GarryB Wed Mar 11, 2020 4:08 am
Keep in mind this is a brand new tank engine... Russian and Soviet tank engines have not changed a whole lot for a very very long time and are basically evolutions and improvements on designs a WWII veteran would not be too unfamiliar with (except of course the electronic components which would likely blow them away and the power performance...)
The new engines are specifically designed for entire vehicle families and were developed to have a growth path... in the case of the Armata engine it is supposed to start out at 1,400 or 1,800hp but over time with new materials and improvements in design eventually go up to about 2,400hp... with ongoing work being done on materials and design to improve reliability and fuel efficiency and to extend parts live and extend maintenance and overhaul times throughout the life of the engines.
The engines for the Kurganets and Boomerang are similar in the sense that these will be new generation engines intended to have growth potential that will be developed to further improve performance and reliability over time...
To remind everyone the Armata is not a tank and the Kurganets is not a BMP and the Boomerang is not a BTR... there is a tank based on the Armata... it is called the T-14, but the BMP based on the Armata is called the T-15 and the BTR based on the Armata will be called T something else... they are going to have an entire range of armata based vehicles in an Armata division including engineer vehicles (T-16) and of course command vehicles with a T designation to replace the ACRVs based on MTLBs that normally perform the role.
It will be the same in the Boomerang division... a Boomerang medium wheeled tank, called K something, and a Boomerang BMP and BTR and air defence vehicle and artillery vehicle and ATGM launcher vehicle and everything else in a current division...
The Kurganets will again have their own divisions with tanks and BMPs and BTRs and command vehicles and engineer vehicles and scout vehicles and jammer vehicles... their designation has a B in it instead of a K or T.
The point is logistics... right now they have motor rifle and tank divisions which both consist of infantry and tanks in different mixes... a motor rifle division has more BMPs and BTRs and troops but it still has tank platoons to support it operations, while a tank division has more tanks but it also has BTRs and BMPs too... the problem is that a current division has an enormous mix of vehicles... all with different engines and wheel types and tracks and transmissions... a tank division might have T-72 tanks, but any artillery like MSTAs are based on T-80s, even though the engines are from T-72s the wheels and tracks are different... the ACRV is a command version of the MTLB which has its own engine and tracks and transmission and wheels, there are BMPs... possibly mixtures of BMP-1 and BMP-2s with different engines and tracks and wheels, and various variants of these vehicles for engineer and other roles, and of course other vehicle types including BTR types and of course vehicles like BRDM-2s and other platforms like Tunguska and SA-9 and SA-13 and OSA and Shilka etc etc... currently the list of spare parts and different types of engine parts and transmission parts and indeed spare ERA tiles is enormous.
With an Armata division it has one engine and one transmission type one track type one wheel type... of course weights will be different, and there are front engined and rear engined versions of the vehicle, but the unification of vehicles into one family for use in one force that operates together simplifies things and makes the logistic tail much much shorter... of course the range of ordinance is necessarily fairly broad from 125mm gun ordinance and 120mm gun/mortar ammo, various missiles and rockets, but that is OK, the payoff is both a shorter logistics tail, but also very importantly a group of vehicles with similar protection levels, similar fire power, and similar mobility... all the vehicles in the Armata division will likely snorkel or use bridges set up by bridging units... all the vehicles of the kurganets and boomerang divisions should be able to flip down the trim guards and the bilge pumps and just roll in to the water... and float across...