T-90 Main Battle Tank #2

lyle6 wrote:This is just the transport config. These T-72B3 Obr.23 will likely be fitted with heavy ballistic skirts to further increase protection against direct fire threats.

RTN wrote:
Won't make much of a difference as the T90s imaging capabilities suck compared to even the M1A1SA.

M1A1SA has a clear advantage over the T-90M when it comes to imaging capabilities:

T-90M:

"Sosna-U" (Imager: Catherine-FC)
Zoom levels: 4x, 12x (Optical);
ID range: ~4500m
Resolution: 768x574 (4:3)

M1A1SA:

"GPS-LOS" (Imager: SADA 2)
Zoom levels: 3x, 6x, 13x (Optical); 25x, 50x (Digital)
ID range: ~6000-8000m
Resolution: 1316x480 (16:9)

lyle6 wrote:

Cyrus the great wrote:Could the microwave shell priming system of the 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV be incorporated into the T-90M? The use of this system and insensitive propellants could  significantly reduce the risk of ammunition cook-off/detonation.  

A: You could, but you would have to revamp the logistics of the 125 mm caliber around a new propellant design. Too expensive and time-consuming.

B: The long term solution is recapitalizing on the T-14 MBT and the eventual Kurganets/Bumerang spin-offs based on the unmanned turret pattern with complete compartmentalization of energetics from the crew. The ammo can cook-off all it wants but unless the blast door protecting the crew from the combat compartment is compromised the crew will survive unscathed.

GarryB wrote:I was under the impression that the microwaving the propellant before firing boosted its power rather than primed it for use, but of course I could be wrong.

You could be right and it might allow a rather less sensitive mixture to be used, which would certainly make it safer, but generally an ammo explosion normally occurs when enemy ammo penetrates the tank and directly hits the ammo or propellant in the autoloader... whether that is a kinetic round which showers the ammo with hot sparks of burning metal, or a HEAT warhead with a beam of superheated plasma even things that normally wouldn't burn run the risk of catching fire.

Having said that liquid binary propellant would be interesting where the propellant is split into at least two chemicals that are largely inert, but when mixed together form a chemical that burns rapidly and violently and the byproducts are all naturally gases.

Sort of the opposite of hydrogen and oxygen... both are colourless odourless gases but combine them and burn them and you get water (actually steam that condenses into water when it cools down with totally different qualities).

ALAMO wrote:First and foremost, Russkie has produced Catherine line of TI on their own, in VOMZ plant in Vologda, since 2009.
...
Thales supplied matrixes for them using middlemen till the late '10s, but those have been replaced by domestic ones by 2018 if I remember.
Irbis-K uses, accidentally of course   , just the same 4x288 pixel matrix working in exactly the same wave length as French Sofradir camera used for Catherine

GarryB wrote:There are already fuels being pumped around the vehicle to the engine and through the engine to where it is needed... the technology is not brand new, or particularly complex.

Considering you could locate tanks of these fluids in various places in your vehicle... you could even pump some through your engine compartment to heat it up to prime it to make it mix and burn more efficiently.

Pumping fluids into a tank is quicker and easier than manhandling propellant stubs which need to be positioned with loaded rounds in the autoloader.

It would also make APFSDS rounds rather smaller and lighter because they wont need the extra propellant. You could design them so they stack with the sabot overlapping and get rather more rounds in the autoloader... but of course with no propellant you could have a turret bustle autoloader to feed them straight into the gun because any enemy penetration would not even cause a fire because they are inert.

There is plenty of scope but in the end EM weapons might lead to a tiny propellant charge that is superheated into a plasma and then dragged magnetically down the barrel to accelerate the projectile to enormous speeds.... with the magnets doing most of the work you might only need a small amount of propellant to create the plasma. It might become a plasma when you put 2 million volts through it...