Chinese Type 15 light tank in live demonstration at China AirShow, November 2018. (Picture source Army Recognition)
Posted on 12/31/2018 7:35:50 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
China's Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Thursday revealed that its forces are being equipped with a new lightweight tank, the Type-15. The Type-15 tank, which was first unveiled to the public at an airshow in 2016, is meant for deployment in high-altitude regions like Tibet, on the disputed border with India.
The information was provided by Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for the MND, in response to a question on the Type-15 tank.
The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based daily, reported that Type-15 tank weighs less than 35 tonnes and has a 105mm main gun. While its firepower is inferior to the Indian Army's fleet of Russian-made T-72 and T-90 and indigenous Arjun tanks, the Type-15's lighter weight makes it more suitable for combat at higher altitudes than the heavier Indian tanks. The T-72 and T-90 tanks weigh approximately 44-50 tonnes, depending on their armour, while the Arjun tank weighs close to 60 tonnes.
The heavier and larger tanks would struggle to manoeuvre in mountainous regions. Moreover, the higher altitudes, and thinner air, in Tibet and regions like Doklam, also hamper the performance of the engines of tanks. The Type-15 is reported to be equipped with a newer diesel engine that is able to function in environments with thinner air levels.
(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.in ...
Chinese Type 15 light tank in live demonstration at China AirShow, November 2018. (Picture source Army Recognition)
Someone needs a new graphics card.
That tank is seriously row Rez.
China copied the M-8 AGS that Shinseki cancelled.
Don’t fight tanks at high altitude. That is infantry (with anti-tank missiles) and longbow terrain.
The tank was probably not designed for its stated purpose but they figured out that is all it’s good for.
Lighter weight= load up the DU sabots, we’re gonna read by the light of burning chinese tanks tonight!
CC
Let me guess, it is actually for export.
Keeper of the Tread Head Ping List: (Just a bunch of tankers)
Copied?
It was given to them.
Given? No, sold. A nice donation was made to the Clinton Foundation.
Granted, yes.
Obama probably also sold a bunch of tech too.
To be fair, there have been a lot of similar light tanks proposed since the M8 got canned. Lots of newer designs take after it.
That said, the M8 is back and being bid for a new US Army contract. We’re going to be building a LOT of this class of tank soon because the Stryker turned out to be more than a bit of a box of fail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M8_Armored_Gun_System
IF it can hit. Afganit and other world-market APS systems can actually knock down or deflect depleted uranium APFSDS rounds.
The lack of armor isn’t a problem if the tank’s APS system works until the APS system is out of ammo. The armor simply won’t come into play until that time.
The Stryker has always been a POS.
I would think in mountainous terrain light infantry armed with antitank missiles could effectively counter these tanks.
Not in a world where tanks have APS - see this post: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3716531/posts?page=33#33
The Russians have a series of APS proven in the second Chechen War that is every bit as capable if not more so than the Israeli domestic version of Trophy - let alone the export version.
Whats the status of reactive armor ?? Thanks for the info on APS.
Reactive armor is reportedly still effective against most conventional antitank missiles and projectiles. It along with APS cut way, way down on Russian tank casualties in the second Chechen war and in Georgia/Ukraine. However, it also cut down on Chechen tank casualties (as Chechnya was basically a post-Soviet civil war with similar equipment on both sides), so the Russians got very interested in developing weapons to defeat it, along with the Chobham/composite armor favored in Western tanks, as the West did not see the benefit in tank APS (and didn’t institutionally until last year) and came up with the tandem warhead missile and tank round. As the Turks just found out with their Leopard 2A5s (which had full German Army front line armor, not the export package), Russian tandem warhead missiles will knife right through Chobham armor just fine. This is why the US Army suddenly stopped their decade long wait on Raytheon to finish their vaporware Quick Kill APS and placed a rush order for Israeli Trophy systems to be retrofitted to Abrams - there is now undeniable absolute real world proof that Russian tandem warhead systems will work shockingly well against advanced Western front line armor. And the Russians sell them to anyone who wants them. The West is now belatedly very interested in APS and ERA.
There are some non-explosive reactive armor systems in early deployment but it is not thought that they will be a lot more effective - their primary advantage is that they have increased second hit defense capability and are much safer for accompanying infantry to be near if it goes off. They also do not require that the vehicle they are mounted on to have heavy armor to withstand the deployment. There is also an *electric* reactive armor using the capacitive discharge effect upon impact but while much lighter and potentially more effective, nobody has gotten it to a deployable state yet - still something in a lab as far as anyone’s been able to tell.
Interesting related article: https://mwi.usma.edu/never-bring-stryker-tank-fight/
I agree with the author - the Stryker has its place but that’s not how we’re using them for the most part.
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