N-95
| GBT-90 Gvt 90 | |
|---|---|
 Gvt 90A3B of the Royal Noordenstaat Army | |
| Type | Main Battle Tank |
| Place of origin |  Nikolia,  Noordenstaat |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1990-present |
| Used by | See Operators |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | VTI, Raamaker |
| Variants | See GBT-90#Variants |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 62.3 tonnes |
| Length | 9,97 meters |
| Width | 3,75 meters |
| Height | 3.0 meters |
| Crew | 4 |
Main armament | 120mm Filipovski GCT-51C (42 rounds) |
Secondary armament | 2x 7.62mm LMP 62ST (4,750 rounds) |
| Engine | FMK 1442 liquid-cooled V12 twin-turbo diesel engine 1,500 PS at 2600 rpm |
| Power/weight | 24.1 PS/t |
| Suspension | Torsion bar suspension |
Operational range | Road: 400 km Cross country: 240 km |
| Speed | 68 km/h |
N-95 Black Eagle (Serbian:Н-95 Црни Орао) is the main battle tank of the Nikolian Royal Army. It is a fourth-generation tank of Nikolian tank manufacturer VTI based on the older N-70 MBT.
History
With needs on the updates on already outdated N-70's, Nikolian Military Project Bureau opened a competition for Nikolian tank producers to come up with the new solution for updates for N-70. In 1999, NikTank submitted a design of the main battle tank based on the N-70, marked as Object-950, which was later reviewed and accepted by the Nikolian Military Project Bureau. In 2002, the first prototype of the new tank was made in Borcia Tank Factory and the tests of the tank began.
Testing and development
The first tests of the tank revealed a massive flaw in vehicle suspension. This flaw caused the tracks to come off due to the speed and turning of the tank and caused the future of this project to come into question. The engineers of VTI refabricated the tracks and suspension and put the tank to a new series of testings, which had better results than the last ones. In the series of testings, which have been done without a turret on the tank, an engine (FMK-32 1000hp) from old N-70 was used with new turbines. Later on, the turret was fabricated and put on the first prototype to be tested when the engineers saw that the engine could not handle the weight and stress with this new turret. Instead of using the FMK-32, engineers developed a new engine with 800 more horsepower and added it to tank. The tank performance was instantly boosted and tank was able to go up to 90km/h.
Weapon testings and development
In the original design, VTI proposed using the D152T, a 152mm gun from NLT-152 (Self propelled gun) which would be redesigned to fit to a rather small turret of the new tank. The first prototype of N-95 was built with this gun; later on, it was tested on the fire range in series of tests while the tank was stationary and on the move. Gun recoil caused massive problems with the suspension while shooting in movement and caused the tracks and gears to break. Weapon analysts proposed using a smaller caliber DT125, a 125mm smoothbore gun used on N-70 and LT-1. The DT125 showed good performance on the tank, and it was kept there.
Characteristics
The N-95 is low-silhouette, fast and versatile tank capable of reaching speeds up to 90km/h on asphalt, which is its biggest advantage. Due to its relatively low silhouette, it has very high camouflage capabilities, from hiding in the woods to hiding in a hole. Its biggest flaw is its gun elevation, which is limited due to the size of turret. This also limits its range; however, its speed and maneuverability outweigh this drawback.
Weapon systems
N-95 uses DT125, a 125mm smoothbore tank gun which can fire armour piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS), high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) and high explosive fragmentation (HEF) projectiles with big accuracy to distances up to 5,000 meters. The DT125 is also capable in shooting Зоља 443AT Anti-tank missile, as well as 94M3 Вихор laser guided anti-tank missile with ranges from 100m to 6km with average time of 17 seconds to reach maximum range. Like the rest of the modern tank guns, the DT125 is fed by an automatic loader, which removes the need of a manual loader and reduces the crew to 3 persons (commander, driver and gunner). The autoloader can carry 22 ready-to-fire rounds in its carousel and can load a round in 5–8 seconds. The automatic loader can be turned off in case of EMP attack, and gunner can manually load the shells into the gun by removing the loading rail.
The PAMT 12.7mm (12.7x108) remotely controlled anti-aircraft Heavy machine gun can be operated from within the tank by the commander and has a range of 2 km and a cyclic rate of fire of 700–800 rounds per minute with 300 rounds available. A 7.62mm KMT coaxial machine gun comes with 250 rounds, with additional 7000.
Observation devices
The N-95 "sees" with various state-of-the art optic devices which allows its crew to see through various weather conditions with pin-point accuracy. The commander is provided with NOS-142 "Сова", a day-night sight which allows for night and day time tracking of the tank sized target on the ranges of 8,000m (during the day time) and 2,000m (during the night time). NOS-142 "Сова" is mounted above the commander's position and it can be turned in 360°.
The gunner is provided with the NSP-2 "Стрела" day sighting system which includes a laser range finder, missile guidance channel and allows tank-sized targets to be detected and engaged at 5 to 8 kilometres (3.1 to 5.0 mi). The driver users a TVN-5 day and night sight.
Armour
The N-95 is fitted with a "three-tiered" protection system. The first tier is the composite armour in the turret, consisting of basic armour shell with an insert of alternating layers of aluminum and plastics and a controlled deformation section.
The second tier is third generation Kontakt-5 ERA (explosive reactive armor) which significantly degrades the penetrating power of kinetic-energy APFSDS ammunition and also these ERA blocks give the turret its distinctive angled "clam shell" appearance. ERA bricks are also located on the turret roof and provide protection from top-attack weapons. The turret's forward armour package, in addition to the ERA and steel plating, contains a composite filler of Nikolian composite armour sandwiched between upper and lower steel plates. The composite armour results in a lower weight and improved protection when compared with steel-only armour.
The third tier is a Zavesa-1 (Serbian: Завеса-1 or "curtain" in English) countermeasures suite, produced by VEP (Vojna Elektronika Pančevo) of Nikolia. This system includes two electro-optical/IR "dazzlers" on the front of the turret (which gives the distinct Red Eyes), four Laser warning receivers, two 3D6 aerosol grenade discharging systems and a computerized control system. The Zavesa-1 warns the tank's crew when the tank has been 'painted' by a weapon-guidance laser and allows the crew to slew the turret to face the threat. The infrared jammer, the ICBL-7 EOCMDAS, jams the semiautomatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) guidance system of some anti-tank guided missiles. The aerosol grenades are automatically launched after Zavesa detects that it has been painted. The aerosol grenades are used to mask the tank from laser rangefinders and designators as well as the optics of other weapons systems.