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Major Shabbir Sharif, Shaheed, NH
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Land Platforms

China dispatches two customised VT4 MBTs to undisclosed foreign customer

Gabriel Dominguez, London and Dmitry Fediushko, Moscow - Jane's Defence Weekly

28 April 2020


One of the two customised VT4s photographed leaving China’s Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group on 20 April. The group did not reveal the identity of the customer. Source: Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group

hina's Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group released images on 20 April via its WeChat account showing what appear to be two customised China North Industries Corporation (Norinco) VT4 main battle tanks (MBTs) being transported on trucks to an undisclosed foreign customer.

The images, which show the MBTs featuring a new explosive reactive armour (ERA) fitted to the glacis and turret, indicate that these VT4s are slightly different from the ones exported to Thailand and Nigeria.

The factory did not provide further details about the platforms (which were painted in green-brown camouflage), the value of the contract, or the number of tanks set to be supplied, saying only that it had held a "launch ceremony" for the two VT4s, which were being delivered to an undisclosed country.

According to Jane's Land Warfare Platforms: Armoured Fighting Vehicles, the export-only VT4 (formerly known as the MBT-3000) follows a conventional Soviet-layout MBT with a 125 mm smoothbore gun and carousel automatic loading system.

For close support and anti-personnel fire, the VT4 carries a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun and what is most likely the Type 88 12.7 mm machine gun, which is cupola-mounted for the commander's use.

The turret also carries eight 76 mm smoke dischargers and four dischargers of 76 mm high-explosive fragmentation grenades. In 2014, an enhanced version of the platforms was shown featuring a remote weapon station, believed to be the UW1, which can mount a 7.62 mm or a12.7 mm machine gun.

The protection afforded to the VT4 has yet to be disclosed, and it is unclear whether the base armour design is a close copy of the T-72B or the T-90A MBTs, as Samuel Cranny-Evans, senior research analyst and editor of Jane's Land Warfare Platforms: Armoured Fighting Vehicles, pointed out.
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Is it wise to have fuel tanks exposed at the bavk??
Could shoot em with .50 cal from far away or machine gun fire maybe??
That'd be a big boom. I bet.
 
Is it wise to have fuel tanks exposed at the bavk??
Could shoot em with .50 cal from far away or machine gun fire maybe??
That'd be a big boom. I bet.

Actually any type of fire from the back is extremely hazardous to a tank. But since it is the less-exposed aspect of the tank, therefore engine and fuel tanks are generally found there.

Here is where the mechanized infantry comes in. They move everywhere with the tanks in M113s, one of their main tasks being providing close support to advancing tanks so that they do not get surprised from enemy infantry or anti-tank teams.
 
In my auto upkeep class the teacher said diesel is more flammable as it can be ignited just by compression. Whereas, gasoline ignites with a flame/spark?
Diesel doesnt catch fire that easily either.

Makes sense. But didn't Hezbollah anti tank teams in Lebanon take advantage of Israeli tanks back side when they used to pop out of man holes shoot atgms/rpgs and then run away? (So I've heard from elders I was pretty young when both Lebanon wars happened, so I could be wrong)
Actually any type of fire from the back is extremely hazardous to a tank. But since it is the less-exposed aspect of the tank, therefore engine and fuel tanks are generally found there.

Here is where the mechanized infantry comes in. They move everywhere with the tanks in M113s, one of their main tasks being providing close support to advancing tanks so that they do not get surprised from enemy infantry or anti-tank teams.
 
In my auto upkeep class the teacher said diesel is more flammable as it can be ignited just by compression. Whereas, gasoline ignites with a flame/spark?


Makes sense. But didn't Hezbollah anti tank teams in Lebanon take advantage of Israeli tanks back side when they used to pop out of man holes shoot atgms/rpgs and then run away? (So I've heard from elders I was pretty young when both Lebanon wars happened, so I could be wrong)

Exactly, diesel is volatile to compression as you said, not to bullets or sparks.

What happened with the Merkavas happens if there is no infantry support with tanks.
 
So Israelis were too over confident??
And it was relatively a new tank recently developed.
Exactly, diesel is volatile to compression as you said, not to bullets or sparks.

What happened with the Merkavas happens if there is no infantry support with tanks.


Any word on Hamza MCV or LAVA as it's called. Last mention was in 2016-2017 MoDP yearbook I believe. So many small countries have their own wheeled 8x8 or 6x6 APCs/IFVs(whatever they're called). Yet HIT is still proud of M113(with desi names offcourse) and dragoon which might have been an achievement in 1990s or maybe even in early 2000s but not today, in this day and age.
 
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So Israelis were too over confident??
And it was relatively a new tank recently developed.



Any word on Hamza MCV or LAVA as it's called. Last mention was in 2016-2017 MoDP yearbook I believe. So many small countries have their own wheeled 8x8 or 6x6 APCs/IFVs(whatever they're called).

There was no problem with the tank.

No weapon system, whatever its potency, can survive in isolation on any battlefield. A successful battlefield action is always the result of combined efforts of all fighting and supporting arms.

Israelis did identify grave inadequacies, after 2006, with their prevalent doctrine with regards to employment of fighting arms, and fighting a war in a hybrid environment. That document is there somewhere on the net.
 
Exactly, diesel is volatile to compression as you said, not to bullets or sparks.

What happened with the Merkavas happens if there is no infantry support with tanks.

Just to clarify, diesel is a liquid and like all liquids, it is not compressible. However, in the diesel engine, fuel is mixed with air and the air/diesel mixture is compressible. The following explains the reason for the preference of diesel engines.

Firstly, diesel is less volatile than jet fuel & gasoline hence it has a higher ‘Flash Point’. Flash Point (FP) is the temperature at which fuel would ignite if a naked flame is brought near its surface. FP of gasoline /petrol is minus 43 deg C, of Kerosene/Jet fuel is a 38 to 40 deg C and of diesel normally 55 to 65 deg C. This means that diesel is not likely to catch fire even when hit by a rifle bullet if the temperature caused by the hit of the bullet is less than 55 deg C when it enters the diesel, therefore diesel is safer to store especially in hot climates and also safer to use where bullets are flying everywhere.

Secondly, a higher compression ratio is desirable in the internal combustion engine because this way more mechanical energy can be extracted resulting in more mileage per gallon. However higher the compression ratio; higher the stresses on the engine components. Hence these need to be stronger and therefore heavier. Additionally, more heat is generated requiring a better engine cooling system.

Even though the FP of diesel is much higher than gasoline, its 'auto-ignition temperature'; the temperature at which the fuel would ignite on its own is lower. (Auto-ignition temperature of gasoline is 280 deg C whereas the auto-ignition temperature of both the Jet fuel/Kerosene and of diesel is 210 deg C.). This makes diesel a suitable fuel for the auto-ignition internal combustion engine because a lower compression would generate sufficient heat to cause auto-ignition. By the way, kerosene can also be used in most diesel engines without causing serious problems. The only cause of concern is that Kerosene has less lubricity than diesel.

Most diesel engines run at close to 20:1 compression ratio. However with clever devices such as multi-phase high-pressure injection and variable exchange valve timing; modern diesel engines would generate sufficient pressure with as low as 14:1 compression ratio to cause auto-ignition temperature of the diesel/air mixture.

Most modern petrol engines run at about 9: I or thereabout, hence need spark plugs to ignite the fuel/air mixture. I have not come across any petrol engine with higher than 12:1 compression ratio. At high ratios, with the spark plugs present, there would be pre-ignition of the air-fuel mixture.
 
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