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Oplot Main Battle Tank - Fire control system
Oplot Main Battle Tank |
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The Oplot is fitted with an advanced fire-control system, and either the gunner or
commander can lay and fire the main
armament at stationary and moving targets while the tank is stationary or
moving with a high first round hit
probability.
The fire control system comprises a gunner's 1G46M day sight, Buran-Catherine-E
thermal
imaging sight, commander's PNK-5 observation and sighting system, PZU-7
anti-aircraft sight,
1ETs29M anti-aircraft machine gun mount control system, LIO-V ballistic
computer with input information sensors,
2E42M armament stabiliser and other
devices.
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Oplot main battle tank |
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The gunner's 1G46M day sight has a two-axis stabilised line of sight and
incorporates a laser range-finder and a missile guidance capability.
It is also fitted with an automatic gyro drift compensation device. The
sight field-of-view has magnification values in the range x2.7 to x12.
The integral laser range-finder has a range of 9,990 m and is accurate to
±10 m. The measured distance is shown
to digits together with the fire preparation and selected type of ammunition in
the lower part of the gunner’s sight field-of-view.
The sight field-of-view is provided with gunnery ranging marks including
stadiametric ranging scales for kinetic energy ammunition, chemical energy
ammunition, high-explosive fragmentation ammunition as well as for coaxial
machine gun. These stadiametric marks are a useful secondary method of
range-finding when
operating in an emergency. In order to protect the sight optics from bursts of
light from the tank’s own gun flash, the optical channels of the sight are
fitted with light sensors which automatically shut them down at shot exit. The
sight controls enable the gunner to lay quickly and accurately onto targets and
track them smoothly.
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1G46M sight
Gunner's station
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The Buran-Catherine-E thermal imaging sight includes a gunner's
optronic
sight as well as commander's monitor and control panel. The thermal sight is
usually operated by the gunner, but the
commander can override the gunner and aim and fire the main or
coaxial armament using his duplicate controls and thermal imaging monitor. The
thermal sight enables the gunner and the commander to detect and engage
targets under almost all weather conditions at long range and with high
accuracy, which can be used to advantage when
visibility is poor and during the hours of darkness. The thermal sight also
makes it possible to disregard presence
of a number of common obscurants such as battlefield smoke.
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Buran-Catherine-E thermal imaging sight
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The commander's PNK-5 observation and sighting system comprises
a commander's TKN-5 combined day/night sight and a gun position sensor. The
commander's TKN-5 combined sight has a vertically stabilised line of sight and
three channels: a day unity vision channel, a day channel with a magnification
of x7.6 and a night channel with a magnification of x5.8. Besides, the sight
incorporates a laser range-finder,
which gives the commander an independent laser
range-finding capability, as well as having a lateral lead input device. A
simple switch enables the commander to change from
the daylight channel to the night (image intensification) channel and back
again.
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TKN-5 sight
Commander's station
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The commander's anti-aircraft sight enables the commander to engage air targets
by using the anti-aircraft machine gun from within the safety of the turret.
The outlet windows of the above sighting systems are provided with protective
glasses which are capable of being kept clean with the help of a hydraulic and
pneumatic cleaning system.
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PZU-7 anti-aircraft sight
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In order to calculate ballistic corrections, the LIO-V ballistic computer
automatically takes into account all the inputs from the sensors including tank
speed,
angular target speed, gun trunnion axis cant, crosswind speed, target range, and
course angle. Additionally, the following parameters are manually input: ambient
air temperature, charge temperature, barrel wear ambient air pressure and so on.
The computer also computes the time when the high-explosive fragmentation
projectile
with controlled detonation should be detonated over the target.
The fire control system has a so-called dynamic fire gating capability, i.e.,
after the gun firing button has been pushed, the gun will only fire when the
misalignment between the line of sight and the gun bore axis is within
acceptable limits. The fire gate size depends on the target range and some other
factors.
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LIO-V ballistic computer
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The barrel of the gun can be distorted by uneven heating, arising from irregular
dissipation of the heat from firing, rain on the upper surface, solar
irradiation or a side wind. These effects are greatly reduced by covering the
barrel with a thermal
sleeve. To automatically correct for the residual thermal gun distortion when
computing ballistic corrections, the tank is fitted with a muzzle reference
system,
which feeds information about the gun barrel distortion value into the ballistic
computer.
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Muzzle reference system mirror installed on the
barrel muzzle end
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As an option, the tank fire-control system can also include a projectile muzzle
velocity sensor, which measures the velocity in question and feeds information
to the
tank's fire control ballistic computer
after each firing of the gun to allow to automatically correct for gun bore
wear, charge temperature and other factors.
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Projectile muzzle velocity sensor mounted on Oplot MBT turret roof |
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To enable a broad sector of terrain to be observed, the crew stations are
fitted with unity magnification periscope vision blocks. The commander's
station is provided with a number of unity vision blocks to give an
instantaneous 'all round' vision facility when closed down. These 'all-round'
vision blocks are particularly useful
for:
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observing a broad sector;
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map reading;
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keeping stations with accompanying vehicles while on the move;
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guarding against attacks by infantry armed with short range anti-tank missiles.
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Unity vision blocks
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