Objekt 195 / T-95 MBT

The experimental Objekt 195 tank was armed with 152-mm smoothbore high-pressure gun. Long-term development of the T-95 tank project began in the research competition "Improving-88" (1988). Head developer was KB Ural Transport Engineering (Nizhniy Tagil), tank production by "Uralvagonzavod" (Nizhny Tagil). Other participants in the research included: FSUE "NIID", JSC VNITM, JSC "VNITI", JSC "Ural THREAD", FSUE "Plant number 9", Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Barricades", FSUE "TSNIIM" VPMZ of "The Hammer", "NGO" Electromashina, etc.

A 152mm bore — about 6 inches — is about the smallest diameter that can make an effective HEAT round that will penetrate (at the time) the armor on a main battle tank. The use was primarily based on the gun/launcher idea where a gun-launched guided missile would be used for long range fights vs. tank and conventional rounds would be used for short range antitank or other infantry support purposes.

Soviet tank designers had considered various solutions for firepower increase, including the increase of Soviet tank gun caliber from 125mm to 152mm. They were fully aware of the issues this might cause – the 152mm caliber is almost impossible to load manually and a bulky (or, at least, bulkier) loading mechanism would have to be installed into Soviet tanks. The first Soviet 152mm tank gun project was called Object 292. It was basically a modified T-80BV, re-armed with a 152mm gun called LP-83 by the Kirov plant in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in mid-1980s.

The Object 195 represented a major departure from the previous Soviet designs as it was armed with a different 152mm gun called 2A83, installed in an unmanned turret. The 2A83 gun was developed roughly at the same time as the LP-83, but by a different company – the Plant No.9 in Yekaterinburg. It was a 55 calibers long automatically loaded automatically loaded 152mm 2A83 gun. The ammunition was not fed into the gun from a bustle, but from a carousel located below the turret. Thanks to its large charge, it was possible to fire smooth-bore APFSDS shells from it with velocities of up to 2000 m/s.

The known Tank T-72A automatic loader contains a rotating conveyor with cassettes, a rammer, a mechanism for lifting cassettes, including a gearbox, two chains, a gripper, a bracket for a mechanism for lifting cassettes with guides rigidly fixed on it. The disadvantages of the known automatic loader should also include the impossibility of automatic loading of the gun when using shots with projectiles of an increased length, since the mechanism for raising the cassettes does not ensure the passage of a cassette with a shot with a projectile of increased length from a rotating conveyor to the loading line between the breech of the gun at the loading angle and the elements tank turrets. The use of shots with projectiles of increased length while maintaining the trajectory of movement of the cassette to the loading line requires shifting the gun forward, and this entails a change in the design of the tank turret, which ultimately leads to an increase in the dimensions and weight of the turret, and an increase in the moment of its imbalance.

The Object 195 automatic loader of a tank gun contained a rotating conveyor with cassettes, a rammer, a mechanism for lifting cassettes, including a gearbox, two chains, a gripper, a bracket for a cassette lifting mechanism with guides rigidly fixed to it, the grip is made in the form of a three-arm lever with hinged on it with the possibility of reciprocating movement in the guides by a carriage, and the bracket for the cassette lifting mechanism is equipped with additional guides and a copier with a groove, while the first arm of the three-arm lever is pivotally connected by means of earrings to one of the arms of the rocker arm spring-loaded relative to the earrings, the axis of which is connected sliders placed on additional guides, and the other arm has hooks with grooves designed to interact with the axles of the rods,pivotally connecting the chains with the second arm of the three-arm lever, the third arm of which is equipped with a roller in contact with the copier groove.

The start of work on the main battle tank of a new generation at the UKBTM began at the turn of the 1980s-1990s. Its characteristic features were: a higher level of protection for the crew located in the control compartment isolated from ammunition and fuel, the presence of an unmanned remote combat module with very powerful weapons, providing an overwhelming superiority in firepower compared to the best examples of foreign countries.

Also, the ‘Object 195’ tank was equiped with a secondary 30 mm cannon. The main difference between the object 195 from the existing tanks today referred to as "the carriage arrangement" in which the gun is set to a relatively small uninhabited turret, ammunition is under it, and the crew is isolated in a relatively small fully armored capsule. The tank is supposed to be installed the new X-type diesel engine capacity of 1500 hp, With some 27 hp/t power-to-weight ratio, the acceleration, maximum speed and agility were very likely quite impressive, although all three remain classified. The numbers published (80 km/h maximum speed etc.) are very likely little more than general estimates.

The tank was fitted with electro-optical devices and radar to detect combat vehicles and troops for day and night-time operations,. In addition, the tank featured the Shtandartactive protection system (APS), which includes a radar to detect, track, and intercept incoming anti-tank munitions, both kinetic energy penetrators and tandem-charges.

Tankers will receive information about the target using optical, thermal imaging and infrared channels. The MSA will receive a laser rangefinder and radar station. It should be noted that the new layout imposes more stringent requirements on the SLA, since the crew will not be able to use traditional optical devices because of the new uninhabited tower. Foreign projects of such tanks involve the transfer of all information about the situation on the battlefield to special screens that will create the effect of vision for the crew through armor in any direction. All new tanks will necessarily receive a recognition system "friend or foe", which will allow the crew to feel more comfortable in the conditions of a modern dynamic battlefield.

To provide the mobility necessary for a modern battlefield, a tank must receive an engine of at least 1500 horsepower. This power is able to develop a promising X-shaped diesel. As a result of equipping the tank with a similar engine in conjunction with a new transmission, the car will receive good dynamic characteristics and improved smoothness, necessary primarily for firing in motion. It is assumed that the crankshaft will be located along the axis of the combat vehicle, which is due to the layout of the new diesel engine and provides a more convenient docking with the hydromechanical transmission. It should be noted that this engine is a fundamentally new development and has an impressive potential for increasing power while maintaining or slightly increasing its overall dimensions and weight.

The assembly of the first prototype "Object 195" was conducted by Uralvagonzavod in 1999-2000 For the first time on the development of the tank "Objekt 195" was announced in the media in July 2001. In 2006, the media reported on the passage of state testing tank. In 2007 it was planned to complete testing of the prototype in 2008 and in 2009 to take the tank into service. In 2008, tests were conducted sample number 2 experimenctal tank in the second phase of state testing - only two prototypes were built.

In 2002, having completed the production of prototypes, UKBTM began a test cycle. June 9 at the "Prospector" training ground, Nizhniy Tagil, in the presence of representatives of the UBTM, the head of the GABTU S.?. Maev, Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region E.E. Rossel and many others, the first three shots from the cannon of the prototype tank were successfully executed.

State tests were supposed to be completed in 2005 and immediately begin mass production. The 2006 program was supposed to be 100 machines, and by 2007 - 300 tanks. December 29, 2008 - By a decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, state tests of the Object 195 prototype battle tank were suspended and were no longer resumed.

At the beginning of 2010 it was reported that the tank had passed the state tests and that will be completed in the period from 2010 to 2015. It was assumed that the tank would be put into service under the designation T-95 in 2010, produced, it was thought, at "Uralvagonzavod". On April 9, 2010 Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia V.Popovkin said that the program of creating "Object 195" was closed and the adoption of the tank into service was not planned. In the autumn 2010 it was reported that UKBTM had begun new R & D based on the tank "Objekt 195". According to the Minister of Industry of the Sverdlovsk region, "Uralvagonzavod" is not going to abandon the project and to complete the development of their own.

In total, two machines were built, one of which passed 15 thousand km in tests and fired 287 cannon shots. All sorts of problems that periodically appeared during the creation of a promising machine were mostly solved, and those that remained were also solved. The products have entered the stage of state testing. It seemed that the successful completion of the work was just a stone's throw away. But the most promising product, much ahead of its time, did not go beyond the prototype stage.

Data on the experimental tank are inaccurate and based on publications in the press, as well as on probability estimates.