Saturday 9 August 2014

ST-I

"Existing domestic and foreign heavy tanks have a series of drawbacks in the design of their fighting compartments, suspensions, etc, which lower their combat value. The main drawbacks are as follows:
  1. Gun and fighting compartment:
    1. Insufficient rate of fire at low or medium calibers.
    2. Lack of gun or turret stabilization, making firing on the move difficult.
    3. The capacity of ammunition racks is small.
    4. Existing large caliber guns fit into turrets with difficulty.
    5. Increasing the muzzle velocity of a shell with the same shell mass and gun size is impossible.
    6. The position of the commander in relation to the loader in modern tanks has drawbacks. The gun's oscillations, recoil, case extraction, and the loader's work all annoy the commander and distract him from observing the battlefield. Forward vision is limited.
    7. The turret gun mount is complicated and brings little benefit.
    8. Even if an AA machinegun is present, it is impossible to simultaneously fire upon enemies on land and in air.
    9. The issue of effective ventilation is not fully solved, which is important with powerful, rapidly firing guns.
    10. Many tanks lack a foot-operated smooth electric or hydraulic traverse mechanism,
  2. Hull and suspension:
    1. It would be difficult to seal the turret and gun port for underwater driving on heavy tanks.
    2. Underwater driving equipment is complicated and unreliable in case of emergency.
    3. The road wheel diameter and track position is not optimal on some heavy tanks.
This heavy tank design resolves the aforementioned drawbacks, and has the following novel features:
  1. The large or medium gun mount and two coaxial machineguns (or low caliber autocannons).
  2. Crew placement:
    1. Driver: front hull
    2. Commander and gunner: front of the turret
    3. Loaders: rear of the turret
      This position of the commander provides superior visibility and a calmer workspace.
  3. The turret bustle contains a rapid fire ammo rack. This design works for one piece and two piece rounds (a tandem design with springs). This allows the removal of extra motions from the loading process, drastically increasing the rate of fire.
  4. An oscillating spring-loaded centering roller is mounted on the gun guard rail, reducing the loading effort and increasing the rate of fire.
  5. In order to boost the muzzle velocity of the shell without changing the propellant or the gun dimensions, a special muzzle attachment is used.
  6. In order to stabilize the gun in the vertical plane, which improves gun accuracy on the move, a special elevation mechanism is used. 
  7. In order to stabilize the turret, which improves gun accuracy on the move, a special turret rotation mechanism is used.
  8. In order to protect the tank from aircraft, one loader has a semi-armoured AA machinegun (low caliber autocannon) mounted above him, with a stock, improving accuracy. When the loader is firing on airborne targets, the commander can continue observing the battlefield, the second loader can continue to load the gun, and the gunner can continue firing on ground targets. A prototype of the design proposed by the author has been built.
  9. In order to conveniently rotate the turret, a lever is used, allowing the gunner to use the electric/hydraulic turret traverse mechanism with a hand or a foot.
  10. The electric traverse mechanism is of the Ward-Leonardo or Ampledin type. The commander also has access to the traverse controls, allowing him to turn the turret when marking targets.
  11. The gun mount method is optimal using a box-like frame, in which the gun carrier is installed. The frame is welded to the turret. This eases gun installation, preventing jamming, etc.
  12. A breech-loading mortar can be used to conceal the tank with smoke or shoot fragmentation mines at infantry. The commander can fire signal flares through the mortar barrel.
  13. There are three hatches: one above the commander cupola and one for each loader. This ensures that the crew can exit the tank quickly, and that the commander can continue working when the AA machinegun is being used.
  14. A stabilized commander's cupola (that remains on target when the turret is turned) can be used.
  15. Sights:
    1. Gun: monocular refracting sight with adjustable magnification and field of view.
    2. AA gun: collimating sight, and an iron sight, used mostly to calibrate the collimating sight.
  16. In order to clear the fighting compartment of gases, the shell catcher railing is hollow with holes, which suck in the gases using a fan.
  17. An intake fan is located above the gun.
  18. Air-consuming components in the turret can be fed from the engine compartment.
  19. The commander has a rotating chair with a footrest.
  20. The loaders' seats are removable.
  21. Most of the ammunition is located in the turret, in the rapid fire ready rack.
  22. The gun port assembly is reliable and technologically simple, allows for watertight sealing, safe from gases and bullets. 
  23. In order to provide watertightness of the turret ring, inflatable hoses are present.
  24. In order to provide the ability to drive underwater, a flexible floating hose is available for the engine air intake, or a rigid removable pipe. The exhaust can be fed directly into the water, or into the air through another pipe. When the exhaust feeds into the water, a one-way valve is desirable.
  25. When the tank is underwater, the air pressure inside increases to prevent accidental leaks.
  26. A hatch in the turret bustle allows removal of the gun.
  27. Large diameter road wheels with the tracks resting directly on top of them are used, resulting in a more reliable suspension and higher performance.
Engineer Ganin
Engineer Chasovnikov"

1 comment:

  1. The way this is loaded sounds pretty similar to the tigger 2. Also nice to see they reused the american amplidyne system for turret traverse

    ReplyDelete