Ukraine Selling 200 T-72 Tanks To Ethiopia

Ukrainian state company Ukrspetsexport signed a $100-million contract with the Ethiopian Defense Ministry on the delivery of over 200 T-72 tanks, UNIAN news agency reported on Thursday.

The deal is one of the largest contracts Ukrspetsexport has signed in the last 15 years.Ukraine also expects to receive further orders for the repair and upkeep of the tanks.

The T-72, first produced in the USSR in the 1970's, was widely exported to many African, Asian and Middle Eastern states.

Turkey Modernizes German Leopard 2 Tanks

Turkey's largest defense company Aselsan has completed the modernization of the German Leopard 2A4 tank, which will serve partly as a test bed for the country's planned first main battle tank, the Altay, Anatolia news agency reported Friday.

Aselsan dubbed the tank it just modernized as the "Leopard 2 Next Generation." The new tank will be displayed at IDEF 2011, Turkey's largest defense fair, which is held every two years in Istanbul. This year's event will run from May 10 to 13.

Aselsan, while modernizing the Leopard 2A4, has replaced the tank's all electronic, electro-optical, electro-mechanical and electro-hydraulic equipment with its state-of-the-art systems, the state news agency said.

Aselsan earlier modernized 171 German-made Leopard 1 tanks under a $160 million contract with the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries, or SSM, Turkey's defense procurement agency.

A state-owned company, Aselsan specializes in military electronics. Founded in Ankara in 1975, the company's 2009 revenue reached nearly $643 million.

Separately, Otokar, a private armored vehicle maker, signed two years ago a $500 million contract with SSM for the design and development of the Altay, Turkey's first indigenous main battle tank.

Otokar has a deal with South Korea's Hyundai Rotem to obtain technology transfer for the production of four Altay prototypes by the end of 2015. Several other Turkish companies, including Aselsan, are taking part in the Altay's development.

Many of the subsystems Aselsan has used to modernize the Leopard 2A4 will be included in the Altay.

Israel's Israeli Military Industries, or IMI, had upgraded the Turkish Army's 170 U.S.-made M60 main battle tanks for nearly $700 million. IMI, which worked with several Turkish partners including Aselsan, delivered the last upgraded M60 to Turkey about a year ago.

But IMI's upgrade of the M60s and Aselsan's modernization of the Leopard 1 are different matters. The first deal included major armor, fire control and engine progress, while the second project included the replacement of fire control systems only.

T-72 Tanks Were Moved To Remote Sikkim Area After China Tested Indian Defences

Chinese moves to test Indian control of the strategic Finger Area in North Sikkim last year have prompted the Army to deploy heavy tanks and armoured personnel carriers in the region and strengthen defensive positions.

In fact, the highest gallantry award to a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) personnel was conferred to a dozer operator, Zalim Singh, who cleared a strategic road near Theing village — he was decorated with a Bar to Shaurya Chakra — for a column of advancing tanks.

While the Army brought armoured vehicles to the North Sikkim plateau in the late 1980s, the small detachment has now been replaced by the heavier and more powerful T-72 Main Battle Tanks and modern BMP troop carriers.

Sources said the mobilisation took place after repeated Chinese transgressions last year in the Finger Area, a one kilometre stretch of land in the northern tip of Sikkim that overlooks a valley called the Sora Funnel and is considered a strong defensive position.

The T-72 tanks were inducted after a monumental effort by the BRO to widen roads, construct tracks and strengthen bridges leading to North Sikkim. The heavy tank column was taken up the high plateau partly by road-based carriers.

Sources said that while China too has tanks on its side of the border, they are deployed well inside its territory. “China does not need to deploy tanks on the border because the terrain and roads on its side makes it easy to bring them at short notice. India, on the other hand, has no option but to keep them on the border as it would take days to get the tanks up from the plains,” an expert pointed out.


Besides the tanks, the Army has strengthened other defences in the region, particularly around the Finger Area. Permanent posts have been set up on heights and bunkers have been strengthened. The Army has also increased surveillance capabilities in the region. At least two Long Range Observation Systems which can detect, record and transmit live images of an area under observation, have been set up in the Finger Area.

The strengthening of defences has taken place partly due to the re-induction of the 27 Mountain Division to North Sikkim. The Kalimpong-based Division, responsible for the defence of North Sikkim and the Finger Area, had been moved to Jammu and Kashmir in 2001 during the Op Parakram troop buildup along the Pakistan border.

The Finger Area entered controversy last year after the Chinese increased patrolling and even planned to built a road through it. While the area was always under Indian control, the Army used to send in regular patrols and held only a few traditional defensive positions.

India decided to strengthen defences after increased Chinese transgressions and the discovery last year that the alignment of a new East-West road being built by Beijing would pass thorough the Finger Area. Construction was put to a stop after New Delhi lodged a diplomatic complaint.

What Is ERA(Explosive Reactive Armor)

M3A2 ODS "Operation Desert Storm" Bradley w/ERA, Explosive Reactive Armor 

Reactive Armours are a type of armour that reacts to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage to the vehicle. It is very effective in protecting against shaped charges and specially hardened long rod penetrators. The most common type is explosive reactive armour (ERA), but variants include self-limiting explosive reactive armour (SLERA), non-energetic reactive armour (NERA), non-explosive reactive armour (NxRA), and electric reactive armour. Unlike ERA and SLERA, NERA and NxRA modules can withstand multiple hits, but a second hit in exactly the same location will still penetrate.

The first impetus to develop 'energetic' armours began in the 1960s after the expensive glass and ceramic armours proved defficient. The goal of such research was essentially to use the controlled release of energy to somehow destroy a forming HEAT jet.

Nag Induction Delayed Again ! So Whats New?

You will say what is new about Nag, it is delayed again, army is not satisfied etc etc.

The old news is that induction of third generation anti-tank Nag missile is likely to be delayed by more than a year with the Army seeking improvements to the specially-made missile carrier, NAMICA.

After the completion of the missile's “final validation trials” in the Chandan Air Force ranges in Rajasthan in July last, it was anticipated that it would be inducted into the Army this year. During the trials, the missile proved its capability against both moving and stationary targets, covering varying ranges of 500 meters to 2,600 metres.
The Indian Army has placed an order of 443 Nag missiles and 13 Namicas for introduction in the next 3 years. Nag will be the first weapon of such kind that will be inducted into the army by November–December 2009. The Army urgently needs the more advanced Nag to improve kill probability as the missile using a high explosive warhead to penetrate the armor in modern tanks.The trials of the missile were conducted using an advanced imaging infrared seeker head, as per Army's requirements. On 20 January 2010, field tests of the Nag’s Thermal Sight system saw the system identify and lock on to a T-55 tank at a range of 5 km. The tank was then engaged and destroyed at a range of over 4 km [12] thus the missile’s fire-and-forget capability has been established using the day version of the IIR passive seeker.In its IIR form the Nag has limited all weather capability.

The NAMICA too established its “channel-crossing ability” and manoeuvred across the Indira Gandhi Canal at Nachna in Rajasthan during flotation trials time. Each carrier can carry 12 missiles with eight of them in ready-to-fire mode.NAMICA (Nag Missile Carrier)is a tank destroyer built for the army. It is equipped with a thermal imager for target acquisition. NAMICA is a modified BMP-2 ICV produced as "Sarath" in India. The carrier weights 14.5 tonnes in full combat load and is capable of moving 7 km/h in water. The carriers are capable of carrying 12 missiles with 8 in ready-to-fire mode. The NAMICA carrier was put through transportation trials covering 155 km during summer trials. Having a maximum range of four km, the Nag is equipped with the highly potent HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) warhead.

With the Army seeking additional features such as providing a “panoramic sight” for two commanders, against the present system of having only one such facility for the ‘gunner,' the Namica is being totally redesigned.
Two systems would be made — one by Bharath Electronics Limited (BEL) and the other by Larsen & Toubro.

Following a comparative evaluation of the two carriers in the summer of 2012, the configuration of the production version would be selected.

Asked about induction, sources in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said, “It is up to the Army to decide.”

Meanwhile, the first demonstration flight test of the 7-km range Helina, the airborne version of the Nag from a helicopter, is planned to be conduced early next year. Recently, flight-testing from a ground-based launcher to establish the guidance scheme featuring “lock-on after launch” concept was conducted successfully at a range of 4.2 km, the sources said adding the DRDO proposed to carry out a guided flight test against a tank target by the end of the year,