Russia begins building 120mm guns
September 20 2006 at 3:30 AM
Russian guns fire Western ammunition
Christopher F Foss
It has now been revealed that Artillery Plant No 9 located in Ekaterinburg ( Russia) has developed and tested two 120 mm smoothbore tank guns capable of firing Western one-piece 120 mm ammunition.
The first of these is the M-393 L44 smoothbore tank gun, which is 5.3 m long and has a recoil length of up to 700 mm. This has been designed to be retrofitted to the T-62 main battle tank (MBT), which is currently armed with a manually loaded 2A20 115 mm smoothbore gun that entered service as far back as 1959.
The M-393 gun weighs 2,600 kg and is fitted with a thermal sleeve and fume extractor; it does not appear currently to be fitted with a muzzle reference system.
The weapon is mounted in a turret with a traverse of 360TH, and elevation limits of -5TH to +15TH. According to the manufacturer the M-393 can fire standard natures of Western 120 mm smoothbore ammunition such as the German Rheinmetall 120 mm DM33, DM43 and DM53 armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot - tracer (APFSDS-T) and DM12 high-explosive anti-tank multi-purpose - tracer (HEAT-MP-T) rounds.
The M-393 is equivalent to Rheinmetall's first-generation L44 smoothbore gun installed in the Leopard 2 tank and which formed the basis for a number of other tank guns including the 120 mm M256 mounted in the US M1A1/M1A2 Abrams MBTs.
The second weapon is the 120 mm M-395 smoothbore tank gun, which has an L50 tube (that is, it is 6,000 mm long). It weighs 2,400 kg and has a maximum recoil length of 310 mm.
This also fires standard natures of 120 mm smoothbore ammunition and has been designed to be back-fitted to the T-72 MBT. It has a longer effective range than the M-393 but is still shorter and has a lower muzzle velocity than the latest Rheinmetall 120 mm L55 weapon installed in the Leopard 2A6 model.
At the present time the Russian Army is retaining its 125 mm smoothbore guns, the 120 mm M-393 and M-395 being aimed specifically at the export market.
Since the Russian 120 mm smoothbore guns do not have the same form factor as the existing 115 mm (T-62) and 125 mm (T-72) tank guns, fitting them would necessitate considerable additional work in the turret area, especially in the case of the T-72 as this would require either a new automatic loader or an additional crew member.
The Russian Army has employed a 125 mm smoothbore gun as its tank armament for many years, starting with the 2A26 installed in the T-64A MBT and the 2A26M2 installed in the early production T-72 MBT. These use two-part ammunition - that is, with a separate projectile and charge.
Each round is fed to the weapon via an automatic loading system located in the lower part of the turret. The use of the automatic loader enabled the crew to be reduced to three: commander, gunner and driver. This in turn enabled the overall size of the tank to be more compact than its Western counterparts such as the Leopard 2, UK Challenger 1 and 2, and the US M1 Abrams.
There are, however, two main drawbacks to the Russian arrangement. The first is that the ammunition is not isolated from the crew compartment and is therefore vulnerable to detonation if the chassis is penetrated. Second, the compact nature of the 125 mm separate-loading ammunition means that it is not possible to incorporate the latest-generation high L/D long-rod APFSDS-T penetrators with their enhanced armour-piercing characteristics.
The 2A26M was succeeded in 1970 by the improved 2A46 series, which has been continuously enhanced since it first entered service. Today, Artillery Plant No 9 is marketing a number of new versions, including the 2A46M for the T-72 and T-90 and the 2A46M-1 for the T-80U.
According to the manufacturer, the effective range of these guns has been increased and a muzzle reference system added for a higher level of accuracy. They can also fire the 9M119M Reflex laser-guided projectile with a maximum range of 5,000 m. Additional features include the ability to carry out a visual check of liquid in the recuperator and recoil brakes. The design of the barrel and breech ring allows the barrel assembly to be removed much faster, without the need to remove the turret. If required, the barrel can be chrome-lined to extend its life.
In addition Artillery Plant No 9 has produced quantities of variants designated as the 2A46M-4 (for the T-80) and the 2A46M-5 (for the T-90). These are claimed to be more accurate than the earlier weapons and feature improved dynamic balance, improved mounting of the weapon in the cradle and are manufactured to a higher production standard.
The end result is claimed to be a reduction in total dispersion when the tank is firing on the move being decreased by a factor of at least 1.7.
Artillery Plant No 9 also produces the 125 mm smoothbore main armament of the 2S25 self-propelled light amphibious anti-tank gun developed for the Russian air assault divisions, designated 2A75.
This 120 mm 50-calibre low-recoil weapon fires the same family of separate loading ammunition as the T-80/T-90 MBTs, as well as a laser-guided projectile.
It is understood that production of the T-80 MBT was completed some years ago, the T-90 now being the only tank currently in production in Russia for the home and export markets. T-90 is a further development of the T-72, whose original design is now well over 30 years old. Since the mid-1990s and earlier, Russia has been developing a new tank but no firm details have been released.
Speculation is that it is an unconventional design, with the crew of three in the chassis for maximum protection and the main armament (which is probably a 135 mm smoothbore gun) in an external mount fed by an automatic loader.
For some years the Ukraine has also been marketing its KBM2 L44 120 mm smoothbore tank gun, which for trials purposes has been installed in a T-72 MBT (designated the T-72-120) and in the locally developed T-84-120. In both cases the 120 mm gun is fed by a bustle-mounted automatic loader.
charlie escribió:Russia begins building 120mm guns
September 20 2006 at 3:30 AM
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Xammar escribió:Amigo Rojo
Y sobre los Tipo-99 chinos,en teoria si estarian abiertos para la exportacion,creo que existen posibilidades de que Bangladesh se decante por dicho modelo proximamente pero ¿este tipo de MBT seria adecuado para las FAR?.Aparte del coste,que pese a ser economico,vale lo suyo,tambien hablamos de un MBT de 54Tn,desconozco si a nivel logistico podria representar un inconveniente para las FAR comparado al tipo de MBT que emplean (T-62M).
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