Recently, the Russian fourth-generation main battle tank " Armata " appeared in the Udong area for training. This is also the first time that this tank has appeared on the battlefield. However, they did not go deep into the Bakhmut area where the Russian-Ukrainian war was the most brutal, but continued to stay in the Russian-controlled area.
After all, the "Armata" is the most advanced main battle tank of the Russian Army. It will not be allowed to venture into the front line of battle without going through a rigorous test. If it breaks down on the way and is captured by the Ukrainian army, it will suffer great losses. Now that the "Armata" main battle tank has arrived on Ukrainian soil; then, can it, like the Su-57 fifth-generation aircraft, rewrite the failure of the Russian main battle tank that was destroyed on the Ukrainian battlefield?
Of course, the facts remain to be seen. After all, the "Armata" main battle tank has not yet penetrated into front-line operations. The specific results of the battle can only be known after they participate in the battle.
At this stage, we can only talk on paper and speculate based on the specific performance of the "Armata" main battle tank.
On the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, the main threats faced by the Russian main battle tanks are the three types of equipment: "Excalibur guided artillery shells, Javelin anti-tank missiles , and NLEW anti-tank missiles."
A common feature of these three weapons is the ability to attack the top of the main battle tank. Since it has this ability, the Ukrainian army will naturally choose the top attack mode to attack the weakest top of the main battle tank.
The defensive capabilities of the "Armata" main battle tank
Different from the previous three generations of main battle tanks, the Armata main battle tank adopts a special design. It places the crew in the front of the vehicle body, uses a unique remote-controlled turret, and is equipped with the "Afghan Stone" active defense system.
However, it paid great attention to the safety of the three occupants from the beginning of its design. The car body is divided into three parts: crew cabin, combat cabin, and power cabin. In order to ensure the safety of the crew, the armor defense capability of the crew compartment where the three crew members are located has also been strengthened. The main purpose is to separate the crew compartment from the combat compartment in the middle of the car body with a high-strength armor plate.
After adopting this design, the entire crew cabin forms a complete and independent closed armored cabin. Whether it is resisting enemy anti-tank fire attacks or defending against possible ammunition explosions in the combat compartment, the safety of the three crew members will not be affected.
It can be seen that the "Armata" main battle tank was designed with the safety of the crew in mind. At least when the turret was blown away by the ammunition, the safety of the three crew members in the crew compartment was still guaranteed.
In addition to paying great attention to the safety of the crew, the safety of the "Armata" main battle tank itself has also been preserved.
In order to improve the overall defense performance, the defense of the vehicle body has also been achieved to the extreme. Basic steel armor + composite armor + reactive armor constitute the basic protective armor of the "Armata" main battle tank body. Its anti-penetration and anti-breakage capabilities are very likely to exceed 1,000 mm. Ordinary tail fin discarding sabots cannot penetrate it at all. Therefore, the body defense capability of the "Armata" main battle tank is still quite strong, and it is basically among the most advanced in the world.
In order to protect the entire body of the vehicle, the "Afghan Stone" active defense system is installed on the turret of the "Armata" main battle tank. This system was mainly developed to intercept the anti-tank missile and the tail-stabilized armor-piercing shelling projectile .
After all, the remote-controlled turret of the "Armata" main battle tank basically has no defensive capabilities. Once it is hit, the observation equipment on it will be damaged, which means that the tank has lost its combat effectiveness. Therefore, the "Afghan Stone" active defense system is the first defensive barrier for the "Armata" main battle tank.
The system mainly consists of "millimeter wave phased array radar installed around the turret, ultraviolet detectors, active interceptors, and control systems." The system can effectively intercept various types of incoming anti-tank missiles, rockets , and fin-stabilized discarding sabots at a distance of 15 meters to 20 meters.
However, the "Afghan Stone" active defense system has not participated in actual combat, and has not withstood the test of the battlefield.
Of course, the "Armata" is not the only main battle tank with the active defense system . There is also the "Merkava 4" main battle tank equipped by the Israeli Army, which is equipped with a trophy active defense system.
The structural composition and overall performance of the "Trophy" active defense system are comparable to the Russian-made "Afghan Stone", but this system has been tested in actual combat. For example, in 2014, during an operation launched by the Israeli Army in the Gaza Strip, it was said that the "Trophy" active defense system equipped on the "Merkava-4" tank intercepted dozens of Russian-made individual anti-tank rockets and "Cornet" individual portable anti-tank missiles. According to actual combat reports of the Israeli army, its alarm success rate and interception success rate are as high as 100%.
It can be seen that the success rate of the active defense system in intercepting anti-tank missiles and rockets is still quite high. Then, the "Afghan Stone" active defense system installed on the "Armata" main battle tank also has the same effect as the "trophy" active defense system.
Although this system has not withstood the test of the battlefield, in tests, it also successfully intercepted anti-tank missiles, tail-stabilized discarding sabots and other anti-tank weapons. Therefore, it can be believed that the "Afghan Stone" active defense system will also have the ability to intercept anti-tank missiles in actual combat.
The Javelin individual anti-tank missile used by the Ukrainian army mainly adopts a top attack method. When attacking the top, the first method is to fly horizontally to the top of the main battle tank and throw high-speed metal jets downward to hit the weakest top armor of the main battle tank. The second method is to use high-throwing ballistics, flying diagonally downward from the air to the top of the tank to strike.
Relatively speaking, the first flight method is naturally easier to intercept. It is believed that the flight speed of anti-tank missiles cannot keep up with the tail-stabilized discarding sabot armor-piercing projectiles. Since armor-piercing projectiles can be intercepted, it is not difficult to intercept anti-tank missiles with larger targets and slower flying speeds.
And when anti-tank missiles use high-throw ballistic strikes, they are relatively difficult to intercept. At this time, the flight trajectory of the anti-tank missile may exceed the detection range of the "Afghan Stone" active defense system millimeter wave radar . After all, the detection of the "Afghan Stone" active defense system directly above the tank is a blind spot, which may be exploited by artillery shells and anti-tank missiles using high-throw ballistics, causing fatal damage.
It can be seen that even if the "Armata" main battle tank arrives in Ukraine, it will be difficult to escape unscathed.
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