Indian Army T- 90 (Bhishma) and T- 72 (M-1) Tanks

ArgonPrime

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So which gun we use in our T 90 2A46M 1 or M2 ? and did we manage to indigenise that gun ?
That would be the 2A46M, which we had aquired the license for equipping our T-72M1s, well at least as far as I can tell.
 

WolfPack86

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Indian Army Selects Local Firm To Upgrade Its T-90 & T-72 Main Battle Tanks Under ‘Make In India’ Scheme
The Indian Army is looking to upgrade its T-90 and T-72 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) and recently selected an Indian firm OshoCorp Global for the development and supply of Auxiliary Power Unit under Make II guidelines of the Ministry of Defence.

The project will give a boost to achieve the country’s self-reliance aim of APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) manufacturing technology for tanks under the ‘Make in India’ mission.

Khate said: “Initially we are required to develop quantity 4 Nos APU’s (2 each for T-90 and T-72 Tanks) for trial & approval and subsequently produce Quantity 3257 Nos APU’s”.


The project costing more than INR 1325 Crore (USD 190 Million) has huge potential to generate future domestic and export business which can be many times more than the current procurement of APU’s as it is a continuous requirement keeping in mind the present inventory of T-72, T-90, Arjun Tank and BMPs, as per Col PK Juneja, Head Special Projects at OshoCorp.

Auxiliary Power Unit

An auxiliary power unit is a small engine or powered device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. These unit help not only to conserve the life of the main engine but also reduce thermal and acoustic signatures when deployed in specific situations.

The army’s requirement is for 3,275 APUs, including 1,657 units for the T-90 and 1600 units for the older T-72.

Experts say the APU should be able to concurrently operate the gunner, commander, driver sights, fire control system, radio sets, internal communication systems, navigation aids and charge batteries when the main engines are switched-off.

The “Acceptance of Necessity” for having APUs fitted on tanks was accorded by the Ministry of Defence in October 2019 after undertaking feasibility studies, as per the army sources. As the APU would be mounted on the exterior, it would also be required to be waterproof up to a depth of five metres to enable deep-fording by the tank.

The Russian designed T-72 and heavyweight T-90 tanks have been deployed in Ladakh amid the stand-off with China. India’s T-90 tanks are considered one of the deadliest tanks in the world with the capability to deal with biological and chemical weapons.

The APU would enable the tanks to function for a stretch of six hours at a time in temperatures ranging from minus 50 °Celsius and at altitudes ranging up to 16,000 feet.

Earlier in the year, the Indian defense ministry had created a budget of $7 billion for domestic capital procurement in the current financial year, under the self-reliant India scheme announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The move had banned the import of 101 defence equipment including simple parts and high technology weapons systems like artillery guns, assault rifles, corvettes, sonar systems, transport aircraft, light combat helicopters, and radar arrays.
 

NAMICA

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800 MPa, even the Germans haven't managed to do that yet as their latest Rheinmetall L/55 maxes out at ~750 MPa. I bet this poster had the chamber pressure confused with the autofrettage pressure.
But barrel life can not be wrong.
 

ArgonPrime

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But barrel life can not be wrong.
Everything is wrong!! First and foremost, we never got the 2A46M-1........period!! Why?? Because we never operated a tank that came with that gun!!
And secondly, the EFC of the 2A46M-1 is stated to be ~1200 rounds, so I don't know where that poster pulled that 250 figure out from.
Thirdly, he made a rather wild and likely unfounded claim about the maximum chamber pressure of the OFB gun.
So as far as I'm concerned, this dude has got no credibilty.
 

NAMICA

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Everything is wrong!! First and foremost, we never got the 2A46M-1........period!! Why?? Because we never operated a tank that came with that gun!!
And secondly, the EFC of the 2A46M-1 is stated to be ~1200 rounds, so I don't know where that poster pulled that 250 figure out from.
Thirdly, he made a rather wild and likely unfounded claim about the maximum chamber pressure of the OFB gun.
So as far as I'm concerned, this dude has got no credibilty.
May be he got confused between both guns. But still ARDE developed 2A46M is much better than original version in every criteria.
 

shuvo@y2k10

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barrel life depends on the type of the ammunition the Tank gun is firing. It is not a universal figure with all types of ammunition.
For example the Rhinemetal Rh 120LLR L/47 for light tanks, wheel tank destroyers, etc. had the following figure. It was devloped in the 90s and had some material tech and recoil management from their 140 mm gun project.
Barrel life time is:
- 800-1400 for training munitions (sabot and HEAT)
- 600 for DM63
- 200 for DM53.
 

Swiftfarts

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Well, wish I could share your optimism. Sure hope you're right though.
Original one( 2A46M-1) chamber pressure is 650 MPA i think this one has 670 MPA.. could 20 MPA difference cause 4.8 times reduction in EFC ? . You are right that india never used 2A46M- 1 but T 72B used that gun back in 80s and 90s i think in Russian service ? This M1 could just be upgrade mk1 for the 2A46M clone by OFB and probably has nothing to do with Russian 2A46M-1 gun. Chamber pressure was probably increased from 510MPA to 670MPA but subsequent barrel life decreased by 4.8 time i think.
 

NAMICA

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Original one( 2A46M-1) chamber pressure is 650 MPA i think this one has 670 MPA.. could 20 MPA difference cause 4.8 times reduction in EFC ? . You are right that india never used 2A46M- 1 but T 72B used that gun back in 80s and 90s i think in Russian service ? This M1 could just be upgrade mk1 for the 2A46M clone by OFB and probably has nothing to do with Russian 2A46M-1 gun. Chamber pressure was probably increased from 510MPA to 670MPA but subsequent barrel life decreased by 4.8 time i think.
No way barrel life could decrease this much further we don't about barrel life for specific ammunition.
 

Swiftfarts

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barrel life depends on the type of the ammunition the Tank gun is firing. It is not a universal figure with all types of ammunition.
For example the Rhinemetal Rh 120LLR L/47 for light tanks, wheel tank destroyers, etc. had the following figure. It was devloped in the 90s and had some material tech and recoil management from their 140 mm gun project.
Barrel life time is:
- 800-1400 for training munitions (sabot and HEAT)
- 600 for DM63
- 200 for DM53.
So when russian gun barrel give there's EFC. does they give it for Sabot or avg of sabot and HEAT both ?
 

shuvo@y2k10

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So when russian gun barrel give there's EFC. does they give it for Sabot or avg of sabot and HEAT both ?
Generally, in marketing brochures all manufactures quote the highest value among training rounds, sabots, HEAT rounds and others like PCB etc. Different rounds have different mass and wear characteristics as well as different velocities exiting the barrel. So naturally they impart different tribological interactions with the metal present in the barrel interior. From a mechanical behavior perspective, In general high speed tool cutting generally relates to lower tool life. In tank terms, this translates to lowest barrel life with sabot round as it is the fastest. However, other factors like material removal rate, temperature at interacting surface, surface coatings etc. play a major role.

PS: Recommended good read: "Consideration of Wear Rates at High Velocity-Chad S. Hale, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF "
 

ArgonPrime

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Original one( 2A46M-1) chamber pressure is 650 MPA i think this one has 670 MPA.. could 20 MPA difference cause 4.8 times reduction in EFC ? . You are right that india never used 2A46M- 1 but T 72B used that gun back in 80s and 90s i think in Russian service ? This M1 could just be upgrade mk1 for the 2A46M clone by OFB and probably has nothing to do with Russian 2A46M-1 gun. Chamber pressure was probably increased from 510MPA to 670MPA but subsequent barrel life decreased by 4.8 time i think.
Maybe. Or maybe he got the values all mixed up.
 
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