The history of Soviet tank building knows many cases when vehicles manufactured several decades ago still continue to be quite relevant on the modern battlefield. Not without modernization, of course. One such example is Bulat. This tank is produced by the Kharkov plant and is a modernization of the old T-64A.
Predecessor
It should be noted that this tank at one time was one of the most promising developments of Soviet industry. The history of its creation dates back to the 60s, in the design bureau of the city of Kharkov. From the middle of the same 60s, it was sent to the conveyor, where a new car was mass-produced along with the T-64, T-62, and T-55 tanks. Official adoption was only in 1969, and in the first place they were equipped with elite
tank divisions located on the western outskirts of the country.
History of the T-64A
In fairness, it should be said that initially the idea of ​​the appearance of such a machine arose among the designers back in 1946. They were prompted by this idea to begin work on a fundamentally different diesel engine (with which the USSR has always had trouble). Soon, the well-known in narrow circles of Design Bureau No. 75 completed its creation. Almost immediately, work began on the tank itself, which for a long time bore the code name "Object 430".
Post-soviet history
"Sixty-four" began to be produced at the Malyshev factory in 1963 (Kharkov Tank Plant). The release lasted a quarter of a century, and during this time about 5.5 thousand of these machines, which were advanced for their time, managed to be lowered from the conveyor.
Immediately after the collapse of the USSR, the Kharkov Tank Plant was quickly taken over by independent Ukraine (along with all the equipment already paid for). It is not surprising that the “foreign” T-64 quickly ceased to be of interest to the Ministry of Defense, and therefore the tanks remaining on the territory of Russia were quickly “retrained” into training vehicles, on which cadets practiced the most unthinkable exercises, simply spending their resources.
Relatively recently (in 2011), an official order was issued to send all remaining tanks for re-melting. If we talk about current affairs, then this small detail has served a good service: the current Ukrainian authorities cannot accuse Russia of delivering these tanks to the Donbass. Officially, we do not have them.
Since the entire project base was in the hands of specialists from Ukraine, they still decided not to completely ruin the enterprise. It was decided to begin the modernization of old equipment with the installation of relatively new weapons, surveillance devices, and more. Under the T-64E brand, the machine is currently actively (albeit in small batches) delivered to states like South Sudan and Somalia, which simply do not have money for normal, modern armored vehicles.
So where did that Bulat come from? The tank is a further development of this old line.
Modernization of the T-64E
It soon became clear that the Ukrainian troops urgently needed normal tanks. The situation was stalemate: it seems that Kharkov was the pearl of the entire tank industry of the USSR, only all decent cars were sold long ago, and from the “mothballed” T-80 and T-72 sometimes only hulls remained. In a word, new, “Ukrainian” tanks were needed.
Of course, great hopes were pinned on the semi-mythical “Oplot” (for Ukrainians themselves), but there are still no more than a dozen of these tanks in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and their cost is such that it makes no sense to rely on the further saturation of the “independent” troops with this equipment. But these cars delight owners of oil budgets in the UAE, where they respond very positively.
The solution was found relatively quickly. There were a bunch of T-64s that nobody needed in the warehouses. It only remained to “screw” the new 5TDFE engine to them, the power of which is very decent 900 liters. with. Oddly enough, but all the work of the Ukrainians was carried out in secrecy, no one could see the new tank. Only a couple of years ago they began to actively advertise it in the press, he managed to “light up” even at the prestigious arms exhibition in the UAE.
In principle, the tank was shown to the general public for the first time already in 1999, only (according to active rumors) it was a model in a very sad stage of readiness, the Ukrainian army did not wait for the machine either. The tank forces of this state at that time were formed exclusively from the remains of T-72 and T-80U reserves.
What has changed in the tank?
It should be noted that the results of the work are indeed visible even with the naked eye. The tank no longer looks like a relic from the Second World War, it has become like a modern combat vehicle. Dynamic protection is evenly distributed over the hull of the tank, the frontal part looks powerful and reliable. Let's look at the main innovations:
- The sides of the machine are closed by the knife-2 protection units. For a better coverage of the surface, they are made both square and rectangular.
- Two types of “dynamics” - “Knife-2” and “Contact-1” - are rationally distributed on the surface of the armor, assembled according to a simple and cheap “lattice” scheme. The main advantage of this installation method is the extremely low weight of the armor protection of the machine.
- The structural component of the tower is also radically changed, which is especially visible in the lateral projection. The Ukrainian side does not talk about this moment, but experts suggest that an additional ammunition compartment is located in the tower.
So what else is characterized by the tank on the basis of which the Bulat was created? The tank, as we already said, is equipped with much more advanced observation devices. So, for the first time in tanks of this class, a panoramic sight with a thermal imager appeared, which greatly increases the chances of a tank surviving in battle.
Since the place for its installation was chosen really successful, it is safe to say that the modernization was carried out thoughtfully. In general, all Ukrainian tanks have a good idea, only the implementation of projects often suffers. This is usually due to the low quality of the armored steel used and the lack of experienced specialists from the old Soviet school.
The main armament of the tank
The main armament is a 125 mm tank gun. In addition, two combat modules are mounted on the machine at once: they consist of the GSh-23 aviation automatic gun (30 mm caliber), the NSVT machine gun 12.7 mm caliber, and the AG-17 automatic machine-gun grenade launcher.
These modules are extremely effective in urban environments where conventional Soviet tanks traditionally suffer heavy losses from anti-tank weapons. In addition, they are extremely effective in counteracting the enemy’s light armored vehicles, allowing them not to waste the main ammunition in vain.
All in all, the work was really impressive. But this is not “Bulat” yet. The tank that bears this name is a further development and processing of the just described modification of the old car. So, we finally begin to describe the immediate “hero” of our article.
So what is Bulat?
So, the new Ukrainian tank is a “deep rethinking” of the T-64A and T-64B (and other modifications). The purpose of the modernization was to bring the new machine closely to the level of T-80UD, T-84U. As we wrote above, the “first phenomenon” occurred in 1999.
All modernization was reduced to in-depth work in three areas:
- A significant increase in mobility (new powerplant).
- Strengthening protection, including from more or less modern anti-tank systems.
- Increased firepower and combat power through the installation of new weapons systems.
Power point
It is logical that to increase mobility a completely new diesel engine is installed in the engine compartment. As in the case of the predecessor, the 5TDFM motor was selected for this role, the power of which is 850 horsepower. In principle, this is a further development of the rather old 5TDF diesel engine, which engineers worked on.
To fit the new 5TDFM into the old engine compartment, it was necessary not only to completely replace the old and inefficient air purifier, but also to redesign the exhaust system, which also does not meet any modern requirements. So that the Ukrainian Bulat tank (once again recall, created on the basis of the old T-64) does not spoil the roads as monstrously as its predecessor, in Kharkov developed special lining for tracks designed for movement on public roads.
In any case, the asphalt highway after the movement of the convoy of vehicles that are equipped with such devices does not turn into a tank training ground. The advantage of such a scheme is also that some additional modifications to the track itself are not required. The plant (it seems) delivers asphalt shoes and fasteners separately, at the request of the customer.
In general, the Ukrainian Bulat and Oplot tanks are actively accompanied by the manufacturer throughout their operation, which causes some respect.
Anti tank protection
Increasing the level of protection is achieved by installing new dynamic protection systems on the turret, sides and rear of the tank. The manufacturer reports that it was able to significantly improve the resistance of the armor to the action of cumulative ammunition (KUM), as well as sub-caliber armor-piercing shells (BPS). In this case, the main emphasis is placed on the fact that the mass of the tank has increased very slightly.
The protection kit consists of two separate modules: a passive armored invoice and an integrated dynamic protection system. External dynamic protection is represented by the frontal module and screens that are mounted around the entire perimeter of the tank body. Modular sections are mounted on the roof of the tower and in some inaccessible places, which can be quickly changed in case of failure. Elements of the built-in dynamic protection enhance the resistance of the vehicle to anti-tank weapons even more.
The total mass of a complete set of dynamic protection (together with fasteners) is about 3.5 tons. Only the crew of the tank, and on its own, will be able to complete the installation in approximately 5.5-6 hours. Built-in dynamic protection, which is already installed on the tank by the manufacturer, does not need any additional care during operation. Thus, the system of protection against Kharkov manufacturers is good in that for its installation and operation no complicated tools and highly qualified specialists are needed .
But that is not all. Why, as a rule, does a tank crew die when it is hit by anti-tank weapons, which (most likely) are used by enemy infantry? From fire and heat. To protect people and increase their chances of survival, Ukrainian tank builders provided an automatic fire extinguishing system, the response time of which (after some engineering improvements) was reduced to 150 ms.
Modernization Results
So what is the T-64 Bulat tank? According to Ukrainian manufacturers themselves (not suffering from an excess of modesty), it is "almost identical to the Russian T-90 tank" and "comparable in performance to the newest Oplot."
Yes, the machine has good prospects in the field of further modernization, especially in the field of improving the power plant by installing the 6TD-1 or 6TD-2 engine. You can significantly improve the sights, put a fundamentally different SLA, navigation and communications. In addition, the resource of the machine after modernization is close to 11 thousand kilometers (as for a new tank).
If you put aside pathos, then everything is not so rosy. Yes, in terms of its characteristics, the modernized T-64 can really be compared with the T-72 of the earlier series. That's just how it can "surpass" a fundamentally different T-90 and new modifications of the T-72, it is not entirely clear.
In principle, he really has positive qualities. So, in the manufacture of rollers and other parts of the chassis of the T-72 tank, more than a ton of non-ferrous metal alloys is used, while for the T-64, no more than 200 kilograms are needed. Accordingly, this fact dramatically reduces the cost of the combat vehicle, but the reliability of the “hodovka” suffers.
The only thing the T-64 is really better is the maintainability of the chassis. And even then, the latter has a lot of questions for specialists (once again, we recall the alloys of non-ferrous metals). The fact is that in the GDR (where most of these tanks went) the technicians had numerous complaints regarding the wear of the tracks and crowns. The T-64 very often caterpillars flew, and often this was accompanied by severe injuries and injuries for people who were near the tank.
And the statements of Ukrainians that their “best modern tank” almost surpasses the English Challenger and German Leopard-2 look quite “unusual” - which looks especially ridiculous in the light of the fact that the English car was objectively recognized as the best tank during the NATO operation in Iraq. It would be superfluous to say that “Bulat” managed to fight only in the Donbass, and the network is already full of photos of wrecked and burned Ukrainian cars. Why is he so good?
Apparently, its cheapness: the cost of upgrading one old T-64 (according to two or three years ago) is about 400 thousand dollars, while at least 1.5 million is needed to produce one "Hold".
Parsing flaws
There are so many “chants” on the network today that are dedicated to the “new” tank that I would like to take a moment of objectivity by talking about its shortcomings.
Firstly, the weight and power of the engine. Bulat weighs 45 tons with an engine power of 850 l / s. The "outdated and ineffective Russian T-72 tank" has a mass of 44.5 tons and an engine whose capacity is 1000 l / s. What kind of "highest mobility" (advertising leaflets of the Kharkov plant) can we talk about here? On the T-72, if necessary, you can hang a couple more tons of armor, while for the T-64 you will have to change the engine for this purpose.
And here “the dog is buried”. Even in the “shaggy” 70s there were attempts to further develop the T-64 by installing an engine at 1000 l / s on it. The problem was that the chassis of the old car could not stand such tests, starting to literally crumble on the go. Because of this, by 1987, the leadership of the USSR had completely abandoned the further development of the T-64.
A gun. The tank "Bulat", the characteristics of which we are considering, is equipped with the KBA3 model (normal 2A46M-1). The manufacturer claims that it is "much better than the T-72 and T-90 guns." I wonder what is better? The 2A24M-4 / M-5 cannon is installed on Russian tanks, which gives 17% less dispersion when shooting on the move and provides a 15-20% improvement in firing accuracy (just in comparison with the old 2A46M-1). The paradox is not otherwise.
As for the real range, it is still more interesting with this. Judging by the official, Soviet data, the "Ukrainian" gun provides a real target range of 1.5 km (which was the norm for those times). For “Tagil”, this value is 2.3–2.5 km. And where are the "improvements" here? Again, incomprehensible.
As for the passive and dynamic armor, the story here is generally foggy. Not a single (!) Full-fledged State test "Bulat" with all this "body kit" did not pass. All data is exclusively from official Kharkov sources. Surely, all international customers are guided by the same arguments: they are interested in the T-72, T-80, T-90 and the same Oplot, but for some reason they are completely uninterested in Bulat.
Based on the foregoing, a simple conclusion can be drawn. The Kharkov modification, of course, improves the quality characteristics of the old T-64, but it definitely does not turn it into a superweapon. The modernization is quite solid, meets the needs of the modern Ukrainian army, which is not spoiled by normal financing. But miracles do not happen: a car from the 60s, even with a new engine and dynamic protection, is no match for modern tanks .