No shot traps.
Posted on 06/03/2016 7:51:18 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Just at a guess from looking at the vision blocks, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve engineered it to block their 14.5x114mm round, which is more powerful than the .50BMG and is more likely to be found in the former Soviet Bloc and former Soviet client states where this tank is likely going to be operating. After all, they made millions of KPV/PKPs in that caliber and they’re all still floating around in those areas.
I would like to see this used on the anti-Trump protestors in California.
The active protection will now be a homing device.
Nice shot trap at the turret hull interface.
For what? They have a ‘soft’ active protection system to jam guided missiles as well. Arena is aimed at stopping the unguided RPG/LAW threat as well as a backup to the guided missile jammer.
If you’re thinking radar homing missiles like the HARM, remember this is for use in cities. HARM has a nasty habit of running into buildings and homes so we won’t use it anywhere near cities. Keep in mind, too, that this is millimeter wave radar so it’s damn hard to see at anything resembling standoff distance. To kill this thing, you’re going to have to get up close and personal with an A-10 - good luck getting clearance for that under modern ROEs in a city - or Apaches. And Apaches will, again, have to get very close, possibly even under a neutral or even unfriendly sky. Urban fighting is considered the toughest for a reason - you can’t necessarily get the artillery or air support you’d need.
No shot traps.
It seemed like the turret itself was a few inches higher on the ERA equipped one. I guess the odds of finding that gap are pretty low.
Well, it is a later turret revision - T-72M and later - but it still looks like the classic Soviet ‘frying pan’ or ‘inverted bowl’ turret with no shot traps.
Mostly, eh? So there's still a chance for the handgun against an army.
>I like the idea of the raised cockpit and the visibility, but it sure looks like a nice target for a RPG........
Good thing it’s mostly arabs firing those RPGs. Allah is often not with them when it comes to guiding them.
10 years ago, we had a military that was hardened by recent experience in the Iraqi War. But today? We are LGBT and feminist friendly with no emphasis on combat prowess. In fact, there was a study that the Russians would obliterate the Americans in Eastern Europe in a hypothetical war (assuming nuclear weapons were not used).
Patton's Third Army had a similar urban requirement for similar reasons. Very early in the game, the armored Infantrymen who had to do the houseclearing in towns and cities that couldn't be bypassed learned the inadvisability of entering buildings through existing doors, and often also the windows. Accordingly, they finally asked for fire support from tank-escorted vehicles that could put a new door right wherever they wanted.
The M12 was built on the chassis of the M3 Lee tank. It had an armored driver's compartment shared with the commander, but the gun crew were located in an open topped area at the back of the vehicle. Only 100 vehicles were built: 60 in 1942 and a further 40 in 1943. Before the invasion of France, 74 M12s were overhauled in preparation for combat operations.
The M12 earned its nickname *Doorknocker* thanks to the 155mm cannon's ability to pierce seven feet of concrete at ranges up to 2,000 yards (1,830 meters). The vehicle was also dubbed *King Kong* by American operators due to the raw power of its gun. 
I'd bet they've relocated the fuel and hydraulic fluid lines as well, another notorious weak point of the T-72 that contributed to its habit of blowing the turret off the vehicle following a good SABOT shot.
Theirs are often not equipped with the optical sights. They make up for it with a LOT of live-fire practice...and some of those boys are right good at range estimation from arms' reach to 900 meters or so.
Ivan used water-filled thin-wall aluminum tubing as add-on armor on BMP and BMD personnel carriers in Afghanistan and Chechnya. And, of course, if not needed as backup armor, it's a nice additional supply of water as well.
Shouldn’t Russia have learned this with the slaughter of T-80 tanks at Grozny?
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