that the Russian armed forces would start receiving new-generation tanks superior to the T-90 main battle tank after 2010. "The T-90 MBT will be the backbone of the armored units until 2025. T-72's and T-80's will not be modernized and will be eventually replaced by new-generation tanks, which will start entering service after 2010," Sergei Mayev, head of the Federal Service for Defense Contracts (Rosoboronzakaz) told a news conference.

In a July 2008 article in Jane's Defence Weekly, analyst Christopher F. Foss stated that the tank is expected to have a 152 mm gun with an automatic loader in the chassis, but that it is uncertain whether it will sport a conventional turret or external gun mount.

Source by : kaskus.us

ROBOT WARRIORS ARE NO LONGER SCI-FI BUT REALITY

December 16, 2009

They can fly, they can swim, they can spit out 550 high-explosive shells a minute. And most terrifyingly of all, they'll soon be able to think for themselves.

A few minutes before nine in the morning, and the young soldiers have no idea of the horror that is about to strike them. They are taking part in a massive military training exercise, involving 5,000 troops, and are about to showcase the latest in robotic weapons technology. The MK5 anti-aircraft system, with two huge 35mm cannons, is essentially a vast robotic weapon, controlled by a computer.

Killing machine: The SWORD is mounted with either an M240 machine-gun, a grenade or rocket launcher

But while it's one thing when your laptop freezes up, it's quite another when it is controlling an auto-loading magazine containing 500 high-explosive rounds. As the display begins, the South African troops sense quickly that something is terribly wrong. The system appears to jam - but what happens next is truly chilling. 'There was nowhere to hide,' one witness stated in a report. 'The rogue gun began firing wildly, spraying high explosive shells at a rate of 550 a minute, swinging around through 360 degrees like a high-pressure hose.'

One young female officer rushes forward to try to shut down the robotic gun - but it is too late. 'She couldn't, because the computer gremlin had taken over,' the witness later said. The rounds from the automated gun rip into her and she collapses to the ground. By the time the robot has emptied its magazine, nine soldiers lie dead (including the woman officer). Another 14 are seriously injured. The report will later blame the bloodbath on a 'software glitch'.

It sounds like a blood-spattered scene from the new blockbuster Terminator Salvation, in which a military computer takes over the world using an army of robot soldiers. But this bloodbath actually happened. And concern is mounting that it may happen again and again, as a growing number of military robots flood the battlefield.

Saving lives: The Talon is used primarily for bomb disposal

Indeed, Pentagon insider Peter Singer believes that we are witnessing the dawn of the robot warrior age. 'Just look at the numbers,' he says. 'We went into Iraq in 2003 with zero robots. Now we have 12,000 on the ground. They come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny machines to robots bigger than an 18-wheeler truck. There are ones that fit on my little finger and ones with the wingspan of a football field.'

The U.S. military is the biggest investor in robot soldiers. Its robot programme, dubbed Future Combat Systems, is budgeted to spend $240 billion over the next 20 years. But Singer is worried that in the rush to bring out ever more advanced systems, many lethal robots will be rolled out before they are ready. It is a terrifying prospect. 'Imagine a laptop armed with an M16 machine-gun,' one expert said.

According to Noel Sharkey, a professor of robotics and artificial intelligence at Sheffield University, one of the biggest concerns is that this growing army of robots could stray out of communication range. 'Just imagine a rogue robot roaming off the battlefield and into a nearby village,' he says. 'Without experts to shut it down, the results could be catastrophic.'

One of the most common, and fastest, military robots in service is the Talon. Weighing just 52kg, it has one long, mobile arm and is used primarily for bomb disposal. It can move through snow, sand and water.

Auto-pilot: A robot bomber patrols the skies

There are 2,500 of these robots in Iraq and if they are damaged, they are flown to one of six dedicated 'robot hospitals' for repairs. They are then returned to combat within hours.

The Talon is unarmed, but can be disturbingly temperamental. Singer gives a worrying example of one sergeant just back from Iraq who described how his Talon robot acted 'erratically'. Another told how his robot would 'drive off the road, come back at you, spin around, stuff like that'. I spoke to one soldier in the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry division, stationed at Forward Operating base Kalsu, 20 miles south of Baghdad, who works with Talons. 'They all have different personalities,' he says. 'The way they move, the way the arm doesn't move like it's supposed to. You have to learn their quirks. 'Which is fine - until it is also lethally armed. A deadlier version of the Talon is the SWORD - and this is a killing machine. The SWORD is essentially a Talon robot mounted with either an M240 machine-gun, a grenade or rocket launcher. Boasting this kind of firepower, stories about 'quirks' and ' personalities' become far more alarming.

In his new book, Wired For War, Singer tells how a roboticist at a rival firm told of an incident in testing where a SWORD had spun around in circles, as if drunk. The Marines Corps' Gladiator combat robot prototype, which is the size of a golf cart and heavily armed, had similar problems when tested, driving about in a circle that left those at the exercise not knowing 'whether to laugh or run away'. The SWORD is also a keen marksman. It can shoot an apple from hundreds of meters using a machine gun with the accuracy of a sniper rifle. That is an incredible capability.

But it can't tell the difference between an apple and a tomato. This is a major cause for concern for many experts. If it can't tell an apple from a tomato, they ask, how can it tell the difference between an insurgent and an innocent child?

A spokesman at Qinetiq, which manufactures SWORD, denies the product's disturbing glitches, dismissing them as 'completely unsubstantiated'. But even Qinetiq can't keep track of all their units once they are in service. 'Once those units are sold, we can't comment as they are with operational forces,' said a spokesman for the company. 'It would be like Ford trying to track all its cars.'

Qinetiq also emphasizes, however, that its robots are 'saving lives every day in Iraq'. Indeed, Qinetiq is forging ahead with a whole array of new military robots, including a lightweight, solar-powered spy plane which can remain airborne for months.

But Singer also has the inside track on the Pentagon's plans for robot warfare. As well as working in America's military HQ, he coordinated Barack Obama's defense policy during his presidential campaign. 'There are various humanoid military robots in the pipeline,' he says. 'Some of the military's ideas are straight out of science fiction.'

In the forthcoming blockbuster Terminator Salvation, which is out on June 3, we are presented with a nightmarish scenario in which armies of machines roam a post apocalyptic landscape, destroying any remnants of human civilization. Huge 'Harvesters' hunt down humans en masse, while brutal, humanoid 'Terminators' round up the survivors. The bedraggled human resistance, whose leader is a character played by Christian Bale, even encounters vicious underwater robots which patrol the oceans.

Disturbingly, these terrifying creations are now inspiring the latest real-life innovations. 'One member of the military so liked the look of the Terminators that he asked the Pentagon to build one,' Singer says.

'There is nothing unusual in this. After all, the idea for the mobile phone came from Star Trek, while the tank was created after Winston Churchill read the science fiction of H.G. Wells.'

Hover-bot: The Pentagon is creating the Wasp - a radio-controlled device similar to the one pictured that can be used literally as a fly on the wall

But the greatest fears concern what will happen when increasingly advanced military robots become 'autonomous' - that is, able to make their own decisions.

At present, most robot soldiers are operated by a human who controls their every move. But there are advanced plans to let robots fight on their own. Indeed, one U.S. military proposal clearly states: 'Fully autonomous engagement without human intervention should be considered - both lethal and non-lethal.'

One of the world's leading roboticists, university professor Ron Arkin, who works with the Pentagon's technology arm, confirms that the Future Combat Systems programme is fast moving towards such autonomous systems. 'I envision them being used in allout war, for example,' he said. 'Ten to 20 years from now, robot warfare could be a very different story. 'This raises a whole new range of problems. Professor Sharkey, for example, claims the Pentagon is developing 'Multi-Robot Pursuit Systems' which will be used for house clearance. They will pursue people like a pack of wolves,' he said. 'But if you have several people running away, how will the robots decide who to shoot? A lot of innocent people will die.'

And what happens if terrorists get hold of the technology? 'These military robots are simply programmed to detect and shoot,' says Prof Sharkey. 'They are stupid, dumb. They don't ask questions and the hit rates are incredible. 'It would be easy for anyone to set one up on a rooftop and leave it to shoot an innocent crowd to pieces. 'The manufacturers admit that their robots could fall into enemy hands, but say that this is a risk with any conventional military weapon.

Robots, however, are harder to destroy, don't feel fear and can't be interrogated if they are captured. In short, they can be used with far more devastating results. 'We already know that in the Middle East, Hamas is using remote controlled planes,' says Prof Sharkey. 'I can go on the internet today, buy a plane about 2ft long which cannot be detected by radar, connect it to a mobile phone and use the phone to guide it.'

Forty-three countries are developing military robot programmes, including Russia and China. And it is fast becoming an arms race.

Past, present and future? Christian Bale, left, takes his anger out on a robot from new film, Terminator Salvation, while Arnie, right, shows what he's made of in Terminator 3

The Pentagon's technology wing is determined to stay ahead in the game - and is creating ever more bizarre devices. There is the Wasp, a radio-controlled flying insect that weighs just 170g and can be used, quite literally, as a fly on the wall.

Then there is the Cormorant, a sea launched robot which can swim to a depth of 150ft, and the PANDA, which stands for Predictive Analysis for Naval Deployment Activities, and which helps track down Somali pirates.

One new sentry robot, with a built in 5mm light machine-gun, patrols the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea. The SGRA1 is made by Samsung Techwin and can pinpoint targets at up to 500m using a colour camera. Israel has introduced armed robotic sentries in pillboxes along the Gaza border.

'This is amazing technology,' says Singer, 'but it raises disturbing, fascinating questions. On one hand, hundreds of soldiers are alive today thanks to robots. 'The flip side, however, is that they allow us to use more force with less risk. Eleven out of the top 20 Taliban leaders have been killed by robot drones.

'But how many innocent people have been killed in the process?' Either way, military robot technology is advancing at an alarming pace. 'We are experimenting to see whether we can embed the laws of war and the rules of engagement into an autonomous robot soldier. 'Our initial results are promising and I believe it is possible to constrain a robot's behaviour to a moral code. 'But the impetus to create a fully-functional, fully-autonomous robot warrior is a political one.

'Body bags containing real soldiers coming home affect the government electorally,' says Sharkey. 'Once you start using robots, you remove this problem. 'But do we really want going to war to be as easy, and impersonal, as playing a computer game? And once we have created our indestructible robot armies, will we ever be 100 per cent sure that we can control them?

By : Gavin Knight