In the history of Soviet tank building, there were many prototypes that were ahead of their contemporaries. At the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union developed an experimental model of the T-95 supertank. It could surpass all modern NATO tanks, writes TNI.
Charlie Gao
At the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union was developing an experimental model of the T-95 supertank (Object 195), which, if adopted, would surpass all modern NATO tanks.
In the history of Soviet and Russian tank building, there were many prototypes of "supertanks", which promised to far surpass all their contemporaries in terms of armor strength and striking effect. However, at the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union developed a real experimental model of the T-95 supertank (Object 195), which, if adopted, would surpass all modern NATO tanks. Russia continued to develop this machine until the 2010s, but then abandoned this project, preferring the newer T-14 Armata tank.
Nevertheless, some Russian military observers still claim that the T-95 was better. Why was he so good? And what is it like compared to Armata?
The T-95 project was incredibly ambitious. The development of the tank began in 1988 as part of the Improvement-88 program. The idea was to create a machine that surpassed most NATO tanks in its characteristics, just as the German Tiger was superior to Soviet tanks at the time of joining the troops.
This tank was supposed to have a greater effective range and armor piercing, as well as be more tenacious than all previous Soviet vehicles.
To increase survivability, the designers put a crew of three people in an isolated compartment in the hull, called an armored capsule, and the tower became uninhabited. This design was later used in Armata, but it was first used in the T-95.
In addition, the T-95 has an active protection complex (KAZ), dynamic protection and combined armor. The KAZ layout was completely transferred from the T-95 to the Armata, placing firing protective charges at the base of the tower. The T-95 also has an optoelectronic suppression system, although its exact characteristics are unknown. Dynamic protection on the T-95 was one of the first versions of the Relict dynamic protection complex, created on the basis of Kontakt-5. The Relict is widely used on many modern Russian tanks, but it was developed for the T-95.
The tower of the T-95 is higher, which provides a greater angle of elevation and declination of the gun. The Soviets traditionally sacrificed the angle of inclination of tank guns to make the tower more squat, but changes in the T-95 tank indicate that the designers came to the Western idea of firing through the ridge, placing the crew in the hull instead of the tower.
As for weapons, the Object 195 has a 152 mm smoothbore 2A83 gun. The characteristics of the gun make a great impression. The stated initial velocity of the projectile is almost 2,000 meters per second for an armor-piercing projectile with a stabilizer and a detachable pallet. The ammunition of the tank is unified with a 152-mm howitzer, which makes it possible to fire a variety of artillery shells, including, possibly, nuclear equipment. A guided missile was also developed for the gun, which further increased its range.
The paired armament on the T-95 is also new. Most tanks have 7.62 or 12.7 mm machine guns as auxiliary weapons, but they decided to place a 30 mm 2A42 cannon at the 195 Facility. Automatic guns paired with a tank gun have been installed before, for example, on French AMX-30 tanks; however, the T-95 has the largest, and its independent power reserve is small.
Of course, a powerful cannon by itself does not mean anything if it cannot be aimed at a target at a long range. The T-95 has conventional optical sights and infrared night vision devices with a high degree of magnification, but the tank is also equipped with a special gun sight with radar, which is mounted directly above the barrel. The radar can be used in situations where there is a lot of multispectral smoke on the battlefield, interfering with the operation of optical and thermal imaging devices. They say that Armata has a radar targeting system, but it does not have a special gun sight with a radar.
The T-95 has serious network capabilities that allow it to effectively use the 152 mm cannon. This tank was supposed to destroy targets detected by drones or other units over the horizon.
Judging by the characteristics listed above, the T-95 is much stronger than the T-14. The Armata does not have such powerful main and paired weapons, fewer sighting devices, but similar armor. However, after the abandonment of the T-95 project in 2010, technology has made significant progress. It is said that the T-14 has significant capabilities to create electronic interference to enemy missiles and radars, and this is not only the Shtora-2 system installed on the T-95, but also installations for firing infrared traps and scattering dipole reflectors.
