PT-91

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PT-91 Twardy
PT-91 at the International Defense Industry Exhibition, Poland (2009)

PT-91 at the International Defense Industry Exhibition , Poland (2009)
General properties
crew 3 (commander, driver, gunner)
length 9.53 m (length with gun in 12 o'clock position)
width 3.40 m
height 2.19 m
Dimensions 45.5 tons (combat weight)
Armor and armament
Armor Composite armor, reactive armor
Main armament 1 × 125 mm smooth barrel cannon 2A46 with 42 shells (22 in the loading machine)
Secondary armament 1 × 7.62 mm PKT - MG (coaxial to the cannon with 2000 rounds)

1 × 12.7 mm NSW anti-aircraft guns on the tower with 300 rounds
24 × 81 mm smoke grenade launcher with 24 grenades, triggered automatically by the laser warning device

agility
drive S12-U, 12- cylinder four - stroke diesel engine (60 ° V-shape), water-cooled (engine W-46 revised by the company PZL-Wola SA )
630 kW (850 PS)
suspension Torsion bar
Top speed 60 km / h (road), 45 km / h (terrain)
Power / weight 13.8 kW / ton (18.8 hp / t)
Range 650 km

The PT-91 Twardy ( Polish: "The Hard One " ) is a battle tank from Poland , which was developed from the Soviet T-72 M1. The PT-91 is in service with the armed forces of Poland and Malaysia , although the Malaysian variant PT-91M has been significantly modified compared to the Polish base model.

history

The PT-91 was developed from the late 1980s until the early 1990s by Polish engineers from the Soviet T-72M1, which in Poland by the arms manufacturer Bumar Łabędy in Gliwice ( Gleiwitz ) in license built. The goal was to eliminate the worst weaknesses of the T-72 without interfering too much with the design, so that the conversion effort and thus the costs could be minimized. It was therefore necessary to install all of the new elements with little effort (e.g. the thermal imaging camera fits into the opening of the old, active night vision device). In addition, some known weaknesses were not even addressed, such as an unreliable automatic loading machine, poor chassis, weak basic armor, cannon prone to wear, poor stabilization system, outdated manual transmission, etc.

The aim was to modernize the T-72M, which was now getting on in years, in order to obtain a powerful and inexpensive standard tank that should be roughly comparable to the NATO models . This cost-effective solution was suggested because Poland had a large number of T-72s in service (over 800 units), which were to be converted in order to avoid the very costly and completely new acquisition of a Western battle tank model, which was initially planned.

Some of the solutions have proven their worth. The Indian armed forces have selected the Polish digital fire control system DRAWA installed in the PT-91 for the modernization program of their T-72 fleet. The unit price was about $ 250,000. The OBRA laser warning system is also used in the modernization of Czech T-72s.

Like the T-72, the PT-91 is ready to go underwater up to a depth of five meters and has a digging device (front shovel can be attached) as well as a recovery beam. The tower is still welded together from cast parts. It does not have modern spaced armor all around, but only a silicon core that is supposed to disperse or deflect a shaped charge sting. The front armor of the welded hull is made in multi-layer construction (steel plates of various degrees of hardness + Dyneema ), but has no ceramic plates . In addition, additional reactive armor elements made in Poland are attached to large parts of the tank (especially at the front) .

The unit price of a basic PT-91 was about 1.5 million US dollars . About 100 new PT-91s were purchased by the Polish armed forces. About 130 more T-72s were repaired and upgraded to the PT-91 standard. All 233 PT-91s were combined in the 11th Armored Cavalry Division (in the 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade in Świętoszów and in the 34th Armored Cavalry Brigade in Żagań). In the meantime, the 10th Panzer Cavalry Brigade in Świętoszów has been converted to the German Leopard-2 A4 tank (128 units). In case of war it is subordinate to the German 1st Panzer Division from Hanover within the framework of NATO .

Main changes compared to the T-72M1

ERAWA reactive armor on the PT-91

As a derivative of the T-72M, the PT-91 is still very similar in appearance, but has some improvements over the original:

  • Completely new Polish digital fire control system (DRAWA from PCO) - Compared to the Russian basic model, it is much more precise and powerful
  • Laser warning system (OBRA the company PCO) - if the tank from a laser is detected -Zielmarkierungsgerät is the commander given alarm and smoke grenade launcher (automatically or manually) activated
  • Israeli thermal imager (company Elop) in conjunction with new Infrared - Sensors
  • Reactive armor ( ERAWA , ERA - explosive reactive armor, WA - Wiśniewski, Adam) on the front, turret and sides, the rear armor was generally retained
  • Kidde-Deugra fire extinguishing system

PT-91M

PT-91M "Pendekar" with digital camouflage pattern
Polish PMC iguana based on a PT-91M chassis

The Bumar Łabędy PT-91M "Pendekar" manufactured for the Malaysian armed forces , which were ordered in April 2003, have, in contrast to the original PT-91, further more extensive modifications:

  • French fire control system (Savan 15 from Sagem ) including a third generation Catherine thermal imaging device
  • New electric tower straightening drives and stabilization system ( EADS EPS 72 - Albatross)
  • Hydrostatic automatic transmission (ESM 350M from SESM - French subsidiary of Renk AG )
  • Chains with rubber pads (from Diehl )
  • Improved 2A46MS cannon (made by Konštrukta-Defense from Slovakia )
  • air conditioning
  • Electric commander optics (Vigy 15 from Sagem)
  • SOTAS intercom ( Thales NL, formerly Signalaal)
  • Thales radios (RRC 9500, manufactured in Poland by Radmor )
  • Diesel engine S-1000R with 1000 HP (from the Polish company Wola SA)

An auxiliary power unit (APU) may have been installed and the chassis modernized (use of elastomers ). This variant can also have ceramic armor (CAWA, CA - ceramic armor, WA - Wiśniewski, Adam) on the front.

variants

WZT-3 armored recovery vehicle

Countries of operation

See also

Web links

Commons : PT-91 Twardy  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files