Dominate South Asia

Hamad’s last stop in China was Inner Mongolia.

A grass-green tank was ready to go in the shooting range. It had a high barrel, a low turret, and a chassis with seven pairs of road wheels, making it look so powerful.

A one-armed old man stood there, looking at the tank, his eyes full of pride.

Beside him stood a large group of military personnel, several of whom were foreigners.

"After several years of testing, our tank has now been successfully finalized." The one-armed commander said to Mhamad who was standing aside: "Our tank has been officially named the Type 90 tank."

In later generations, China's Type 90 tank was just an improved version of the Type 85 tank. Although its performance was advanced, it could not compete with other tanks in the 1990s. It was just a transitional model.

And now, this Type 90 tank is already the most advanced tank in the world!

All thanks to the 1,500-horsepower engine from Pakistan! This engine derived from the Leopard 2 tank allows Chinese tank designers to finally no longer be limited by the engine when designing, and the tank's dead weight has also been enlarged to more than 50 tons.

Now, this tank uses a chassis similar to the Leopard 2, a 1500-horsepower engine, a hydraulic automatic transmission, a torsion bar suspension, and first-class maneuverability. At the same time, coupled with the firepower that China has always attached great importance to, the 125mm tank gun, The kinetic energy of the cannon when it pops out of the muzzle ranks first in the world. As for the protective capabilities, a layer of reactive armor has been added to the original armor, making the performance even better.

"The performance of this tank is good." Mhammad said: "After your country's army officially equips it, we will also conduct research. If appropriate, we in Pakistan will also produce a batch."

Pakistan is currently producing follow-up Leopard 2 tanks under contract. By the end of this year, the last batch of Leopard 2 tanks will be ready for delivery.

There is no doubt that the Leopard 2 tank is advanced. However, the Leopard 2 uses a 120mm gun and four riders, while the Type 90 tank uses a 125mm gun and three riders. The turret of the Type 90 tank is lower. In tank battles, the lower turret means a smaller bomb landing area. Westerners are all very big, while Asians are smaller. Tanks designed for Europe did not take the size of Easterners into consideration. Therefore, Chinese tanks should be more suitable for the eastern battlefield.

Historically, Pakistan imported tanks from China. An improved version of the Type 90, named MBT2000, except that the diesel engine was replaced by a Ukrainian product.

only. Now Pakistan's main tanks have 120mm guns. If it is replaced by a Type 90 tank, the gun will have a 125mm caliber, which will cause a logistical burden. However, there is no way around it. After all, the Type 90 tank is equipped with Automatic loading machine. Not interchangeable with 120mm guns.

"Our successful development of this tank is inseparable from the help of our friends in Pakistan." The one-armed commander said: "When I took charge and led the development of this tank, I thought it would take more than ten years to successfully develop it. , and now, it only took five years to equip the troops. On behalf of our entire development team, I would like to express my gratitude to Pakistan.”

Now, the engines in the tanks are all produced in Pakistan, and there is no such 1,500-horsepower engine. The finalization of this tank is still far away.

"Technology is constantly improving. Our tanks also need to be continuously improved to adapt to future wars." Mhamad said: "Especially electronic technology, the future development direction of tanks will be informatization and Networking. At the same time, the performance of the tank itself, its engine, armor, and artillery all need to be continuously improved.”

Just as Mhamad finished speaking, there was a roar of an engine in the distance. The rumbling sound was far beyond that of any kind of tank.

Mhamad looked over and saw a tank with a sloping main armor and turret, driving over, its tracks churning the grass and making a squeaking sound.

M1 tank! This is the American M1 tank!

"How is the research on the performance of this tank going?" Mhamad asked.

This tank is an Indian tank captured by the Pakistani army during the East Pakistan War. This is an American-made tank using a gas turbine!

After the seizure, Mhammad certainly would not leave it as scrap metal. Two of them were sent to China, and two were handed over to the Germans. The Germans were so treasured that they exchanged several industrial technologies with Pakistan.

The car sent to China was for Chinese military personnel to study.

"The performance of this tank is indeed unique." The one-armed commander said. When he was studying tanks, he took the American M1 tank as a target. Now, after seeing this tank with his own eyes, he can still After testing the various performances of this tank, one of them was even able to be dismantled. The one-armed commander was very grateful to Pakistan.

At the same time, these days, they have almost understood the performance of this tank.

Just as he was talking, the speeding M1 tank had already arrived and stopped with the sound of squeaking brakes. Several young technicians came out of it, carrying a lot of equipment.

"Teacher Zhu, we have remeasured it. It only takes 5 seconds for the acceleration performance of this tank from 0 to 32 kilometers per hour. The maximum cross-country speed exceeds 72 kilometers per hour, which is better than our tanks. "It's better than our previous Type 69 tank," the technician said.

The M1 uses a gas turbine. This gas turbine has large torque and starts quickly. In later generations, even if it was changed to the M1A2, the total combat weight became 65 tons, and the acceleration performance was only 7 seconds. Now, this basic M1 The total weight of the tank is only 54 tons, and its maneuverability is even better.

"The gas turbine gives the tank powerful maneuverability." The one-armed commander said, "Unfortunately, we cannot produce this kind of engine ourselves."

China's aviation power is very lacking, and gas turbines are based on strong aviation power.

"Then have you discovered the shortcomings of this power?" Mhamad asked.

"There are fewer parts, high efficiency, and low weight. If we talk about the shortcomings, it should be the fuel consumption." said the one-armed chief engineer.

"Yes, it just wastes fuel!" Mhamad said: "This kind of engine is not suitable for being installed on a tank, and the fuel burden will be quite heavy."

In later generations, the Soviet T-80 was changed back to a diesel engine. The Americans planned to improve the gas turbine, but it ended up being a diesel engine. The gas turbine was an equipment cycle on main battle tanks, and it was considered over.

Even the US empire, which has deep pockets and perfect logistics, cannot hold it, let alone other countries. Neither China nor Pakistan can be equipped with this kind of power.

Of course, research must be carried out. After all, this is also the advanced technology of the US imperialism.

"The thing that inspires us the most is the armor." The one-armed commander said: "We disassembled another tank and carefully studied the main armor of the M1 tank." The one-armed commander said: "We found , the American M1 armor uses epoxy resin as a restraining body to restrain hexagonal ceramic blocks with a diameter of 10 cm. When armor-piercing projectiles and armor-piercing jets hit the ceramic When porcelain is fired, the broken ceramic blocks and powder are squeezed inward by the constraint ring and fly out in the opposite direction of the armor-piercing bullet or jet, hitting the bullet core or jet, thus improving the protection capability compared to what we are exposed to. The armor of the T-72 tank is much better, and our own armor, if arranged in this way, can further improve its ballistic resistance. "

The M1 tank equipped in India is not the most advanced tank with depleted uranium armor, it is just ordinary armor. However, even if it is ordinary armor, it is definitely not ordinary, because this is the technology of British Chobham armor! In history, the British sold their Chobham armor technology completely once to the United States. What the Germans bought was only a downgraded version of the technology.

This kind of armor is a restrained armor technology with more outstanding bulletproof performance. Sometimes, it is not a change of materials, but just a change of structure, which can improve it to a higher level.

"We plan to produce the Type 90 tank at a low rate, and later models will be equipped with this updated armor. If Pakistan needs it, we can completely export these armor technologies to your country."

Help is mutual. Pakistan has helped China a lot. China has been a land of etiquette since ancient times, and a drop of kindness should be repaid by a spring. Although armor technology is a top-secret technology for a country's defense industry, China can still export it to Pakistan without reservation. , this is brotherhood!

"Great." Mhammad said: "The performance of our own tanks will be more advanced! We in Pakistan will definitely produce such advanced tanks!"

"At the same time, we are also developing new armor-piercing projectile technology, using higher-strength tungsten alloy, improving the composition of the propellant, so that the armor-piercing projectile has stronger armor-piercing ability." The one-armed commander continued: "Especially for us We learned a lot from dismantling American ammunition, especially the components of propellants. After analyzing them, we found ways to improve our own propellants.”

For the performance of tank guns, not only the barrels, but also the performance of the shells are equally important. The barrels of American tanks are directly produced under license from Rheinmetall, just like the Leopard 2 tank guns. However, the American tanks The performance of armor-piercing bullets is higher than that of Germany, mainly because of the artillery shells, especially the later use of depleted uranium armor-piercing bullets, which are even more indestructible. (To be continued ~^~)