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India aspires to modernise its T-72 MBTs In 1997, the Indian Land Forces filed a request for modernisation of 1500 T-72 MBTs. In the year 2001, the Ministry of Defence tokk a decision to carry out the modernisation in batches. The first batch consisting of 300 T-72s are to be modernised by the year 2007. The modernisation, as planned, will cover all the main characteristics of the tank. The cost of modernisation of one tank may be above 1.5 million dollars. Many leading companies of the world have sent their proposals. By the time being, the preliminary trials have been carried out in India with the so-called 'narrowed-down' list of contenders being determined. For examples, the thermal imaging system to be used might be the French Thales-developed Catherine-FC thermal viewer or the Matis thermal viewer developed by the Sagem company, also in France. Radio equipment has been offered by the British BAE Systems company and the Electro-Optics Industries Ltd of Israel, while the contenders for supply of navigation equipment include the Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd and the German LITEF company. The final stage of the trials is to be carried out at the beginning of the next year. By the time being, India has only taken its decision as to the power pack. Earlier this year, three-month-long evaluation trials have been carried out (the participants included five T-72 tanks fitted with upgraded V12 engines developed by the Indian State-owned Company Heavy Vehicles Factory, and five T-72 tanks fitted with Russian 840 hp V-84MS engines which are similar to those installed in the T-90S tanks). The trials showed clearly that, under desert conditions, the Indian engines got overheated and suffered a loss of performance. As a result, the V-84MS engines have been selected. The Indian Ministry of Defence has announced that representatives of the LandForces Headquarters are holding negotiations with the Russian Rosoboronexport company on the matter of concluding a contract for procurement of the tank diesel engines. The constract may be signed by the end of this year. The V-84MS engines will be installed in the first 300 out of 1,500 T-72s which are to be modernised by the decision of the Land Forces Headquarters. The preparation for the signing of the tank engine supply constract is almost completed, with a decision on the prices still pending. ==================== Turkey and Russia Have Good Prospects of Cooperation in the Defence Area On 6 December, the Russian President Vladimir Putin made an official visit to Turkey. The visit procedures included a meeting of the Russian Federation's Minister of Defence Sergey Ivanov with official representatives of the Turkish ministry of Defence. Both the presidents and the ministers of defence discussed the prospects of military and technical cooperation of the countries. Vladimir Putin expressed his hope that Russian companies will be given in Turkey the same conditions as are given to other companies present in the market. Speaking on the matter, Mr. Putin mentioned the negative experience of Russia's participation in the tender for supply of helicopters. Up to the present, despite a huge potential, the relations of the two countries in this field has been almost equal to zero. As a matter of fact, Turkey has had good opportunities to get to know the capabilities of the military equipment produced in Russia and other former Soviet republics, in particular, during the trials of the above-mentioned helicopter as well as the comparative evaluation trials under the Turkish Main Battle Tank Project, the participants of which included Ukraine. Turkey has several dozens BTR-80 series armoured personnel carriers, although they are in service not with the Army, but with the Gendarmerie. But the opinion of the latter about the BTR-80 is definitely positive. ==================== The Russian Army Has Completed the Trials of the BTR-90 Armoured Personnel Carrier The Interdepartmental Committee of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation has approved the results of the trials of the new-generation armoured personnel carrier designated GAZ-5912 (BTR-90). The series production of the armoured personnel carriers (APC) will be carried out at the Arzamas Machine Building Plant (AMZ) which is a subsidiary of the GAZ Joint Stock Company. At present, the AMZ has started the procedures to enable the BTR-90 to enter service with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. This enterprise has a long experience in producing armoured vehicles. It produced BTR-60s, BTR-70s and BTR-80s. The most interesting among the latest developments is the upgraded BTR-80A. Development of the new 8x8 APC commenced early in the 1990s. The first prototype was tested in 1994. The layout of the BTR-90 is identical to that of its predecessors BTR-80 and BTR-80А. The commander and the driver are positioned in the fore part of the hull, the two-man turret is located in the middle part of the hull with 8-person troop compartment being located behind the turret. The BTR-90 is fitted with a multi-fuel liquid-cooled supercharged 500 hp diesel engine and a hydro-mechanical gearbox. The vehicle features an independent wheel suspension. The APC can move on a highway at a speed of up to 100 km/h. The speed when afloat is up to 9 km/h. The cruising distance is up to 700 km. The main turret armament comprises a 30 mm 2A42 automatic gun. The auxiliary armament includes a 7.62 mm PKT coaxial machine gun, a 30 mm AG-17 grenade launcher and an anti-tank missile launcher. According to the top managers of the plant, the latter is ready to commence the series production of the new vehicle. ==================== Russian Motor-cars in Africa Two Russian companies, which are involved in the production of military motor-cars, viz. UAZ and KamAZ, have carried out a presentation of their products in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Up to the present, the military of Kenya, as well as other countries of West Africa, have been buying motor-cars for military applications mostly in Great Britain. Nowadays Russia has also decided to struggle for this market. In particular, the KamAZ company is attempting to get the contract for supply of 400 lorries to the Kenyan Armed Forces. In Nairobi, the Russmotors Limited company established a regional office to promote Russian-produced motor-cars. The activities of this office are to cover not only Kenya, but also Ethiopia, Tanzania, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Kongo. The UAZ and KamAZ enterprises started a campaign to promote their products in East Africa. Recently, the representatives of the UAZ and the KamAZ carried out a presentation of their motor-cars, both proven and newly-designed vehicles, in the capital of Kenya. ==================== Military and Technical Cooperation of Pakistan and USA The United States and Pakistan have reached and agreement about supply of weapons to Pakistan for the total amount of $1.2 billion. It is envisaged that Pakistan will receive 2,000 anti-tank guided missiles, electronic intelligence aircraft and other equipment. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Pakistan's Minister of Information, has reportedly said that this step will enhance the defence potential of Pakistan, but it will pose no threat to the neighbouring countries, in particular, India. However, the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed its concerns related to this arms supply and has informed the USA about these concerns. Supplies of weapons from the United States to Pakistan have become possible after the lifting of the embargo imposed against this country after it had carried out nuclear tests. The lifting of the embargo has been caused by the support rendered by Pakistan to the actions of the coalition forces in their fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda. ==================== Austria to Purchase Mobile Air-Transportable Dingo 2 Vehicles Austria has placed an order with the German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann for twenty 4х4 armoured cars designated Dingo 2. This deal is the first export order of these new vehicles. Earlier, the German Army ordered 147 Dingo armoured cars to establish three military units. The vehicles already took part in operations in Afghanistan as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Dingo 2 is a high mobility vehicle based on the 'of-the-shelf' chassis Unimog Model U5000, which is produced by another German company, Mercedes-Benz. According to the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann company, the vehicle has a high degree of protection against small arms fire, artillery shrapnel and splinters as well as anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. The Dingo 2 can be transported by NATO-standard aircraft C-130. Besides, it can be transported as suspended under the belly of the CH-47D Chinook helicopter. The vehicle can accommodate 8 infantry soldiers, fully equipped. It can move on hard-surface roads at speeds of up to 90 km/h with the fuel distance being 1,000 km. The vehicle is fitted with an air-conditioning system and an engine-independent heater, brake anti-locking system, rear view camera, GPS-based navigation system, modern external and internal communications system as well as collective NBC protection system. Apart from the capability to act as an armoured personnel carrier, the vehicle can be used for fulfilment of special missions, such as intelligence, command and fire support. The German Army requires around 1,600 vehicle of this class, 52 of which have already been delivered. Dingo 2 licensed production rights have already been acquired by the American Textron Marine and Land Systems company, which is going to produce it within the framework of the US programme 'Foreign Military Sales'. In December 2004 Austria received the first Dingo 2 vehicle. The remainder (19 vehicles) will be supplied during the year 2005. ==================== Russia's Arms Export Scope Keeps Increasing According to the preliminary results of Russia's defence export efforts during the year 2004, the total scope of defence export amounted to $5.6-5.7 billion, which shows an increase by 200-300 million if compared with the year 2003. This progress was achieved due to enlargement of the markets in North Africa and on the Arabian peninsula. It is worth while mentioning that the afore-mentioned high results were achieved despite the gradual exhaustion of the Soviet technological margin. In general, in 2004 the structure of defence export was traditional as to its nomenclature and geography. As in the previous years, almost half of the export consisted of supplies of aviation-related weapons and equipment. In so doing, the lion's share of this consisted in deliveries of Su-30 series aircraft. The largest supplies in the naval armament field included the hand-over of a submarine under the contract signed in 2002, which envisaged deliveries of a total of 8 submarines to China, and supply of a new frigate to India and a hovering craft to Greece. In 2004, four battalions of S-300PMU1 air defence systems were handed over to China. The exported land weapons systems included 17 BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles and anti-tank missile systems supplied to South Korea and a batch of 50 BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles supplied to Yemen (under a contract envisaging supply of 180 BMP-2s). The same year saw completion of the contract for supply of 310 T-90S tanks to India. China and India still remain the main buyers of Russian weapons. More or less large supplies were carried out to Greece, Vietnam, Yemen and Sudan. 90% of the Russia's defence export was carried out by the State-owned Enterprise Rosoboronexport. Apart from it, weapons were exported by the Tula Instrument Design Bureau (mostly Kornet-E anti-tank missile systems) and some other specialised enterprises. In 2004, the Rosoboronexport signed a number of contracts for a total amount of $5.5 billion. As a result, this company's portfolio of defence-related orders amounted to $12 billion. |
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February15, 2005 - Army Guide >> |
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