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A campaign launched by two Finnish politicians aims to 'embarrass' Germany into providing Leopard tanks for Ukraine. Until now, no Western country has given main battle tanks to help the Ukrainian military -- although France announced this week that so-called light tanks, the AMX-10 RC armoured fighting vehicles, will be supplied for the first time.

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...

Britain's manpower has been showcased at the Defence Vehicles Dynamics event in Millbrook - amongst them a prototype for updating the British Army's main battle tank. Challenger 2 was designed and manufactured by BAE Systems, it entered service in 1998 and its life is being extended to 2035. Two companies are bidding for the contract to do this - Rheinmetall, which is yet to revealed its proposal, and BAE Systems, which have showcased a prototype at the event. Challenger 2, Mark 2 Demonstrator, nicknamed the 'Black Knight', has been developed within the last year, with the focus on enhancing its...

The Philippines and Bangladesh have put an order for the 100 KAPLAN medium tanks which are co-produced by Turkish defense contractor FNNS and Indonesia’s PT Pindad, Windu Paramata, the head of the medium tank project at Pindad, has said. Paramata said the two countries had expressed willingness to buy 40 to 50 units each. “In October, we will be demonstrating medium tanks there, as a condition for the procurement of defense equipment in their countries,” Paramata told state-run Anadolu Agency on Sept. 7. Paramata said the Indonesian Defense Ministry also mulled purchasing the KAPLAN tanks but the ministry was still...

Now Poland’s Armament Inspectorate has begun a market analysis on the possible upgrade of the T-72M1/M1D tank while the Ukrainian version looks like one of the likely winners in the bidding. A delegation from Poland’s Ministry of Defense visited the Honcharívske test range in the north-eastern Chernihiv region in Ukraine and witnessed a live-fire demonstration of a modernized version of the T-72. According to Serhiy Zgurets, a military expert with Defense Express, the delegation saw a thrilling display of the upgraded T-72AMT main battle tank, Defence Blog reports. Deep modernization of the tank T-72А, T-72АМТ, carried out by UOP SE...

Canada is throwing in the towel when it comes to trying to find a suitable buyer for dozens of aging Leopard C2 main battle tanks. A potential deal to sell them to Jordan has apparently fallen through amid that country’s own plans to trim back its heavy armored forces and now the bulk of the C2s look destined for the junk heap. Canada’s Global News was first to report on the development after learning of the negotiations with the Jordanian government through its source’s and the country’s access to information law. Canadian authorities have been trying to sell off the...

<p>The men died after their tank exploded during a training exercise when live charges were incorrectly stored inside the armoured vehicle.</p> <p>Corporals Matthew Hatfield and Darren Neilson of the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) were killed when the Challenger 2 tank burst into flames on June 14 last year.</p>

French and German industry have unexpectedly unveiled a new Euro Main Battle Tank (EMBT) concept at Eurosatory, their first attempt at combining national technologies to develop a next-generation pan-European tank. The EMBT has been developed by KNDS – a joint company between German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and French company Nexter – and combines a Leopard 2 chassis with a Leclerc 120mm turret. Officials from KNDS told Shephard that the development effort has been ongoing since January 2017, with the prototype platform conducting live fire trials only a month ago. ‘This is the first step in having a common product from...

The island’s defence minister says an assessment will be made by the end of the year on how many of the tanks it plans to add to its armed forces Taiwan will decide by the end of this year whether it will buy a series of US battle tanks – and if so, how many – amid expectations of greater military pressure from mainland China. National Defence Minister Yen Teh-fa told a panel of legislators that the US M1A2 Abrams tanks would be key to the island’s last line of defence under a strategy Taipei unveiled late last year. Yen...

In the 1960s the M-60 series Patton tank was the main battle tank (MBT) of the US Army and Marine Corps. Mounting the powerful M68 105mm gun, and protected with heavier steel armor, in the 1960s the M-60 represented the most advanced tank of its generation, a combat vehicle that could face the most sophisticated Soviet tank of its time – T-55. In all, over 15,000 tanks of these models were built and supplied to 24 countries in addition to the U.S. Today, almost half that number are still operational, particularly with third world countries. While the M-60 was tested...

The KAPLAN MT Modern Medium Weight Tank, first tank-class vehicle exported by Turkey's defense industry, was presented to the public Thursday by the Indonesian Army in Cilegon during an official parade on National Armed Forces Day. The parade in the coastal West Java city included nearly 6,000 soldiers and Indonesia's most modern imported weaponry including warships, helicopters, submarines and the KAPLAN MT tank. Pindad Chairman Abraham Mose told Anadolu Agency he is pleased by the completion of the tank project. "This project is the proof that we can produce high technology defense vehicles with our own efforts without being dependent...

A Spanish company vying for a $30 billion Navy ship building contract is using a Youtube video to imply its landing craft can carry Australia’s heavy tanks despite the boat sinking too low in water when the armoured vehicle was put on board. Navantia, one of three contenders for Australia’s $30 billion Future Frigates contract, has a contract worth about $240 million to supply Australia with 12 landing craft supposedly capable of carrying the army’s 62 tonne M1A1 Abrams tanks. Defence has since confirmed trials of the boats had to be suspended after they sank to low in the water...

The Indian Army is in the early planning stages for a new light tank capable of traversing the rugged conditions of India’s mountainous northern borders. A directive from the Army setting requirements for the machine comes soon after China tested its own mountain tank in Tibet. India and China have long-running border disputes at Aksai Chin in India’s northwest and Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast. In June 2017, a standoff ensued at Doklam, near Bhutan, when Chinese troops with construction machinery moved into a disputed territory to extend a road. Indian troops arrived and both sides faced off, and both...

<p>The British Army has painted some of its Challenger 2 tanks in a new camouflage scheme that planners hope will help the 62-ton machines hide on city streets. But the government has withheld other, more important enhancements.</p> <p>The tanks’ blocky, white, gray and brown scheme is actually a throwback to the Cold War, when British tankers prepared to defend West Berlin from the Soviets.</p>

VT-4 TANK CHINA NORINCO It's not like every defense contractor in the world can boast of its own fleet of tanks. Here, a platoon of VT-4 main battle tanks leads the parade for Norinco's annual 2nd Armor Day. NORINCO Last week, China's dominant fighting vehicle manufacturer, China North Industries Corporation (Norinco), displayed a bevy of export armored vehicles as part of its Armor Day celebrations. These festivities, now in their second year, laud the power of Chinese military and offer an occasion to show off to senior foreign military officers, who were likely there as potential buyers. The day began...

The new Chinese tank (Left) and India’s MBT T-90 (Right). The Chinese military on Friday said it has conducted trials of a new light weight battle tank in the remote Himalayan region of Tibet near the Indian border. The 35-tonne tank has carried out trials in the plains of Tibet, People's Liberation Army spokesman Col Wu Qian said at a media briefing here. He was responding to questions about media reports that the PLA had carried out an exercise involving a new type of 35-tonne light weight tank in Tibet. When asked whether it is targeted against India, the PLA...

The Malyshev Factory in Kharkiv, Ukraine rolled out an Oplot main battle tank (MBT) and conducted a mobility test of it on Friday, June 23 with Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Secretary of the National Security Defence Council Oleksandr Turchynov in attendance. Ukrainian news outlets, such as Depo Harkiv, claim – citing Malyshev Factory employees – that this specific Oplot MBT – dubbed “Oplot-P – will be sent to Pakistan. This comes following recent reports from Ukrainian media of the Oplot MBT drawing Pakistani interest. In April, Delovaya Stolitsa interviewed Pakistan’s Ambassador to Ukraine Maj. Gen (retired) Athar Abbas,...

The US Army is considering various systems to better shield tanks and armored vehicles from RPGs, antitank missiles, and other enemy fire. But the latest version of the RPG, a staple in the arsenals of Russia and other forces, may already be a step ahead of the active-protection systems the US may soon adopt. The Pentagon has purchased active-protection systems to test out on Abrams tanks and Bradley and Stryker armoured vehicles, and may even mount them on lighter vehicles, like the successor to the Humvee, according to a report from Scout Warrior. “The Army is looking at a range...

A Russian innovation in armoured warfare has pushed Norway to replace many of its current anti-tank systems. Active protection systems (APS) are being built into Russia's new Armata T-14 tank, posing a problem for a whole generation of anti-armour weapons, not least the US-supplied Javelin guided missile, used by the Norwegian Army. The warning comes from Brig Ben Barry of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London. He says this is a problem that most Nato countries have barely begun to grapple with. APS threatens to make existing anti-tank weapons far less effective, and there is little real...

KAPLAN MT Modern Medium Weight Tank developed by FNSS and Indonesian company PT Pindad is showcased during the 13th International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF'17) in Istanbul, Turkey on May 09, 2017. (AA Photo) Turkey's FNSS and Indonesia's PT Pindad unveiled the jointly developed medium weight tank, KAPLAN MT, during the 13th International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF) in Istanbul Wednesday. FNSS CEO Nail Kurt said at a news conference the KAPLAN MT program represents not only a new product but also the implementation of a new approach for cooperation in the multinational defense industry. Kurt said that in line with FNSS'...