The best main battle tanks in the world for 2012 (19 photos)

Numerous studies have been published in the leading countries of the West, in which attempts have been made to determine the rating of the best main battle tanks in the world today. Having analyzed in great detail the previously created most famous Western tank ratings, it was possible to identify that all of them have a common characteristic error that makes their results illegitimate - they are compiled by subjective evaluation without reference to the calculated modeling of tank battles, which would be based on the close use in the calculations of the real tactical, technical and combat capabilities of a particular tank model in comparison with other tank models. Having become well acquainted with the key mistakes of Western experts in compiling tank ratings, the first domestic tank rating is built on the key parameter of any weapon - combat effectiveness, that is, effectiveness.




The basis of combat effectiveness was initially invested in two main key parameters of the tank. The first parameter is protection and the second is firepower. The most modern main battle tanks of all major tank-building powers of the world were taken for modeling: Pakistani Al-Khalid Mk.1, Indian Arjun Mk.1, Ukrainian T-84 BM Oplot, British Challenger-2, South Korean K2 Black Panther, French AMX-56 Leclerk, German Leopard-2A7, American Abrams M1A2 SEP version 2, Israeli Merkava Mk.4, Polish PT-91M Twardy, Japanese Type-10, Chinese ZTZ-99A2, Russian T-90MS Tagil. A tank as a combat unit in itself is ineffective on the battlefield. The simulation was carried out taking into account the fact that each main battle tank was considered in the system of use at the level of a tank battalion. The tank battalion was based on a battalion of 41 tanks. In the complex computational modeling, the oncoming tank battle was taken as the basis for the battle. The maximum initial distance of a combat clash between tank battalions was set at 2 kilometers. During the simulation, firepower was calculated taking into account the individual advancement of the FCS and the use of ammunition characteristic of each type of main battle tank. The level of training of the crew of the tested tanks was equally set at 0.75. The calculations individually took into account the real level of protection and armor characteristic of each analyzed tank. The fire capabilities of the Pakistani Al-khalid Mk.1 were set by the ZBM-44U "Mango" and ZBM-48 "Lead" armor-piercing feathered sub-caliber projectiles with an equivalent armor penetration of 650 mm of steel homogeneous armor; the Indian Arjun Mk.1, under the condition of simulation, was equipped with an Israeli APFSDS with an equivalent penetration of 800 mm; the Ukrainian T-84 BM Oplot was equipped with a new Ukrainian APFSDS ZBM-48 "Gonchar" with armor penetration of 800 mm; American Abrams M1A2 SEP Version 2; British Challenger-2; South Korean K2 Black Panther; the Japanese Type-10 was equipped with the American M829A3 APFSDS with armor penetration of 800 mm; the French AMX-56 Leclerk with a French armor-piercing projectile with an equivalent penetration of 800 mm, the German Leopard-2A7 was equipped with a German DM-43 projectile with an armor penetration of 800 mm, the Polish PT-91M Twardy with a ZBM-44 "Mango" projectile with an armor penetration of 650 mm; The Chinese ZTZ-99A2 with the Chinese analogue of the Russian ZBM-48 Svinets projectile with a penetration of 650 mm and the Russian T-90MS Tagil tank were equipped with the most modern Russian ZBM-60 Svinets-2 projectile with an equivalent penetration of 720 mm of steel homogeneous armor according to the modeling conditions. In the conditions of simulating a counter tank battle battalion against battalion, the winner of the tank rating was determined by the complete destruction of the enemy tank battalion. A higher place in the tank rating between tanks that won the same number of victories was determined by comparing the number of tanks that survived (retained their combat capability) in the battle of tanks in the winning battalions, thereby assessing the level of combat effectiveness of a particular model of the main battle tank on the battlefield higher than its competitors in the rating. The first place in the rating is the main battle tank T-84 BM Oplot (Ukraine) Having simulated the oncoming battle of tank battalion to battalion, it was possible to reveal that the first place in the rating is occupied by only one tank - the Ukrainian T-84 BM Oplot, which managed to win all 12 victories in all twelve simulated battles conducted with all the tanks tested. Modeling confirmed that the Ukrainian main battle tank BM Oplot in terms of firepower and protection, at this time has no equal among modern and promising tanks in the world. The survivability of the Ukrainian BM Oplot tank after each battle was not lower than one combat-ready company, which also turned out to be the highest survival rate among other models of main battle tanks of other tank-building powers of the world. The calculated simulation practically showed that the BM Oplot tank at the moment among all representatives of the tank world has the most modern armor protection, which, in combination with the built-in explosive reactive armor of the new generation "Duplet", gives the tank incredible protection by today's standards.



The Ukrainian main battle tank T-84 BM Oplot was developed at the Kharkov Morozov Design Bureau for Mechanical Engineering. The best main battle tank in the world in 2012, the Ukrainian T-84 BM Oplot, is produced at the State Enterprise "Malyshev Plant" in the city of Kharkiv. The KMDB, together with the Malyshev Plant, has been the leading forge of the world tank building since the Soviet Union. From the assembly shops of the Malyshev Tank Plant came such legendary masterpieces of world tank building as tanks: BT-5 / BT-7, T-34, T-44, T-54, T-64, T-80UD Bereza.



Second place in the rating - Leopard 2A7 (Germany) and M1A2 SEP Version 2 Abrams (USA) The second place in the world tank ranking of modern main battle tanks is shared by the German Leopard 2A7 tank and the American M1A2 SEP V2 Abrams. The Leopard 2A7 and M1A2 SEP V2 Abrams tanks won 10 victories, one draw (among themselves) and only one defeat in 12 simulated oncoming tank battles, losing only to one tank that took first place - the Ukrainian T-84 BM Oplot.



The Leopard 2A7 and M1A2 SEP V2 Abrams tanks drew the oncoming tank battle, knocking out battalions of one second to one combat-ready surviving tank. Thus, showing that the Leopard 2A7 and M1A2 SEP V2 Abrams tanks are tanks of the same level, having comparable firepower and protection, with a slight advantage towards the German Leopard 2A7. The second place taken by the American M1A2 SEP V2 Abrams and the German Leopard 2A7 indicates that American and German tank building is developing in step with the times and occupies a leading position among other leading tank-building powers of the West.



Third place in the rating - Type-10 (Japan) and Merkava Mk.4 (Israel) Third place is shared by the newly minted Japanese Type-10 tank, adopted by the Japanese armed forces in January 2012, and the Israeli most advanced Merkava Mk.4 tank.



In the oncoming tank battle, these two types of tanks won 8 victories in 12 battles, drew one battle and lost three battles, the first three tanks of the rating - the Ukrainian T-84 BM Oplot, the German Leopard 2A7 and the American M1A2 SEP V2 Abrams.



The fourth place in the rating is the T-90MS Tagil (Russia) (IN MY OPINION, FOR A NON-PROFESSIONAL READER - ABSOLUTELY INCORRECT) The fourth place in the rating is occupied by the experimental Russian tank T-90MS Tagil, demonstrated to the general public in the fall of 2011 at the international arms exhibition REA-2011 held in Nizhny Tagil, Russia. The T-90MS Tagil demonstrator tank (concept tank) is another improved modernization of the most modern obsolete Russian serial main battle tank T-90A model 2006 ... After the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation refused to purchase a very expensive T-90A tank for the needs of the Russian army, which is not responsible for the key "price-quality" parameter, the Uralvagonzavod Research and Production Association, in order not to lose the state defense order for tanks, urgently developed an improved version of the modernization of the T-90A tank under the new name T-90MS Tagil. The new version of the modernization of the T-90A tank in the T-90MS Tagil version did not give the tank phenomenal fire and driving capabilities, only once again further inflating the prices for new tanks, thereby making the new tank even less attractive in the domestic and foreign arms markets.



The Russian T-90MS Tagil demonstrator tank won 7 oncoming tank battles from the following tanks in the course of 12 battles: Pakistani Al-Khalid Mk.1, Indian Arjun Mk.1, British Challenger-2, French AMX-56 Leclerk, Polish PT-91M Twardy and Chinese ZTZ-99A2 (Type-99A2). At the same time, the experienced Russian T-90MS Tagil demonstrator tank is inferior to such modern main battle tanks in the world: the Ukrainian T-84 BM Oplot, the German Leopard 2A7, the American M1A2 SEP V2 Abrams, the Israeli Merkava Mk.4 and the Japanese Type-10. And the Russian T-90MS Tagil is marginally superior to the new South Korean K-2 Black Panther tank. As a result of simulating a counter tank battle between tank battalions of Russian and South Korean tanks, it turned out that the T-90MS Tagil tanks defeated the South Korean K-2 tanks. The South Korean K2 tanks were completely knocked out, and out of the entire Russian tank battalion (41 tanks), only one T-90MS Tagil tank remained combat-ready, such was the Pyrrhic victory.



Fifth place in the rating is the K-2 Black Panther main battle tank (Republic of Korea) The fifth place in the tank rating is shared by the new South Korean third-generation tank K-2 Black Panther. The South Korean tank won 6 victories and lost 6 battles to the top four of the tank rating.



The sixth place in the ranking is the Arjun Mk.1 (India) and the Challenger-2 (Great Britain) Simulations showed that these two types of tanks have equal combat potential. As a result of the simulation, the British and Indian tanks equally won 4 tank battles, lost 7 and drew one with each other.



The draw between these tanks indicates that India in 2012 has reached the technological level of British tank building in the development of its tank building. The Indian Arjun Mk.1 tank was developed on the basis of the now obsolete German Leopard 2A4 tank, in fact, being its improved copy.



Seventh place in the rating - AMX-56 Leclerk (France) Seventh place in the tank rating is occupied by the French AMX-56 Leclerk tank, which won only three tank battles out of twelve in the Polish PT-91M Twardy, the Chinese ZTZ-99A2 and the Pakistani Al-Khalid Mk.1. The French Leclerk tank at the time of its appearance in 1994, was the most advanced, high-tech and expensive combat vehicle in the world. But to this day, the French AMX-56 Leclerk tank has significantly lost its initial advanced potential, since the French, firstly, completely closed the assembly line, and secondly, they have not carried out a single serious modernization to strengthen the protection of previously produced tanks during all this time.



The protection of the French AMX-56 Leclerk tanks remained at the same level, equal to only 650-700 mm in the equivalent of homogeneous steel armor. At a time when other Western tank builders were improving the fire and armor characteristics of the M1 Abrams, Leopard 2 and Challenger-2 tanks, making a significant leap forward.



Eighth place in the rating - ZTZ-99A2 (Type-99A2) (China) I'M SHOCKED - THEY ARE BUILDING TANKS!! The eighth place in the world tank ranking is occupied by the most advanced representative of the Chinese tank industry, the ZTZ-99A2 tank. Computational simulations showed that the Chinese representative, the ZTZ-99A2 tank, was able to score only two victories over the Pakistani Al-Khalid Mk.1 and the Polish PT-91M Twardy. At the same time, he lost 10 out of twelve matches to tanks higher in the rating.



The eighth position taken by the ZTZ-99A2 tank only once again confirmed the well-known fact that Chinese armored vehicles are characterized by extremely poor reliability, low build quality, and poor tactical and technical characteristics.



Ninth place in the rating - PT-91M Twardy (Poland) The ninth place in the rating was taken by the Polish PT-91M Twardy tank, which was developed in the early 90s on the basis of the obsolete export Soviet tank T-72M1, supplied by the Soviet Union to Poland in the 80s of the twentieth century.



According to the results of the simulation of an oncoming tank battle, the Polish PT-91M tank managed to win only one victory over the Pakistani Al-Khalid Mk.1. At the same time, after the battle, less than one company of combat-ready Polish tanks remained in the ranks, only 7 units. This clearly indicates an unconvincing victory for Polish tanks. The Polish tank lost the remaining 11 battles outright.



Tenth place in the rating - Al-Khalid Mk.1 (Pakistan) The last tenth place in the ranking is occupied by the Pakistani Al-Khalid Mk.1 tank, which set an absolute anti-record, losing all 12 out of 12 simulated oncoming tank battles to all the representatives of the tank rating located above.



Findings. When compiling the tank rating of the best main battle tanks of 2012, 13 main battle tanks of the world's leading tank-building powers for the first half of 2012 were analyzed. The battle was based on a counter tank battle of a tank battalion against a tank battalion at a distance of at least 2 kilometers. The simulation was based on the real, two most key characteristics of any tank - firepower and protection. Simulation of an oncoming tank battle at a distance of 2 kilometers showed that today the most powerful tank in the modern armored world is the Ukrainian main battle tank T-84 BM Oplot, which surpasses all modern and promising tanks in the world in all respects. The second place in the tank rating was shared by the German Leopard 2A7 tank and the American Abrams M1A2 SEP Version 2. Comprehensive computational modeling revealed that the first three tanks in the rating have a huge combat potential that is unattainable today for the rest of the ten modern main battle tanks in the world. Sharing third place, the top five of the tank rating are closed by the Japanese Type-10 and the Israeli Merkava Mk.4. These tanks are among the top five most advanced, powerful and highly protected tanks in the world in 2012. The middle peasants in the tank world are the Russian T-90MS Tagil demonstrator tank (concept tank), the promising experimental South Korean K-2 Black Panther, the Indian Arjun Mk. 1 and the British Challenger-2, which have relatively high combat capabilities. The French AMX-56 Leclerk, the Chinese ZTZ-99A2 (Type-99A2) and the Polish PT-91M Twardy were found to be tanks below the average tier. The simulation revealed that the Pakistani Al-Khalid Mk.1 tank is the weakest tank in the modern armored world as of mid-2012.

Source: alternathistory.org.ua