The T-55AGM is a Ukrainian modernization of the T-54/T-55 medium tank developed by the Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau (KMDB). Although the T-54/T-55 series are over 70 years old, a significant number of vehicles still remain in service worldwide, and after successfully working on the development of the T-80UD and T-84 tanks, KMDB turned its attention to the export market in the 2000s, and built a prototype called the T-55AGM featuring signficant improvements in protection, mobility, and firepower. As of early 2011, the T-55AGM remained at the prototype stage although it has been shown outside of Ukraine.[2]
Description
The tank is fitted with a 5TDFM, two-stroke liquid-cooled multi-fuel superchargeddiesel engine with opposed pistons which develops 850 horsepower (hp) (634 kW),[3] improved running gear. The driver has an automated movement control system with a steering handlebar control.
The T-55AGM has built-in explosive reactive armour, countermeasures system, new fire suppression system with over-ride facilities at the commander's station, automatic loader which holds 18 rounds and anti-aircraftmachine gun that can be aimed and fired from within the turret under a complete armour protection. The anti-aircraft machine gun is installed on the commander's cupola and can be fired at air or ground targets.
Prospective buyers can choose between two main smoothbore gun armament options: 125 mm KBM1 or 120 mm KBM2. Both of them, with use of enhanced performance conventional ammunition, or a barrel-launched anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), can defeat modern tanks from a distance of 2–3 kilometres (1.2–1.9 mi) and up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) using an ATGM. The tank can carry at least 30 rounds. The 125 mm KBM1 smoothbore gun weighs 2.5 tonnes, has a barrel length of 6 m (48 calibers) and can fire armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS), high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT), and high explosive (HE) fragmentation (HE-FRAG) rounds, while the 120 mm KBM2 smoothbore gun weighs 2.63 tonnes, has a barrel length of 6 m (50 calibers) and can fire all types of ammunition that meet the requirements of NATO standards and Ukrainian-made ATGMs. Both guns have normal recoil length of 26–30 centimetres (10–12 in) and maximum recoil length of 31 cm. The tank can be armed with either a KT-7.62 or the PKT-7.62 coaxial machine gun and can carry 3,000 rounds for it, and either a KT-12.7 or NSVT-12.7 heavy machine gun for AA protection and can carry 450 rounds for it. The approximate successful range is 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) during day and 0.8 kilometres (0.50 mi) during night. The AA HMG can be elevated between -5 and +70 degrees. The remote control for anti-aircraft machine gun is stabilized in the vertical axis during automatic mode (by using the TKN-5 sight) and is using the PZU-7 sight for semi-automatic mode.
