Thailand could purchase Russian-made T-90 or Chinese VT-4 MBT to replace order of T-84 Oplot 10501162

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Defence & Security News - Thailand
 
Thailand could purchase Russian-made T-90 or Chinese VT-4 MBT to replace order of T-84 Oplot.
Thailand is considering to purchase Russian-made main battle tank (MBT) T-90 or Chinese VT-4 to replace the order of Ukrainian-made MBT T-84 Oplot. A Thai army delegation visited the Russian Company Uralvagonzavod, the manufacturer of T-90 MBT, in December 2015.
     
Thailand is considering to purchase Russian-made main battle tank (MBT) T-90 or Chinese VT-4 to replace the order of Ukrainian-made MBT T-84 Oplot. A Thai army delegation visited the Russian Company Uralvagonzavod, the manufacturer of T-90 MBT, in December 2015. Thai Army T-84 Oplot Ukrainian-made main battle tank
     
In 2011, Thailand signed a contract with Ukraine for the purchase of 49 modern battle tank T-84-M Oplot. During February /2014, the first Oplot MBT was delivered to the Royal Thai Army.

At the end of 2015, only ten tanks had been delivered to the Royal Thai Army, causing concern over future delays among high-ranking officers in the Royal Thai Army.

Five additional tanks are slated for delivery in early 2016, according Ukrspetsexport, but Thailand was originally supposed to receive 20 T-84 tanks in 2015.

Following this situation, Thailand might opt out of the contract due to the delays altogether and try to find a new option with interest for the Russian-made MBT T-84 Oplot or T-90MS, or the Chinese-made VT-4 MBT-3000.

Thailand plans to purchase around 200 new MBTs in the coming years for its armored cavalry battalions. Given Russian and Chinese competition, Ukraine announced in December that it plans to step up production and manufacture 120 new T-84 tanks per year beginning in 2016.

The T-90MS is the next step in the development of the Russian-made main battle tank T-90. The new T-90MS was presented for the first time to the public during the defence exhibition Russian Expo arms in September 2011.

The main armament includes a 125mm high-accuracy gun 2A46M-5 with new features as the installation of high-rigidity barrel tube, play-free trunnion assembly units with elastic rollers an return wedge and two additional play take-up elements with rollers.

A remote weapon system is mounted on the right side on the top of the turret which is armed with a 7.62mm machine gun.

The basic armour of the T-90MS provides a protection of the crew against conventional small weapons and shell splinters. To increase the protection of the T-90MS, the tank is fitted with the new RELIKT reactive armour on the front of the hull and the turret which is designed to replace the Kontakt-5 reactive armor used on older T-90 tanks, will help the tank withstand attacks from all current and future anti-tank weapons.
     
     
The MBT-3000 also named VT4 for the export version is a new generation of main battle tank designed and manufactured by the Chinese Defense Company NORINCO. According NORINCO, the MBT-3000 is the latest technology of main battle tank especially designed to meet the challenge of high-tech warfare.

The main armament of the MBT-3000 consists of 125mm smoothbore gun fitted with a thermal sleeve and fume extractor. It is fed by an automatic loader which holds a total of 22 projectiles and charges which can be loaded at the rate of eight per minute.

In addition, the tank is equipped with a set of guided weapons, allowing use of a guided missile with a range of up to 5 km.

The turret is in the centre and is of all-welded steel armour construction to which a layer of composite armour has been added over the frontal arc. To increase the body side protection, the MBT-3000 can be fitted with explosive reactive armour (ERA).