15 sept. 2016 by British Army

16/01/2016 Le Point.fr (AFP)

Le pays pourrait acquérir "plusieurs centaines de chars" français Leclerc. Le contrat représenterait plusieurs centaines de millions d'euros.

Après le Rafale, la France pourrait vendre ses chars Leclerc. L'Arabie saoudite serait intéressée par l'acquisition de « plusieurs centaines de chars », a-t-on indiqué vendredi de source française. Les Émirats arabes unis sont déjà équipés de chars Leclerc. « On a entendu parler de cela par (le constructeur français) Nexter, ce serait une très bonne nouvelle », a-t-on indiqué au ministère français de la Défense. « On parle de quantités astronomiques de véhicules (...), plusieurs centaines de chars », a-t-on ajouté de même source.

Le groupe de défense français Nexter, qui s'est allié en 2015 à l'allemand Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), constructeur du char Leopard, a fermé sa chaîne de fabrication de Leclerc dans les années 2000, mais se dit en mesure de la relancer, selon cette source. L'armée française, qui dispose de 290 chars Leclerc, pourrait offrir des blindés prélevés sur son propre parc en attendant la « remontée en puissance » de la production, a suggéré cette source. « Probablement qu'on réfléchira avec nos propres matériels à aider cette phase de démarrage », a-t-on indiqué.

Une armée très bien équipée

En mars 2015, le ministère français de la Défense a notifié à Nexter un contrat pour la rénovation de 200 chars Leclerc, soit un contrat de 330 millions d'euros pour une livraison à partir de 2020. L'Arabie saoudite dispose des forces armées les mieux équipées du Golfe. Elle est traditionnellement une cliente des industries d'armement américaine et britannique mais se fournit aussi ponctuellement en Europe. Son armée de terre possède 600 chars lourds américains (200 Abrams et 400 M60A3).

Elle a négocié avec la France un contrat pour l'acquisition de 30 patrouilleurs rapides qui devrait « déboucher assez rapidement », a-t-on également précisé dans l'entourage du ministre de la Défense Jean-Yves Le Drian. En 2015, la France a vendu des équipements militaires pour environ 100 millions d'euros à l'Arabie saoudite, soit moins de 1% des exportations françaises d'armements (16 milliards d'euros au total), a-t-on précisé de même source. L'Arabie, principale puissance sunnite face à l'Iran, n'en est pas moins un partenaire stratégique de premier plan de la France dans la région.

Marines load ammunition into an Abrams tank. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. John M. McCall.

DULLES, Va., Oct. 9 By Richard Tomkins (UPI)

Orbital is to develop a new 120mm multi-purpose round for tanks under a first-phase development contract from the U.S. Army.

Next-generation, multi-purpose 120 millimeter ammunition is to be developed for U.S. Abrams tanks by Orbital ATK. The U.S. Army contract for first-phase development work is worth $16 million. "Our ammunition innovations like advanced kinetic energy penetrators and airbursting munitions are providing combat overmatch for our warfighters -- which is our company's mission," said Dan Olson, vice president and general manager for Orbital ATK's Armament Systems division, of the Defense Systems Group. "Our ability to innovate comes from a long history of creating new capabilities for existing systems through our expertise in fuzing, warheads and platform integration." Orbital ATK said the 120mm Advanced Multi-Purpose, XM1147 High Explosive Multi-Purpose with Tracer cartridge will replace four existing rounds, including those for defeating armor and breaching reinforced walls.

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October 2, 2015: Strategy Page

The Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah has been promised 75 Soviet-era tanks by the Syrian government. The gift consists of T-55 and T-72 tanks and comes as a thank you for Hezbollah not complaining about the presence of Russian forces in Syria. Apparently more such gifts are forthcoming if Hezbollah works with the Russians against Syrian rebels. Russia deployed a mix of Su-24 and Su-25 ground attack planes, plus four Su-30 fighters since early September.

 Hezbollah has been a long-running client of Syria and Iran, who use the group as a proxy in Lebanon to battle Christians, Sunni Moslems, and the Israelis. The group fought Israel in the 2006 Lebanon War and came out second-best, losing as many as 800 fighters. Hezbollah has access to a number of heavy weapons, notably Russian-designed ATGMs like the AT-14 (9M133 Kornet), and Chinese C-802 missiles. Hezbollah has not been seen operating these tanks yet and it is unlikely that Israel would allow these vehicles to be moved into Lebanon. Israel and Russia have apparently negotiated an “understanding” to cover situations like this and the Israeli air strikes that would be involved.

 The T-72s and T-55s will not be much help in a major battle – Israel’s Merkava tanks clearly outclass them – and their combat record against Western tank designs has been spotty at best. Still, when facing the Islamic State or al-Qaeda, the tanks will be fighting on better terms. It is believed that Hezbollah will be trained to use these tanks in western Syria against Syrian rebels.

 The T-55 entered service in the 1950s, and features a 100mm main gun with 45 rounds, along with a 12.7mm machine gun and a 7.62mm machine gun. The T-72 main battle tank entered service in the 1970s, and features a 125mm main gun with 39 rounds, along with a 12.7mm machine gun and a 7.62mm machine gun. – Harold C. Hutchison

September 18, 2015 by Robert Beckhusen - War is boring

War game underlines armor's weakness

Recently, a Chinese tank company with the Nanjing Military Region went on the attack. The mission — punch through an enemy defense, press forward and eliminate any resistance along the way.

This was, of course, an exercise. And the exercise was going well. The armored beasts busted through their objective … when two enemy helicopters armed with anti-tank missiles arrived.

Within moments, the helicopters effectively “destroyed” the whole company, according to a July 25 article in the Chinese military newspaper Jiefangjun Bao Online. The paper noted the helicopter counter-attack “set off an uproar in the brigade.”

The U.S. Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office took note of the exercise in its monthly journal OE Watch. “It was … apparent that commanders were not staying abreast of recent changes in warfare,” the journal stated.

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15 juil. 2015 par Rostec

United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation, OJS livrera avant 2015 dans les pays d’Amérique du Sud et les pays de l’Organisation du Traité de Sécurité Collective (OTSC) des dizaines de complexes de contrôle objectif des actions de l’équipage de blindés et de pièces d’artillerie.

« L’élaboration de Compass Moscow Design and Construction Bureau est prévue en premier lieu pour la formation des équipages dans le cadre de l’activité d’entraînement et militaire, – a indiqué l’adjoint du directeur général d’United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation, OJS Sergueï Skokov. – Avec son aide le commandement peut contrôler les actions et les discussions de l’équipage, suivre le temps et les coordonnées des déplacements des unités de blindés et des unités isolées de matériel – passage des limites, arrivée du matériel dans les régions prévues, déploiement des colonnes et passage à l’attaque ».

Comme l’a indiqué l’adjoint du directeur général de Compass Moscow Design and Construction Bureau Vladimir Masliouk, l’équipement du complexe peut être adapté pour n'importe quel type de matériel, et le poste de commande peut être situé sur une base stationnaire ou mobile, par exemple sur un châssis de KAMAZ ou de « Oural ». « Avec cela la construction et l’ergonomie des véhicules militaires n'est pas enfreinte. Le complexe correspond totalement aux exigences du Ministère de la Défense et il peut interagir avec l'appareillage radio possédé pour la transmission de données dans le Centre national de commande de la défense de Russie. Par rapport aux analogues étrangers il est plusieurs fois moins chers et il fonctionne sur des canaux séparés de communication. De plus, les appareils étrangers de ce type, en général, utilisent le standard de communication des données IEEE 802.11, plus connu comme Wi-Fi, ce qui ne permet pas de les utiliser sur le terrain », – a expliqué Vladimir Masliouk.

Le fonctionnement du complexe sera montré à un large public au concours international « Biathlon de chars – 2015 » ainsi qu’à l’exposition internationale d’armes et de matériel militaire Russia Arms Expo-2015.

June 27, 2015 By Vivek Raghuvanshi – Defense News

NEW DELHI — The Indian Army's plan to develop and build a medium-weight main battle tank to replace more than 2,500 Russian T-72s has raised questions about the future of the homemade Arjun tank and likely would kill a decade-old proposal by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to build a tank, according to analysts and officials.

The Indian Army this month floated a global request for information to seek partners to design the new tank under a program called Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV). As a medium-weight platform it would weigh 40-plus tons, compared with the Arjun, which weighs 60 tons.

"The proposed FRCV is in the medium category and is more likely to be around the T-90 platform than the Arjun Mark-II platform, which is getting close to the medium-heavy/heavy category," said Anil Chait, retired Indian Army lieutenant general. "Designing and developing the product around proposed qualitative requirements afresh would suggest that we may be looking toward the end of the Arjun saga," he said.

However, Rahul Bhonsle, a retired Army brigadier general and defense analyst, said the Arjun will progress from the current Mark-1 level to Mark-3.

"The lead time for the FRCV to be manufactured, if all goes well, is likely to be approximately 15 years or so. This provides adequate scope for the Arjun series to be progressed to at least Mark-3. Moreover, there is a need in the Indian Army for an Arjun class of tank."

While no Ministry of Defence official would comment on the fate of the decade-old Futuristic Main Battle Tank (FMBT) project to be developed by DRDO, an Army official said FRCV has "surely killed" the FMBT.

The FMBT, intended to be in the 50-plus ton category, was also meant to replace the T-72s.

"The FRCV seems to be a completely new project which possibly junks the FMBT, which was being worked upon by the DRDO or may be a lead to the developing agency to add on to the existing work that has already been done on the same," Bhonsle said.

"I surely see Americans, Russians, French, Germans, Koreans and British participating along with Indian companies in stand-alone or joint venture mode. We could see leading companies from there which are involved with tank design, participating in it," Chait said.

Unlike the earlier tank effort, the FRCV does not restrict production to the DRDO. Domestic defense companies in tie-ups with overseas defense companies can serve as the production agencies.

"As this is an open competition, private agencies could also be roped in to develop the tank. The best option would be for DRDO designing and developing the same with a foreign partner as it is best placed technically to do so. For an Indian private company in collaboration with a foreign partner it would be a Greenfield venture," where the foreign company would construct new facilities for the project, Bhonsle said.

The Army plans to begin induction of the basic FRCV by 2025-27, which would be the platform on which numerous variants would be developed to serve different functions. These variants will include a tracked light tank, a wheeled version, a bridge layer tank, a trawl tank and mine plows, armored recovery vehicle, self-propelled gun, anti-aircraft tank, artillery observation vehicle, engineer reconnaissance vehicle, and armored ambulance.

According to the request for information, FRCV will be executed in three stages: design, prototype developmental and production.

The request says the design agency and developing agency can be separate entities. The best design will be chosen and given to the nominated development agency for prototype production. The selected prototype will be given to the production agency or agencies for bulk production.

Shankar Roy Chowdhury, retired Army general and former service chief, said the paramount requirement for the tank is survivability.

"Russian designers sought to achieve this [survivability] by smaller size [three-man crew and lighter armor], lower profile and speed. The West preferred larger turrets, hence thicker armor, heavier tanks. The test for both designs has been the Arab-Israeli wars and the gulf war. The Russian designs did not do too well. Blame that on the crews if you like," Roy Chowdhury said.

The most important requirement, however, is that the future FRCV must be indigenously designed, Roy Chowdhury said.

1 juin, 2015 Pierre Brassart (FOB)

Le ministère allemand de la Défense a récemment annoncé ses intentions concernant le futur char de combat allemand. Lors d’une intervention devant le parlement allemand, la ministre a annoncé que les « technologies et concepts allaient être évaluées entre 2015 et 2018 conjointement avec l’industrie allemande ». La raison avancée, tout à fait légitime, de ces études est l’âge avancé du Léopard 2 qui, lancé en 1979, approche des 40 ans de service. La résurgence de la menace à l’Est, conjointement avec les avancées de l’industrie de défense russe, semble être également une raison valable.

Le Leopard 2 devrait commencer à sortir de service à partir de 2030, après 50 ans de bons et loyaux service. Sur les 2000 chars que la Bundeswehr a reçus durant la guerre froide, il n’en reste que près de 240 en service actif. Le mois passé, la ministre allemande de la Défense a envisagé de remettre en service une centaine de chars qui étaient jusque-là en réserve. Un livre blanc est actuellement en cours de rédaction. Sa publication nous en dira plus sur les plans allemands en matière de défense.

Pour revenir au projet de Leopard 3, les médias allemands avancent que le rapprochement entre la société allemande KMW (Krauss-Maffei Wegmann) et le français Nexter ferait un solide candidat pour le développement de ce futur char. Nexter et KMW ont probablement plus d’expérience que quiconque sur le continent européen.

Pour rappel, un éventuel rapprochement franco-allemand est, pour l’instant, soumis en France au vote final de la loi Macron pour la croissance et l’activité, prévue dans le courant de juillet ou à la  rentrée parlementaire. La dernière phase du mariage entre les deux groupes sera alors enclenchée.

En attendant que le projet de nouveau char franco-allemand se concrétise, les deux pays ne se croisent pas les bras. La France a récemment lancé le programme de rénovation du char Leclerc qui doit conduire à la livraison de 200 « Leclerc Rénovés » à partir de 2020, ce qui devrait leur permettre de durer jusqu’en 2040. Du côté allemand, les Leopard ont été élevé au standard 2A6 à partir de 2001. Une première tranche de 20 Leopard 2A7 a également été commandée et livrée à partir de décembre 2014. Mais leur remplacement doit débuter à partir de 2030, soit au moins 10 ans plus tôt que celui des Leclerc. Le calendrier allemand est donc plus serré que celui des Français. Espérons que ce décalage de timing ne soit pas préjudiciable lors des négociations futures et que cette occasion opérationnelle et industrielle ne soit pas manquée, comme cela a déjà eu lieu par le passé…

13/05/2015 Sources : État-major des armées

Le 5 mai 2015, le lieutenant-colonel Le Losq a assisté aux premiers entraînements de tirs Leclerc du sous groupement tactique interarmes (SGTIA) sur la zone d’exercice de Mielno. Ces premières manœuvres ont permis la montée en puissance de l’exercice interallié PUMA15.

Les premiers obus ont été tirés à près de 1 000 km/h. Les tirs « équipage » menés par le capitaine Pierre-Albert ont été effectués sur des objectifs distants de 1 000 à 3 000 mètres, de jour comme de nuit. Si la zone de tir était réservée aux chars Leclerc, la mise en place et l’animation de l’exercice ont été organisées conjointement par le maître de tir, l’adjudant-chef Humberto, et son homologue polonais. Ce dernier a ainsi eu l’opportunité d’observer les méthodes d'entraînements et le contrôle des équipages français.

Depuis le 11 mai, et jusqu’au 29 mai 2015, le SGTIA blindé français participe à l’édition 2015 d’un exercice polonais baptisé PUMA. L’engagement de chars Leclerc traduit l’importance accordée à cet exercice mené à l’invitation de la Pologne, et témoigne de notre capacité à intervenir aux côtés de nos alliés d’Europe Centrale et du Nord, tout en contribuant aux mesures d’assurance mises en œuvre par l’OTAN. Cet exercice permettra d’entretenir les savoir-faire et l’interopérabilité nécessaires à la conduite d’actions de force, en particulier dans un cadre multilatéral.

Fondée sur une amitié ancienne entre nos deux nations, la coopération militaire franco-polonaise a été bâtie et renforcée régulièrement tout au long de la dernière décennie. Elle s’inscrit dans le cadre d’un accord intergouvernemental relatif à la coopération de défense signé en avril 2002 et consolidé en 2008 par une déclaration conjointe sur le partenariat stratégique franco-polonais. La coopération militaire bilatérale entre nos deux pays est régulièrement mise en œuvre dans le cadre de programmes d’échanges académiques, mais aussi lors d’exercices et d’entraînements bilatéraux et multilatéraux.

9 mai 2015 by NATO

T-72B3 - photo Military-today

March 31, 2015: Strategy Page

A Russian motorized infantry brigade in Western Siberia recently received fifteen modernized T-72B3 tanks. This is a modernized version of T-72 with an improved fire control system and next-generation communications equipment. The delivery was of the Russian effort to modernize its armed forces. Russia has over 5,000 T-72 tanks in use (2,000 in active service and 3,000 in reserve) and most of them are Cold War (pre-1991) vintage and seriously out-of-date compared to American, European and Chinese tanks.

The T-72 is a Soviet second-generation tank that entered production in 1971. About 20,000 T-72 tanks were built, making it one of the most widely produced post–World War II tanks, second only to the T-54/55 family. The T-72 was widely exported and saw service in 40 countries and in numerous conflicts. Improved variants are still being built for export customers. The T-72 was the most common tank used by the Warsaw Pact from the 1970s to the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was also exported to other countries, such as Finland, India, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the former Yugoslavia, as well as being copied elsewhere, both with and without licenses.

Licensed versions of the T-72 were made in Poland and Czechoslovakia, for other East European countries. These tanks had better and more consistent quality of make but inferior (to Russian made models) armor, lacking the resin-embedded ceramics layer inside the turret front and glacis armor. The Polish-made T-72G tanks also had thinner armor compared to Soviet Army standard (410 mm for turret). Before 1990, Soviet-made T-72 export versions were similarly downgraded for non-Warsaw Pact customers (mostly the Arab countries). Many parts and tools are not interchangeable between the Russian, Polish and Czechoslovakian versions, which caused logistical problems.

The T-72 shares many design features with earlier Soviet tanks. Some of these are viewed as deficiencies in a straight comparison to NATO tanks, but most are a product of the way these tanks were envisioned to be employed, based on the Soviets' practical experiences in World War II. The T-72 is extremely lightweight, at forty-one tons, and very small compared to their Western counterparts. Some of the roads and bridges in former Warsaw Pact countries were designed so that T-72s can easily use them while NATO tanks could not pass at all, or only at very low speed.

The basic T-72 is relatively underpowered, with a 780 hp (580 kW) supercharged version of the basic 500 hp (370 kW) V-12 diesel engine block originally designed for the World War II-era T-34. The 0.58 m (23 inch) wide tracks run on large-diameter road wheels, which allows for easy identification of the T-72 and descendants (the T-64/80 family has relatively small road wheels).

The T-72 has a comprehensive nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) protection system. The inside of both hull and turret is lined with a synthetic fabric made of boron compound, meant to reduce the penetrating radiation from neutron bomb explosions. The crew is supplied clean air via an extensive air filter system. A slight over-pressure prevents entry of contamination via bearings and joints. Use of an autoloader for the main gun allows for more efficient forced smoke removal compared to traditional manually loaded ("pig-loader") tank guns, so NBC isolation of the fighting compartment can, in theory, be maintained indefinitely. Exported T-72s do not have the anti-radiation lining.

Armor protection of the T-72 was strengthened with each succeeding generation. The original T-72 turret is made from conventional cast armor. It is believed the maximum thickness is 280 mm (11 inches), the nose is about 80 mm (3.1 inches) and the glacis of the new laminated armor is 200 mm (7.9 inches) thick, which when inclined gives about 500–600 mm (20–24 inches) thickness along the line of sight. Late model T-72s feature composite armor protection.

The T-72A featured a new turret with thicker but nearly vertical frontal armor. The cast steel turret included a cavity filled with quartz or sand. The T-72M (export version of the Soviet T-72A) featured a different armor protection compared to the T-72A: it had a different composite insert in the turret cavity which granted it less protection against HEAT and armor-piercing (AP) munitions. The modernized T-72M1 featured an additional 16 mm (0.63 inch) of armor on the glacis plate, which produced an increase of 32 mm (1.3 inch) horizontally against both HEAT and AP. It also featured a newer composite armor in the turret with pelletized filler agent.

Several T-72 models featured explosive reactive armor (ERA), which increased protection primarily against HEAT type weapons. Certain late-model T-72 tanks featured heavy ERA to help defeat modern HEAT and AP against which they were insufficiently protected. Late model T-72s, such as the T-72B, featured improved turret armor, visibly bulging the turret front. The turret armor of the T-72B was the thickest and most effective of all Soviet tanks; it was even thicker than the frontal armor of the T-80B. The T-72B used a new "reflecting-plate armor" in which the frontal cavity of the cast turret was filled with a laminate of alternating steel and non-metallic (rubber) layers. The glacis was also fitted with 20 mm (0.8 in) of appliqué armor. The late production versions of the T-72B/B1 and T-72A variants also featured an anti-radiation layer on the hull roof.

Early model T-72s did not feature side skirts; instead the original base model featured gill or flipper-type armor panels on either side of the forward part of the hull. When the T-72A was introduced in 1979, it was the first model to feature the plastic side skirts covering the upper part of the suspension, with separate panels protecting the side of the fuel and stowage panniers.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, U.S. and German analysts had a chance to examine Soviet-made T-72 tanks equipped with Kontakt-5 ERA, and they found this ERA impenetrable to most modern American and German tank projectiles. This sparked the development of more modern Western tank ammunition, such as the M829A2 and M829A3. Russian tank designers responded with newer types of reactive armor, including Relikt and Kaktus.– Ryan Schinault

24.03.2015 sputniknews.com

The first photos of Russia’s top-secret tank have appeared on the Internet. Moreover, the all-new T-14 Armata tank were captured as they were being transported by rail to a range outside Moscow ahead of the May 9 Victory Day parade on Red Square.

Even though the tanks were partially camouflaged to hide their silhouette and size, the seven-track design was clearly visible.

The tanks apparently feature a new generation 125mm extended-length smoothbore gun.

Also taking part in the May 9 parade in Moscow will be advanced Kurganets 25 and Bumerang tracked armored vehicles, Taifun-U armored cars, Coalitsia-SV self-propelled artillery pieces and Kornet-D missile complexes.

After five years of development, the Uralvagonzavod Research and Production Corporation finalized manufacture of the first batch of Armata tanks and heavy personnel carriers. They have been included in Russia’s 2015 defense order.