Tusker Main Battle Tank
| Tusker Main Battle Tank | |
|---|---|
 Tusker Main Battle Tank | |
| Place of origin |  Ghant |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1993 to present |
| Used by | Ghantish Army |
| Production history | |
| Produced | 1992-present |
| No. built | 960+ |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 55 tonnes (Mark 1), 57.5 tonnes (Mark 2) |
| Length | 7.076m |
| Width | 3.42 m |
| Height | 2.82 m |
| Crew | 3 |
| Armor | Modular composite armour, heavy ERA |
Main armament | 120mm L/52 smoothbore gun |
Secondary armament | L6V 6.5x55 co-ax, Sharpshooter Remote Weapon System with 12.7mm M2 HB machine gun |
| Engine | ADE-90 12-cylinder diesel 1,200 bhp |
| Transmission | Hydropneumatic |
Operational range | 500km with external fuel |
| Speed | 70 kph on road |
The Tusker Main Battle Tank is a Ghantish tank design. Entering service in 1993, the Tusker has replaced all previous main battle tank models and is the current mainstay of the Ghantish Army's armoured units. Approximately 700 units have been produced as of 2017.
Origins
The Ghantish Army of the 1980's utilised two tank models. The Arthuristan Cavalier Main Battle Tank, upgraded to Mk 3 standard, was nevertheless reaching the end of its useful life. At the same time, the Ghantish 'S-Tank', once hailed as a bold and innovative design, revealed flaws when actually put into service. When considering a replacement, however, Ghantish officials were unimpressed by the vehicles used by advanced Skraelingian and west Belisarian armies. The increasing effectiveness of anti-tank munitions had driven the development of increasingly sophisticated types composite armour, such as the Chobham. As a result, tanks such as the Boudicca and the Parmenio may easily weigh more than 60 tonnes. Given the complexity of the Ghantish terrain, with mountains, bogs, tundra and forests, as well as its sub-arctic temperatures, these foreign designs were not considered to be suitable for local conditions. This spurred the development of a main battle tank which is optimised for the environment the Ghantish Army may be called upon to defend.
Design
The Tusker is a compact main battle tank by modern standards. Weighing between 55-57 tonnes, Ghantish engineers have created a lightweight design which, at the same time, does not sacrifice survivability on the battlefield. Created with Ghantish conditions in mind, the Tusker is rugged and easy to maintain and can retain combat effectiveness under various weather and road conditions, with a minimum operational temperature of -40°С and maximum operational altitude of 3,000m.
Protection
In order to keep the design within the confines of the Army's weight goals, Ghantish engineers decided to utilise an innovative approach to survivability. Believing that the Chobham is not only too heavy, but also overly-optimised to defeat shaped charge munitions, the Tusker's designers opted for their own solutions. The Tusker's welded turret is protected on its frontal arc by a passive composite armour suite consisting of hardened steel, ceramics and rubber. In the Tusker Mark 2 upgrade of the mid-2000's, tungsten alloy was introduced to improve the Tusker's ability to withstand attack by kinetic energy rounds, while titanium is used extensively in order to control the gain in weight. The passive armour of the Tusker is of modular construction and may be easily replaced in field conditions if damaged.
The main contributory to the Tusker's protection is its Castellan Explosive Reactive Armour suite. Traditional reactive armour is only effective against shaped-charge munitions, by disrupting its penetrating jet upon the moment of impact. By contrast, the Castellan consists of a layer of powerful plastic explosives, sandwiched between two heavy steel plates. This renders it not only effective against shaped charge rounds, but also kinetic energy munitions, by virtue of its ability to snap a long rod penetrator in half upon detonation. The Castellan+, installed as part of the Mark 2 upgrade package, is capable of defeating the latest generation of APFSDS munitions such as the M829A3.
The Tusker’s armour has been repeatedly tested throughout its service life. In pre-service trials in 1992, the Mark 1’s frontal armour was capable of withstanding the fire of an M-84’s 125mm KE round at point blank range, as well as the tank’s own 120mm round.
The Tusker is capable of surviving an anti-tank mine weighing up to 4.2kg detonated beneath the driver’s station, or up to 9.8kg under the tracks. The crew are protected by Kevlar spall liners and a complete overpressurised NBC-defence system.
In the Mark 2 upgrade, a third layer of protection was added in the form of the Rook Active Protection System. This consists of a passive element, which upon detection that the tank is being hit by a targeting laser, will automatically release an infra-red smokescreen to confound enemy fire control systems. This is complemented by a ‘hard-kill’ element, which detects incoming anti-tank projectiles using radar, before launching an explosive projectile to intercept the threat.
Firepower
The Tusker’s main armament is its 120mm smoothbore gun. Its basic ammunition types are a depleted uranium APFSDS round, a HEAT (which doubles as a fragmentation round against soft targets), and an anti-personnel canister round. The Mark 2 upgrade adds the imported LAHAT gun-launched anti-tank missile.
The gun is tri-axially stabilised to enable accurate firing on the move. It is served by a mechanical autoloader. Ready main gun ammunition is stored in a bustle located at the rear of the turret, which is separated from the crew compartment and fitted with blow-out panels.
The Tusker possesses a computerised fire control system. Installed at the gunner’s station is a daylight and thermal imaging sight with two magnifications: 4x and 12x, coupled with a laser rangefinder. The commander’s station has been upgraded in the Mark 2 with a panoramic thermal imaging sight with 2x and 10x magnifications. The tank commanders can thus search for targets independently of the gunner, as well as override the gunner’s station by bringing the turret’s weapons to bear directly from his station.
In terms of secondary armaments, the Tusker was originally equipped with two 6.5x55mm machine guns, one co-axial with the main gun, and a second installed as a pintle mount on top of the commander’s hatch. The latter has been replaced by a Sharpshooter Remote Weapon System, which may be armed with a 6.5mm or 12.7mm machine gun.