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From: bxr307@csc1.anu.edu.au
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: New Soviet Tanks
Message-ID: <1991May7.062440.12680@amd.com>
Date: 5 May 91 00:04:45 GMT
References: <1991May4.020749.19844@amd.com>
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From: bxr307@csc1.anu.edu.au


> From: wolfone@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Patrick Chester)
> Does anyone know the designation of the latest Soviet tank design or if
> it exists yet? I've heard that it was supposed to be called the T-90,
> but I'm not very certain.

	Thus far I have seen no publicly released material as to what
form the next Soviet tank will take or its designation beyond the "FST"
(Future Soviet Tank) one which appears more to be "sliding" one than a
permament one (in other words its applied to each successive vehicle in turn).

	There was some conjecture that it was going to be a
"supervehicle" with an elevated gun and all the crew in the hull, under
armour.  However just as the mythical "T80" which appeared in the early
issues of "Soviet Military Power" (the Pentagon publication) were
proven to be rather false (it was supposed to have Chobham armour and a
very advanced fire control system the equal of the west's), I suspect
that the idea that the Soviet's will be the first to field an elevated
gun vehicle before the West as rather laughable.  The western countries
are having a hell of a lot of trouble building one, and as we know only
too well the quality of Soviet vehicles is rather low technically (they
prefer an evolutionary path, rather than a revolutionary one) I'd be
rather surprised if their next vehicle doesn't look basically like the
last with a conventional turret.

	One thing which was let slip though, by the Soviets when they
put in an unsolicited bid to sell the UK T80's as part of the
Challenger competition was that they are apparently now about to build
armoured vehicles where the main structural components have been
replaced by ceramics, instead of steel.  If true, it will allow them to
beat the ever upward weight trend in armoured vehicles for a while, and
produce much lighter MBT's which are just as well protected.

	Now that will in itself cause a bit of a panic in some quarters.  ;-)

--
Brian Ross