armored vehicles
Ukrainian Defense Review/January-March 2020
T
he armored vehicles sector still remains among the most promising and effective sectors of the Ukrainian defense industry. Ukrainian armored vehicles industries have pursued a number of projects that would give whole new capabilities to some of the time proven, Soviet-legacy armored ground vehicles.
T-72AMT Upgrade Option Proposed by Kyiv Armored Vehicles Factory
Kyiv Armored Vehicles Factory (KAVF), an Ukroboronprom’s affiliate, has developed the T-72AMT upgrade to address the T-72 MBT’s obsolescence. Built to the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ specifications, the T-72AMT upgrade was developed and financed privately by KAVF. The upgrade incorporates enhancements that include (but are
not limited to): night vision equipment with third-generation electro optical converters; the 1K13 night vision sighting system enabling night firing with the Kombat (125mm gun-fired laser-guided) missile, which is capable of penetrating 550 mm of RHA behind explosive reactive armor (ERA); the V-84-1 engine replacing the B-46 engine used in the original vehicle; an ERA system (similar to that used in the T-72UA upgrade); the Aselsan radio; the SN-3003 "Bazalt" navigation suite; and caterpillar driving wheels (similar to those employed in the T-80 upgrade). It’s worth of note that the KAVF, a company that has been traditionally strong in MRO servicing of
T-27 MBTs, has developed at least 15 options for upgrading the T-72 MBT, but those were all tailored to meet the specific needs of foreign users, given that all T-72s had been withdrawn from Ukraine’s military arsenals and sold in great numbers on export markets prior to the onset of Russian military incursion into eastern Ukraine in 2014. The war with Russia has made possible the return of T-72 tanks into Ukraine’s armored arsenal. The T-72AMT upgrade was developed based on real-world feedbacks from Ukrainian government forces deployed in the Donbas conflict area, and the KAVF had a very tight timeframe to implement it into production. The T-72AMT was, in August 2018, subject to live fire testing that included firing different ammunition types, including specifically Kombat ATGMs developed by SK DB Luch, another affiliate of Ukroboronprom. A capability to conduct firing with Kombat ATGMs is what makes the T-72ATM special against other upgrade options available for the T-72 MBT. Using the Kombat missile, armored targets can be hit from 5 km, which is twice the T-72AMT Upgrade Option Proposed by Kyiv Armored Vehicles Factory
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